Holiday Inn Express Cape Town City Centre by IHG — Hotel in City Centre

From the outside and its location, it doesn't look good in terms of appeal and safety. Street vendors continue to erect their makeshift stalls just a few metres away from the main entrance. The access street road to the hotel is a frustrating lean one-way that makes it a nightmare experience to drive on. Street vendors should be allocated a well planned and place away from the entrance to the hotel as it makes the place look filthy and dangerous to walk through. The hotel service is fair but not the best for the value of money paid by clients. Instead of the current system of access to rooms through the lifts, there should be another improve system of access to the room using lift. The card system that you insert on the lifts to the room is somehow an inconvenience to a user who's carrying a lot of luggage or food because within a split second of time you have to insert your access card which at the time of checking in may have been placed in the wallet or sling bag or a purse. It's a nightmare. I wish that the hotel can just consider offering meals at the hotel and not using the UBER EATS delivery facilities. Food that we eat is a serious personal thing that you may want to involve the delivery person of whose hygiene part of it isn't guaranteed. Oftentimes, some deliveries are mixed up or with the wrong items altogether ordered. Some of us prefer to dish food by ourselves from the pot that you can see. Food that is cooked elsewhere and delivered by a delivery man on filthy streets and carry bags on a dirty mobile motorcycle that are just parked outside in the open space is a big health risk. If the hotel can't prepare meals for its clients, then it must consider exploring a bed and breakfast adventure. One evening of my stay, I ordered ribs with baked potatoes, from one of the reputable restaurants in the country, and I was so disappointed because I couldn't even eat the meal because it was horrible bad and not fresh. There was no way I could raise the matter or concern because the meal was just delivered by UBER EATS who left immediately after delivering food. I think that the hotel clients are being taken for a ride with the process of UBER EATS. I'll never opt for the hotel that outsources meals to the third party because it's too risky and...

I travelled to Cape Town during March 2025 for work and booked a 4 night stay at the Holiday Inn Express for myself and a colleague. Upon arrival, we were shocked by the state of the hotel's location as well as the reception and common areas.

There were loiterers outside, including some staff members sitting outside and smoking on the curb. The floors in reception were filthy and there were huge boxes and suitcases taking up a lot of the floor space. We checked in and went upstairs to our rooms, which smelled of smoke despite us booking non-smoking rooms. I found my room to be musty and the carpets unclean.

We went downstairs to the bar area where large groups of people were extremely rowdy and intoxicated. The place smelling of marihuana and stale beer.

We requested access to a boardroom facility in order to attend to some work, but had to wait half an hour for someone from reception to find a staff member that could assist us. Upon entering the meeting room, we found chairs strewn about and food scraps on the boardroom table that we had to clean off before sitting down to work.

While we were working, the noise outside from the drunk patrons were increasing and at some point I had to go up to my room to fetch documents. When I approached the elevator, a man was sitting on the couch in front of the elevator without shoes on. He had his bare feet on the couch and was picking at his toe nails.

We felt so unsafe and uncomfortable that we decided to check out at 21h30 that same night and found alternative accommodation at a hotel a few kilometers away. Upon checking out, we were told by staff that there was no-one that could assist us in processing the check out and I would need to call reception in the morning to check out and request a partial refund.

We contacted reception the next morning and from 17 March to 10 April my office was in constant contact with Sonia Solomons, who is a reservation agent for the hotel, to receive our refund. The Hotel undertook to refund us a portion of our costs amounting to R7,731.66 - however despite various follow ups the money was never received and our correspondence is now simply being ignored.

Terrible experience. I would never advise someone...

The Hotel is situated in a pedestrian area and is very central, just walking distance from Greenmarket Square and numerous restaurants, The Grand Parade, City Hall, The Company’s Garden and other historical sites.

Staff at the front office (situated on level 1 of the hotel building) were very helpful and courteous – I was pleasantly surprised when they arranged for a breakfast take away for my wife and me when we had to leave early on the check-out day. So, very service oriented and supportive of guest requests – a definite plus.

Note that the full payment for your stay is to be made on check-in. This appears to be the norm in the hotel industry in both Durban and Cape Town.

The room was very modern and well organized and we had the benefit of a view of the Table Mountain from our window. All the usual amenities were provided in the room and nothing was found wanting.

The bathroom was very well designed with separation of the toilet from the shower stall. There is a door that doubles as the door to the toilet and between the bathroom and room – a clever design! There is also a ‘blue’ nightlight in the bathroom which you may wish to use if you so prefer.

The location is ideal as there is a Food Lover’s Market store right opposite the entrance – a must visit. Do be aware of closing times, though (6pm during our recent stay).

The air-conditioning was perfect as was the Wifi which performed admirably during the period of our stay. There were also international plug sockets (besides local ones) in the room, so plenty of options to charge your devices.

The Breakfast spread was good and there is a large seating area although the breakfast area does tend to get busy if you arrive around 8am or so (breakfast is served at 6.30am).

Although there is no restaurant in the hotel you will find menu cards of a couple of nearby restaurants in your room and you can order for food which will be delivered to the hotel reception. You can choose to pay by cash or card but be sure to inform the restaurant so that they can send the delivery along with a credit card machine.

A great stay in an excellent location with very customer...