First Group Hole in the Wall — Hotel in King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality

There's one MAJOR problem. it's not by fault of the resort itself. Staff are professional, helpful, and the price is VERY reasonable for what you get. Beautiful sea view and everything you need to cater for yourself, and a restaurant with the best pizza. So my problem is the LOCALS. There are people standing outside the fence and they DON'T STOP BUGGING THE GUESTS. If you ever plan on coming to coffee bay, prepare yourself for constant Harrasment as soon as you drive in. The resort is actually the only escape from the disrespectful and demanding people who live here. I was here to relax and as soon as we showed up to go to reception people (locals) called us to the gate from the outside of the resort. DO NOT FALL FOR IT. IGNORE THEM. THEY RUINED OUR ENTIRE TRIP. they immediately started bombarding us with things they wanted to sell us. We drew R3500 as we read online to bring cash. ALLLLL of my money went to these people. Through their trickery and demands. As soon as you leave the resort to go to the "shop" (house stalls) the people crowd you and DEMAND money. I honestly felt like my life was in danger when I tried to say no. One local woman CLIMBED INTO MY VEHICLE with half her body demanding money. Another guy jumped onto the back of my bakkie when we simply asked for directions and then again demanded an insane amount of money. I mean these people are so disrespectful and honestly their behavior will disgust you. USE THE RESORTS SHOP. Prepare yourself so that you can stay inside the resort at all times or else your time and experience will be the worst you've ever had. My companion told me this was the worst holiday OF THIS LIFE. and it's because of these locals who ruin your time, make you feel unsafe and take you for a ride. We wanted to eat a pizza at the resturant on the resort and look over the ocean. Instead we were looking upon the locals circling the outside of the fence.. Trying to sell you things. We didn't even stay to eat our meal. Because how can you look at the view and relax when there are people in the way, shoving things around and disturbing you by calling and whistling. And they don't take no for an answer. I can go on and on because I have had so many bad experiences in this short period of 2 days. It's really unfortunate because we came in hopes of staying a week. We are going home tomorrow after 2 days of complete stress. IT IS NOT THE RESORTS FAULT. Let me just say to those of you who think youre getting a bargain when the locals say, I have oysters/crayfish/bait. IT'S A TRICK. that's the mistake we made. We figured why not help these people and get some seafood, and we said on the condition that the seafood is fully grown. So we order crayfish and oysters from the locals. They said it would be 50 each and fully grown. So they bring us back and entire bag, they are undersized and we don't want them, due to the size and amount which is way above what we ordered from these people outside the fence. So we get threatened if we don't pay, and all of a sudden the price triples. That's how I lost 3500 by trying to be merciful and help these people by purchasing from them.. Which is more than what it would have cost to stay here for an entire week. Horrible horrible people so a WARNING UP FRONT ignore the people outside the fence and enjoy this beautiful resort. The resturants food is incredible but don't sit outside where the locals can bother you. I got the most amazing full body massage with hot rocks at the spa and I got a pedicure and it was so worth it. Extremely relaxing and professional, also affordable. Rooms are beautiful and rustic. Ample hot water, no loadshedding and shower space for two. Cleaned and maintained well with very comfortable furniture and your own patio and braai. If you go to the hole in the wall, take the guide provided by THE RESORT, DO NOT GO WITH A LOCAL THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF... IT STARTED AS R50 P/P AND WHEN WE WERE FINISHED HE TURNED IT INTO R450. should've just gone with the guide provided by the resort. If not for the locals I...

We stayed in the 4 bedroom chalet and Going to break this up into sections,

Views: they are spectacular, from the ground floor and the 1st floor.

Chalet: very bare basic and needs maintenance, the main bedroom had tiles missing and others started lifiting. The walls need a repaint. The doors are alright but perhaps replemant required as it does not suit holiday going. Some form of indoor entertainment is required as night time the locals scare the kids with their persistence or when it rains there is nothing to do except work on parents nerves, perhaps install a tv with dstv or go the extra mile with netflix.

Restaurant: very overprices for value, bills came to 700 rand for 2 burgers, a pizza and half a chicken with 4 cokes and it does not feel likes a restaurant, more like a cafeteria.

Service: service had its days where they were friendly and some not but I can understand that during covid lockdown they have shortness of staff which leads to stress for the few and little time. I can consider myself in same situation and cannot see where I can be friendly when there are so many demands whith no friendliness back.

Convenient store: only open for 3 hours and broken into 8-9 then 13:00 - 14:00 then 17:00 to 18:00. Its there for convenience, so dont expect a shopping mall. Prices, well its a convenient store.

Swimming pool and play area: was quite nice but the grass needed a bit of a trim.

Roads: you need a 4x4 or anything with high ground clearance and 4x4 capabilities should be fine, anything less... You will damage you car (suspension, buckle mags, etc). Locals are friendly but you do drive through a village/township for a good 1-2hours.

Shops: there is a cash and carry 28km from lodge, parking there os horrific, the queues I noticed were for the atm, they had everything we needed but meat seemed quite a bit off.

Nearest gas station: next to the cash and carry 28km away.

Beaches: nice but mind the poo. Locals can be very overwhelming and persistent, to that point where they watch where you stay and harass you at your chalet. To do the hikes there will be times where you need to use the beaches.

Overall it was an experience which has its...

The Good: The self catering unit is ok, it has everything you require, with a fantastic view, as accommodation alone it serves it's purpose. The rest of the resort experience falls a bit flat, some understandable outside the resort's control. It was nice to see active maintenance being done on the units. The staff is very friendly, however seem to lack initiative, we asked twice for a bread and carving knife that was missing from our unit, at the end we gave up and just used my leatherman

The Bad: When we made the booking we got an email stating we should contact the resort if we celebrating a special occasion, which we promptly did letting them know it is our 24th anniversary on the Monday, we reminded them again on the Sunday we booked in, nothing, not even a little note, nothing, why add something like that if you not going to honour it.

The stray dogs are a huge problem, they really sad sight to see and I found it heartbreaking to see these guys floating from braai tot braai to try and scavenge some food, not sure how the resort can address it, maybe adopt a dog for your stay program, where the hotel can give the dogs some kibble, that the holiday makers can donate towards the kibble, also spaying the dogs might alleviate the problem.

The unofficial guides that harass and pester you, the moment you put your foot outside the resort gate, the got all kinds of Aly tricks trying to extort some sort of money out of you, it was really a very unpleasant experience whilst being on holiday.

The rubbish that is everywhere, I know it is not the resort's problem, but I do see the resort as a custodian of the area in front of them, maybe a solution would be to post a bounty on rubbish and give everyone a burger voucher if they bring a full black bag of rubbish back from their hike, or maybe the informal guides could get R50 per full black bag they return.

The noise, we had people staying behind us that insisted playing their nightclub music night and day, the resort did not bother about these guys, what should have been a peaceful holiday resulted in us leaving a day earlier because I could not take another night of loud...