Elandskloof Trout Farm — Hotel in Emakhazeni Local Municipality

Our family have been going to this trout farm for years. We reserved for 2 days, following a long weekend. I called and asked if it was possible for us to book in early and was told that we could only book in at 2 as cabins need to be cleaned. Fair enough. We arrived at Elandskloof at 1.45 after traveling for 3 hours. 15 minutes early. I called at the gate. They let us In saying the office only opens at 2. So while they sat inside we sat in the car waiting. When we got the key at 2 and got to our chalet, the place was filthy. There was no staff around, beds weren't made, dirty dishes all over the place. I drove back to reception and complained, where I had one of the owners screaming at me saying that we must understand that they were busy this weekend! When I got back to the chalet they were cleaning, and owner scolded me that they were very busy and that I am very impatient. I found myself apologising, but anyway... The place is dark and dingy. The units are so dark that we couldn't even play board games because of the poor lighting. The place was empty but they put us right next to the only other family, so if they showered there was no hot water for us. The unit smelled of sewerage thanks to the septic tank. We were made to feel like we were inconveniencing them, nuisances and invading their property, and not paying guests. The cleaning staff were friendly, and the views were breathtaking, but views do not make up for downright arrogance and bad manners. The indoor pool had fish and frogs in it(needless to say it was not heated). Maybe we got them at a bad time, but it was very...

Overall very disappointing camping weekend. Trout fishing: only 5 of the 11 advertised trout-only dams were accessible, and then we only landed a Kurper! No sign of the advertised hatchery, and no sign of monitoring of caught fish vs restocking. Very few guests camping with us caught anything worthwhile. Sadly it looks like most of the once well-built dam overflow structures and fishing banks are no longer maintained: they're crumbling and mostly overgrown. We lost more flies to the thatching grass than to the fish. Campsites are mostly sloped, and very limited warm water for showering: gas geysers just not reliable and load-shedding left electric geysers cool or cold for most of the stay. Had no power at all to campsites on the last night, and when we did get power before that, the circuit-breakers cant handle more than one device: air-con vs kettle vs microwave. Heated pool was locked and had flooded, restaurant was closed (over a peak long-weekeend). The reception is located 3km from the camp / resort which has no phone signal, and management rarely came to check on guests, so when problems arose, we were unable to resolve these without a 6km round-trip.

One positive point: Celeste did assist graciously with my late...

Been coming here once or twice a year for 7 years. I've got to amend my rating and deduct. It's a tranquil place, but staff is aggro.

Someone was sent to come and "clean" the bathroom (not house) at 9am first thing in morning, possibly to check how many people are present because we pulled in at 2am. Never had this happen before. We even had less people than allowed.

We got there late (2am), but didn't get an entry code which we should have received prior, so we had to wake the staff up at 2am but they gave attitude, so to some extent its an issue of accountability. Or lack thereof.

Those who were new to the place wanted to view other areas of the location just to know if our next trip will be worth it. There was a private event going down so we attempted to do a quick tour in the evening but got sent off. Understandable, but aggression is unnecessary.

If you're used to great customer service, this sure isn't the place for you. They make it feel like they're doing you a favour, yet you paid. Staff at reception, upon leaving didn't even say goodbye back, just looking angry for whatever reason I'm...