Hippo Hideaway — Hotel in Mtubatuba Local Municipality

Hippo Hideaway, promoted as "luxury" chalets, is everything but what it is made out to be. We booked a family holiday for 6 for 4 nights costing a total of R16 000- at that price you'd expect decent, clean and luxury. Firstly, they are not secluded chalets, they are town houses situated right next to each other to the point that you can hear your neighbours sneeze. They do not have chalets for 6, so we were given two units- on opposite sides of the lodge. Not ideal for a family holiday and they were not willing to accommodate us by moving us closer together, despite us being the only guests at the lodge. As we stayed in separate units, we also discovered that not all units are provided the same utensils- for example unit for 4 had no braai tongs and unit for 2 did. We put that behind us and decided it wasn't the end of the world. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it. The floors were so dirty our feet were black after 5 minutes of taking our shoes off, everything was covered in dust so we politely asked that the chalets were cleaned again. Two days later an item of my clothing fell between the cupboard and the wall and when I looked to fetch it, there was also a pair of someone else's soiled underwear covered in dust down on the floor. So much for cleaning them again! In the unit for 2 our door was faulty and wouldn't unlock from the inside-out I had to climb out the window to open from the outside. The shower has a wonderful crust of black mould along the floors and the laminate on the door has chipped off so it's just chip wood. Everything at this place is branded Hippo Hideaway- the crockery, glassware, matches, waterbottles. Coming from the hospitality industry, I know this type of custom work costs a small fortune. I cannot understand why the owners, or management would pump their money into branding when the units themselves are in such a disgusting state. The cherry on top for me is that they promote that they provides eco-friendly shampoo and body wash, which is exactly the same product and when you smell it is clearly not eco-friendly at all, the chemical stench burns the nostrils. Hippo Hideaway is a waste of time and will leave you more tense than when you started your holiday. It's not maintained, it's dirty and they lie as a marketing ploy. Take your hard-earned...

Our stay at Hippo Hideaway was shocking to say the least. When we arrived we were greated by an unfriendly manager, we went to see if we could get an early check in but it was not possible. When I asked if we could fill out the paper work then so later we could just collect the keys, we received an abrupt "no not now". Then the dissapointment happened when we came later to check in, as a returning guest we requested the Estaury chalets (4 sleeper) which we stayed in last time and 1 x standard 2 sleeper. We were told over email that this had been booked for us. However, when we checked in, we were given 3 x standard rooms. This was such a dissapointment as we wanted to be in the nature and watch the hippos like we did last time.

We accepted that they were full and could not change the rooms. When we got to our rooms, we were further dissapointed as we were missing cultery in all 3 rooms! The floors were dirty, cultery missing handles, towels stained with jig, rusted soap dispensers, dirty fridge shelves, bug in ice tray, used tooth picks outsidr our door and gum stuck to table lamp. One of the rooms the tap was not working and had to be fixed. Poor maintenance in rooms and in need of a DEEP CLEAN. Swimming pool green and in need of a clean. Whole property needs cleaning with grounds having a lot of litter and leaves.

But to top it all off, when we came back to our room we found a cleaner sleeping in our bed! She was even snoring and when we tried to wake her up she carried on sleeping. When she finally woke up she went to OUR bathroom and washed her face! Disgraceful! The mananger did not know how to handle the situation and could only appologise and later gave us a bottle of with crisps and 2 fake flowers.

This property is not of 4 star quality at all! Its disgraceful and we will not be returning! Stay away! A...

Booked St Lucia lodge via bookings.com. Due to an issue with electricity (?) in that accommodation we were transferred here instead. A better option as it’s on MacKenzie with Spar, restaurants etc near by. Nice and clean and a really good choice. ||The rooms we took were upstairs with a balcony overlooking the pool. We didn’t use the pool but it looks good. They have interconnecting rooms for families. Tv, wifi, tea/coffee and self catering (microwave, hob and fridge) are included. Soap and conditioner/ towels are also included. ||There is air co but unfortunately two load shedding periods during the night meant it was limited use. Thankfully not too hot this time of year. ||We used the restaurant for drinks and breakfast - very good. There are Lots of play areas for kids including on the terrace. ||The staff were excellent from when we met the manager at the outset through to the floor and cleaning/...