Arminel Hotel — Hotel in Nkonkobe Local Municipality

We stayed in the Cottages which are amongst the trees and very pretty. It is a well kept resort with pleasant staff, however, over Christmas large groups of people picniced on the grass verge outside the main gate and on the adjacent picnic area and came into the Resort to use the pool etc. This made it very noisy. There was no inventory in our cottage and, therefore, no dinner plates, knives or forks in it which we had to request. We could not cook in the microwave as there are no dishes apart from one large casserole dish. The hot water tap in the kitchen did not work and there was no metal plate inside the Weber braai to catch the coals, so in order to use it we had to put a roasting pan in it or risk burning the wooden deck which had been done by previous guests. The wooden umbrella had been broken so we could only use the deck when in shade. The duvet covers on the 2 single beds in the loft had holes in them and there was hair in the upstairs shower on arrival. Carpets are in dire need of cleaning. Having said all this we enjoyed this Resort and would stay there again and perhaps the Resort will take my comments in the well intended way...

We were so excited to stay at a beautiful cottage in Hogsback and was very satisfied. Unfortunately, our weekend as first-timers in this hidden gem of S.A. was spoilt with a bad taste in your mouth at the Arminel, literally and figuratively! There was no host to greet us, instead we were told to go and find our own name in the two split up dining rooms. The quality of the food and the preparation was disgusting. Large prawns, not deveined and full of sand inside, meat not tender with watery sauce, mussels containing pieces of shells in the meat and ice cold food were among the disappointing presentation of food. A selection of puddings is surely reasonable to expect at a X’ mas dinner, not just one? I have verified professional and good service about the Arminel months ago, what went wrong? The attitude off the staff, during payment, was negative and does not reflect good training in the hospitality industry. We will definitely not visit this establishment again and will certainly not...

Absolutely wonderful value - the surrounds are great (although a little hard to get to if you fly into East London) - and the facilities in my room were just right. It was nice to enter a room where the heater was on (to kill off the autumn chill) and the double bed had two electric underpads (one for each side). The bathroom was spacious and provided a shower, separate toilet, bath and basin. Coffee facilities were adequate and breakfast was great. The dinner buffet had a limited range for R175 but it was delicious - unfortunately the instant coffee machine didn't provide all of the options and what it did produce wasn't spectacular. Wi-Fi is non-existent outside of the common areas and you have to leave those common areas around 10:30pm anyway, so if you are relying on internet for anything you will be disappointed. That being said, for R605 per night including breakfast, it's hard to beat. I would definitely consider using the facilities again if I were to visit Alice or...