We booked into the Swartberg Hotel on the way home as a break in our journey. I had previously enjoyed a very good stay there. We arrived via the Swartberg Pass, stopping on numerous occasions to admire the spectacular views. We arrived in the late afternoon and looked forward to the hotel and touring around the town. The staff were very friendly and settled us into our room. We wandered around town, but decided to settle on the food at the hotel based on my previous experience. Unfortunately this was a mistake as the food arrived cold and was not very appetising, certainly not in the same category as previously experienced. The visit was then further soured by the fact that the street facing room was very noisy, the fan was very ineffective and we could not open the windows as it would have been even noisier. The towels in the bathroom were dirty and slightly larger than a handkerchief and almost as thin, not very good for a 3 star establishment. We had specifically requested a queen size bed, but only had two singles in the room that were very uncomfortable. To add insult to injury after a bad nights sleep the breakfast was very bad with the bacon not being edible. Other patrons were feeding theirs to the cat. The final straw was at the checkout when we were billed the full amount for the room excluding the deposit we had paid. First the manageress would not believe us and only relented once my wife showed her an electronic copy of the transfer made when booking. I asked if they reconciled their bank accounts as they would then have picked up the deposit, the answer to this was no. One hell of a way to run your establishment and this just reflects the poor performance overall. We would definitely not recommend this establishment to anyone and wonder how they managed to get their three stars as they are certainly not even worth one.Monday, January 5, 2009
Swartberg Hotel
We booked into the Swartberg Hotel on the way home as a break in our journey. I had previously enjoyed a very good stay there. We arrived via the Swartberg Pass, stopping on numerous occasions to admire the spectacular views. We arrived in the late afternoon and looked forward to the hotel and touring around the town. The staff were very friendly and settled us into our room. We wandered around town, but decided to settle on the food at the hotel based on my previous experience. Unfortunately this was a mistake as the food arrived cold and was not very appetising, certainly not in the same category as previously experienced. The visit was then further soured by the fact that the street facing room was very noisy, the fan was very ineffective and we could not open the windows as it would have been even noisier. The towels in the bathroom were dirty and slightly larger than a handkerchief and almost as thin, not very good for a 3 star establishment. We had specifically requested a queen size bed, but only had two singles in the room that were very uncomfortable. To add insult to injury after a bad nights sleep the breakfast was very bad with the bacon not being edible. Other patrons were feeding theirs to the cat. The final straw was at the checkout when we were billed the full amount for the room excluding the deposit we had paid. First the manageress would not believe us and only relented once my wife showed her an electronic copy of the transfer made when booking. I asked if they reconciled their bank accounts as they would then have picked up the deposit, the answer to this was no. One hell of a way to run your establishment and this just reflects the poor performance overall. We would definitely not recommend this establishment to anyone and wonder how they managed to get their three stars as they are certainly not even worth one.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Aberdeen
On the way home from a holiday in the Eastern Cape we decided to take the less travelled route and stopped in the little town of Aberdeen. We had seen an article in country life magazine and decided to see what art was on display. All it took was ten minutes at Art's Cafe, a visit to the ATM and we left with three pieces of art at very reasonable prices. Certainly a worthwhile stop on our journey.
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