Southern Sun The Cullinan — Hotel in City Centre

Today we had a very unfortunate experience at the Cullinan. Every year our family (20-30pax) celebrate our Grandmother’s birthday at the Peach Tree Restaurant inside the Cullinan. Like previous years the security invited us to park underground and told us we will get a new free parking ticket at the Cullinan reception when we are done. We enjoyed our breakfast at the restaurant but unfortunately this experience was ruined by the reception and management of The Cullinan. We waited in line at the reception and were assisted by R- e*. She told us that we need to pay for the parking as the security did not give us the correct information. We then told her that there were numerous open parking spaces infront of the hotel, we parked underground because we were welcomed there “for free”. (Keep in mind we were a few cars who now had this same issue). She refused to understand and called her manager, who also very distastefully disregarded our issue. We were simply told that the security company is not part of the hotel but rather “appointed by them”. Now, as a bussiness owner I am very well aware that anyone who is appointed by my company, I take responsibility for. If they spread false information to my clients, I have to apologise and compromise, taking that loss.

This situation cold have been handled in a professional manner but unfortunately it turned into a back-and-forth bickering, raising tone of voices, and the staff of the Cullinan refusing to excuse us from the parking without payment. I am happy to say that when we involved the security manager, he quickly apologised for the misinformation on their behalf, and proceded to open the parking boom for us. This situation is not about the money to pay for the parking tickets, but about the shocking manner in which the staff at the Cullinan are speaking to clients and not accepting responsibility for misinformation spread by individuals who are appointed by THEM, working on THEIR premises. I will never recommend the Cullinan to any of my clients again, nor will I ever...

Good Morning It pains me to inform The Cullinan that there communication skills are really poor. I was part of a birthday breakfast group of twenty. When we arrived we were invited park in the underground after enquiring about where to park. We were told we could exchange our parking ticket at reception for a free parking ticket when we leave as we are guests attending a function. We were there from 9am to about 11.30 and upon leaving went to the front desk to exchange our parking ticket. We were then informed that there is no knowledge of getting a free ticket. There was ample parking in front of the hotel, which we would have made use of, but as we were invited to park downstairs in the hotel parking garage we made use of their underground parking garage. It became a very rude discussion which I do not appreciate as we were at least three groups of people that parked in the garage and this attracted a lot of negative attention with raised voices arguing. This situation could have been avoided and handled with a lot more finesse. Your staff at reception should be in communication with the parking garage security and this misunderstanding/argument should be between your hotel reception and the security staff behind a closed door. It should never affect your clientele negatively, least of all at a public reception desk.

The lady at reception will do well with extra training as to how to treat paying customers and handle a clear case of miscommunication of her staff and the parking staff. If this had to happen where I am the manager I would discipline staff. Miscommunication in your hotel is not my problem neither should it become any client's problem. It put a very sour note on a 94th birthday celebration that was uncalled for. Last year we had the same celebration at your facility without any hiccup or confrontation about parking tickets. We would gladly have parked in front of the hotel - but we were invited to park downstairs. I would definitely think twice about coming back or recommending The Cullinan to...

Brilliant Family Friendly hotel, with good facilities and excellent service levels from staff.||Positives|- Excellent service from Front Desk Staff and Concierge|- Great Location to explore the city, frequency of Ubers and underground parking.|- Excellent breakfast with good options, does get busy on weekdays at prime times, but the staff are attentive and manage it well.|- Great pool facilities|- Efficient Room Service|- Daily Cleaning to a good standard|- Frequent and friendly shuttle bus to the V&A Waterfront|- Reasonable hotel gym|- Safe when compared to other parts of the CBD (which aren't unsafe, just a bit more worn and sadly with homeless people - I didnt see any in this area). I walked around with my two children at 8-10pm at night and had no issue walking to a nearby restaurant.||Negatives|- None that spring to mind.||This hotle has a number of Virgin Airline staff and South African Ministers staying here, so I'm guessing it had a solid reputation.||I would like to give a thanks to the following staff members Kayle on front desk for making my wife's birthday memorable by arranging flowers in our room; Shaun at concierge for helping source the said flowers and arranging the team to provide us great travel tips.||Pelo the chef for making customised eggs daily, Lindlie and the other kitchen staff members for their polite and attentive service at breakfast and of course Freddie the bus driver who was a jovial and polite bus driver (explaining the Khosi name of table mountain!). Finally ||I've stayed at a few high end 5 star resorts globally and honestly the team here exceeded my expectations and were better. Hospitality is a tough industry but the team here were true...