The Cellars-Hohenort, an SLH Hotel — Hotel in Constantia

All hotel staff are smiling and friendly and ask how your day is. And this is where they obviously believe their mission of providing the service ends. We checked-in and were led to our “Premier Suite” by a receptionist. As always, I inspected the room and asked to bring some simple things: extra water and towels, 2nd luggage rack, shower gel, couple of memory pillows, this kind of stuff. Of course, - she said and left us alone to unpack. We unpacked, went for lunch, came back – absolutely nothing materialized. I called reception again and couple more times till the end of a day before getting at least majority of things I was asking for. With exception for a couple of things that is possible to live without, like 2nd rack (we already found where to put one of our bags on) and shower gel. These ones I managed to achieve only after speaking with hotel’s GM couple of days later. In the afternoon I finally located the gym (no single sign for it) and found it without a single clean towel that I could use. On the contrary, the floor of the showers near it was covered by piles of used ones. Maybe the gym isn’t popular here after all. Next day we had some winery visits arranged, before leaving I personally put “make-up my room” sign on the door outside, gave some instructions of what must be done to reception (bring that shower gel!). Coming back in late afternoon we are seeing the same sign on the outside door, just turned “don’t disturb” side on. Strange – I have never seen house-keeping doing that after making-up the room, normally they remove the sign and put it inside. Opening the door we find that absolutely nothing was done in terms of making up the room (forget shower gel), but both TV in bedroom and living room are switched-on loud on football channel (!!!). Huh? I spoke with 2 managers about this: just “manager” and GM and they promised me “to come down to the bottom of this”. Maybe they did, just forgot to share. All in all, when staying in this place I had a feeling of being an unwilling participant of some TV prank show. When people around you are doing and saying some stupid things and watchers choking with laughter seeing your reaction on your face close-up on their TV-sets. They couldn’t even collect payment from my credit card properly when we were checking-out. I got a message from my bank saying the payment has been processed, while their machine said “declined”. We agreed with their GM that they would contact me if they didn’t get the money after all after I showed her a message from my bank. Indeed, the amount was credited back to my account after some time. When I asked my bank what it was, their answer was: the hotel cancelled their request immediately after payment was authorized. Of course, I paid them what was due using a link they sent me by mail – after they managed to send a correct one. Their first link was asking me to pay ZAR 0,00. 😊 All in all, if you are afraid, you can get bored on your holidays, this is the place for...

I had a wonderful 5-night stay at The Cellars-Hohenort last month while visiting Cape Town as part of a 3-week trip to South Africa with my mother. This stay was the highlight of the trip for me. The staff (especially Anabella, Domingo, Massimo, and Bridget) were kind and helpful and really seemed to care that we had a great stay and experience, checking in with us frequently and sharing helpful advice about the area and interesting history of the hotel and gardens. Every single employee that we encountered, whether front or back of the house, was always attentive and courteous as we passed them in the halls or gardens, always making eye contact and greeting us with a hello and smile. The grounds and buildings are stunning, and the décor is truly a feast for the eyes. I'm a maximalist design lover, so this hotel checked every aesthetic box for me x 10. The 9 acres of gardens are impeccably cared for, and I can only imagine how stunning they would be in full bloom.

We stayed in a one-bedroom suite in The Cellars building, which was beautifully appointed and spacious. It had a lovely terrace overlooking the blooming camellias. Turndown included hot water bottles, which was a really nice touch since it was winter season.

We had only planned on having dinner at the hotel's restaurant, The Conservatory once, but after how impressed we were with our first night's meal and the service, we ended up canceling a couple of our other evening reservations. We did have a couple of truly memorable meals at other local restaurants, but it was also really nice to be able to stay at the hotel after a long day of activities and sightseeing and still feel like you were having a culinary experience. The breakfasts were also excellent, with a large variety of high-quality continental offerings (including a Bloody Mary and mimosa bar!) in addition to several hot breakfast menu choices. The garden views from the floor-to-ceiling windows in The Conservatory cannot be beaten. I think the restaurant and bar area were renovated and redecorated recently, and the designers did a fabulous job. My mother and I are still talking about the unique and beautiful fabric choices.

The surrounding neighborhood Constantia is gorgeous, leafy and safe. There are many embassies/consulates in the area and it is also very close to the Constantia wineries, great shopping and the one of the very best botanical gardens in the world. The V&A Waterfront and many other popular tourist destinations are all within a 20-30 minute drive. It was very easy and affordable to get around using Uber.

Don't miss a chance to stay at this special hotel if you get the...

Beautiful Accommodations, But Not Safe for Solo Travelers While the hotel and grounds are beautiful, I would advise against this hotel due to safety concerns and service experience.

The Good: The hotel is set on a beautiful landscape. You're greeted with a nice tea and a warm towel. Staff explained my Amex Platinum Fine Hotels benefits, including the guaranteed 4 PM checkout and breakfast. My room was very nice, and I was greeted with a charcuterie and a bottle of wine. It was excellent. I walked the grounds, and it was very peaceful and quiet.

The Ugly: Today is checkout day and my birthday, but the hotel has made this an awful experience. First, a neighboring hotel guest harassed me, and nothing was done, so I had difficulty sleeping at the hotel my last night. I'm American, so I worked from my room at night. At midnight (12 AM), I was listening to a conference call when the man who'd be my neighbor and a friend started knocking at my door. The first time, I went to the door, looked out the peephole, and asked him what he needed. He sounded inebriated and said, "It's your neighbor, open the door." followed by laughter from him and his friend. He continued to knock, so I put the security lock on and asked him to leave; I wouldn't answer the door. My co-workers could hear all of the conversation and became frightened, as did I. The neighbor continued to knock on the external door and the shared door between our rooms.

At this, I called security and let them know what was going on. A few minutes later, security called and said, "Your neighbor's door is wide open, but they said they didn't knock." I told them they didn't stop the knocking, and it felt unsafe. Security told me to call back if it happened again. When it happened again, I called back, but I was told the same thing - his door was open, but he said it was not him. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep.

At 10 AM, I received a call. I thought it would be someone checking in to make sure everything was okay or to follow up on my complaint, but no - it was reception asking me if I could move myself and my things to a holding room for the day. I'm assuming they need the room; however, as noted, we'd discussed and confirmed a late departure, as is guaranteed by my benefit.

This last detail is minor. I had my do not disturb sign on my door but housekeeping knocked and came in anyway. She then explained that sometimes people put up the do not disturb when they want their room made up. No, I didn't want to be disturbed,...