Oaklands on the Knoll — Hotel in George

I've been a member of DVC since 1998. Used the points probably only on 5 occasions over the years. The first time it was used at Pinelake Marina. A wonderful experience and a different time indeed. I've moved home and have misplaced the contract needed to cancel DVC. So I decided to use some points before it expires( as I just found out) . Oaklands on the Knoll was booked. I hadn't been to Knysna in years and DV promised a good experience.

Travel: from Cape Town, with a few stops and speed controlled road works, took our time well over 5hours.

Arrival: At night. We advised we would be late and arranged for the pin and key. This was okay,although the host / manager innitially forgot about our late arrival. We were told not to use the front door as it was broken. No problem. We are not difficult people.

Unit: 11. Smelt a bit musty...but understandably so...we arrived late. It appeared clean on the surface. And welll lit. There is a small DV Branded bag of coffee,a small carton milk cand tea . No inventory list available though You just gotta assume everything is there. Place caters for 4 people so,4 of everything literally.

Settling in : Bathroom- we longed for a warm shower after being in traffic so many hours, ,but to no avail. The shower operates with gas and without instruction . We had about 1min of warm...not hot hot water. Thereafter, cold shots to the system. We were too tired to care. Bedrooms: 2.bedrooms..the.main bedroom bed is ridiculously uncomfortable. One double sized mattress on a wooden bed frame. Pillows even worse. They looked all big and full but fell flat once your head hit the pillow. The sides would inflate and cover your ears if your head rests in the centre. Mattress was hard too. Not suitable for anyone weighing more than 85kgs or those with dvt.

Windows and fresh air: is a no no. Monkeys and flies will enter the place, even with the window on a crack.( that means....a small 1cm opening of one's bedroom window which is on the 2nd floor,while your there ,inside) They know how to open windows,doors,cupboards, foodstuffs etc. Imagine how stuffy it got,and humid. Cockroaches, the small ones, enjoyed free range living all over the kitchen- counter tops,floors,fridge ,everywhere,as we discovered . ( and no....no foodstuffs were left out) BTW, there is a warning about feeding and harming the minkeys. They even advise packing away your food. They don't mention anything about securing your windows. The monkeys came in via a small opening,scoped the entire place within seconds and grabbed the complementary coffee and sugar .

The day after we arrived,we woke to loadshedding,which began at 6am and ended at about 10pm. At 8am the host informed us that there'd be loadshedding and apologised for the inconvenience stating it would be on by6pm. 95% of the city shut down too. Malls were in darkness,even wimpy was closed. There was a complimentary boat trip from DVC, however, host lady, only advised on Friday morning. One needs to book a week or so in advance to secure a spot. So there goes that electricity back by 10pm with no comms frm host at all. Recreation : The venue has a tiny Pool,pool table ,closes at 5pm... The tv in the unit,is small old and has a permanent white haze at the bottom of the screen and the sound, well,bad. . Oh the couches are super hard with no back pillow support. The most annoying thing....lack of privacy when dressing or sleeping. The unit mostly used solid pull down window covers. cant say blinds cause one could still open and adjust blinds. No these window ,Block out ,covers were either gonna be in the opened or closed position. Forget about dressing or putting on makeup in natural light . If you enjoy dosing on the bed in the sun...be willing to have your neighbour's see you do this. People ,live there permanently too. Felt a bit like independent living at one point.. Maybe we just had a bad unit with cold water,no electricity, bad TV etc but it's in the small detail that makes an ordinary place extra ordinary. So no...nothing dreamy or vacationy...

This was our first visit to Oaklands on the Knoll. There were some aspects that really met our expectations and others that were a little disappointing. We stayed in a two bedroom duplex suited for four. There are two bedrooms upstairs and a full bathroom with a bath and shower. Downstairs there is the kitchen, lounge and guest loo. The unit is spacious and comfortable. There is a gas stove with oven. There is a dishwasher and all the small appliances required. They even gave filter coffee with a plunger and some lovely biscuits on arrival. There is a clubhouse with a foozball table, snooker and a ridiculously small splash pool. That was the main disappointment because our kids were teens and that pool was only good for much younger kids. There is no wood braai and only a weber so those who love their wood braai please note. The furniture in the lounge is not very comfortable so lounging is not as relaxing as it could be. There are monkeys who live in the surrounding trees so one needs to ensure everything is tightly closed when leaving or else they will steal food items. We had one come in and take a mango but then we learnt our lesson. Would have been a big plus if there was a laundry area in the complex. The location is great as it is close to the main road and getting to the stores are easy. I do not think this resort lives up to the standard of others in the DVC stable like Stonehill and...

We returned yesterday from Easter vacay @dreamvacations Oaklands on the knoll. Accommodation was booked from 19-26th April. My hubby and I only stayed 3 nights Friday to Sunday though and my son and his family would come and stay for the remainder. My son and his family arrived Sunday evening. Monday morning however, whilst having breakfast, before we headed back to CT, we were rudely confronted by Liske (person on duty) telling us that she will not allow us to stay and over crowd the unit. I was taken aback by her reaction as she referred to my son's babies (16months and 5months old). I do understand that the accommodation is for 4 people, but really, I communicated with her on our arrival that my son planned to come and stay with his family when we left, how could 2 babies overnight cause any harm. Liske needs serious people's skills and Oaklands on the knoll will definitely not see us again...