Harbour House Hotel — Hotel in Overstrand Local Municipality

I was not sure if leave 5 stars or 4 stars. I decided to go with 4 stars and this is the reason why.

I travel a lot and I stay in a lot of hotels during the year, most of them are 4 or 5 stars hotels. South African standards are very high compared to the European ones. Generally speaking everyone can agree that a nice 3 hotel in SA is like a 4 star hotel in Europe.

This place has some pros and cons and I'll try to be as much as objective as I can.

The Harbour House Hotel is not cheap. It's for a mid high target so the expectations are very high.

We stayed in the Paradise 4 apartment which was really nice. Modern and minimal design, with beautiful view to the ocean, nice Miele kitchen, quiet rooms, large bathroom with both shower and bath in both rooms. Even a gas fireplace in the living room and a braai area with wood and firestarters.

3 min walk from the main building and the amazing (but cold) pool. I still can't figure out why these hotels do not arrange a heated pool since the weather is SA is quite perfect for this kind of pools.

We booked through the official web site calling the booking number. The booking service gave us a special discount. Once we arrived, the gentleman a the hotel was not really happy to see that booking.

We did not felt welcomed. He said straight away that the number we called is not their number, than he said that the booking number is not the one he recognize and other bla bla bla which you really do not expect from this kind of hotel.

It was not a nice first impression. We do not felt welcomed art all. There was a moment I wanted to cancel the booking in front of him but i did not. I just counted to 10 in my mind and smiled back to these little provocations.

We are the guests, it's a very difficult moment for the SA tourism, you should welcome us as guests with smile and welcoming, not as you are doing me a favor because you are not.

So this was the first not good impression. They even asked from where we called the booking... (it was from their own website). They never apologized for the way they behaved...

From a 4 star hotel I expect more smiles and services. The most of the staff was like in a rush. We asked for a caffe and they urged as to pay now now because they are closing the bar at 4 pm.

The second day, while staying ion the pool, a gentleman was cutting the grass for 20 minutes with a super noisy equipment and left in the middle of the garden a plastic bag with the old grass. While he was cutting, peaces of small rocks hit me while relaxing in the pool. Really?

The apartment was really nice, even if the battery of the air conditioning remote in the living room was flat. Small details.

Here and there in the flat you can spot some humidity on the wall but i think that is fine, since you are really 50m from the ocean. But still, small details.

The DSTV was not working. When we entered the apartment, there were a guy fixing the DSTV and he told us that it will be fixed by tomorrow. I'm paying today, so why it will be fixed for tomorrow? - our room was the only one with this problem he said.

He fixed temporary the problem with an ugly cable and left all the cables there. Very ugly and not acceptable. Details...

We had 10 channels of DSTV for few hours, that it never worked again. Not a big deal because the channels were mostly politics and sport. So again, you pay a not cheap price for a high level acomodation but you can't even turn on the tv show some cartoons to your kids by evening. This is not a huge problem but again, you pay for it so it should work.

The pool is outstanding with an amazing view. I loved the place. I did not liked the staff. Well, just the two ladies were polite on the reception.

Ah, yes, last think.

I was working in the late morning in the living room, only with my underpants and the cleaning lady came in, without any knocking or asking. By the way she was polite and the whole situation was just funny.

This hotel is very nice and you should try it. I hope they fix the "small details" which are expected from a...

Birthday surprise gone wrong.

TL;DR: bad service and very expensive!!!!

My boyfriend and I visited the Harbour house hotel on the 17th of March. I wanted to surprise him for his birthday so I went ahead and made the reservation in January already.

Unlike any other hotel that we have visited the full amount had to be payed by the 17th of February.... A month before check in. First warning sign.

While making the reservation I spoke to Patience. Patience never answers the phone and she is also never available when phoning HHH, the only way we could communicate was via e-mail. Is she a robot? Or does she work really strange hours? The second warning sign.

When phoning HHH I could speak to other staff members (not Patience) about the rooms. They were clueless. They couldn't tell me which room would be best? They did not even know the room names. On the website it said there was a hottub, when asking them about this, they had no clue. The third warning sign...

Despite these warnings... I went ahead and booked the room with Patience via e-mail. I told her it was a special occasion and that it was my boyfriend's birthday... She said she would organise champagne and brownies in the room for us. I saw pictures of other guests special rooms with champagne, chocolates and the word "smile" written in rose peddels. I thought that it would be special if they could do the same for us. Little did I know...

The check in time at this hotel is al 3pm! And the check out time at 11am! That is a pretty late check in for the price you are paying to stay there. I asked Patience if we could check in earlier as we want to spend the day there. The answer was no. But we are welcome to lay by the pool. I have to say, the pool is the main attraction to this place. If it wasn't for that pool I don't think the hotel would have many guests.

We arrived at HHH at about 12:30. Went to reception. They were not happy to see us! Told us we could go to the pool. They didn't show us to the pool. We had to find it ourselves. They said they will call us when the room is ready. Of course Patience was no where in sight. Unfortunately the weather was really unpleasant and we were sat in the wind outside for 2 hours.

When we started noticing other guests were checking in, we went to reception and asked them if the room is ready. Suddenly there were other staff at reception and he did not know any thing about us waiting to check in. He did not know about the birthday surprise either.

Finally we can go to our room! What a let down. Stained carpets and floors, old couches... no "smile", chocolates or champagne. Next up my boyfriend and I get our bags from the car. I pack way to much by the way. But no one helps us carry the bags. They watch him struggling up the stairs but no helped offered.

I ask the receptionist about the "surprise" and he said the will speak the Patience. They did eventually bring us brownies, but im not sure I want to eat them.

While trying to relax in our room, we where bothered by the staff's loud talking and chatting the afternoon away.

The fact of the matter is, it is not about the "surprise" it is about how you treat your guests (Taking in mind the price they payed for a one nights stay). This is our first visit here and most definitely our last. I would not recommend this hotel to any one, unless you are looking for a day...

Not often one feels so let down by a property. The marketing machine offered a "romantic room" in the Manor House as the princely sum of R5406 per night, off season ( late April) that would be R10812 for the weekend, with views, privacy and breakfast. This is the "South African Rate" with " best price matched' booked directly with property. To arrive there to a cold, damp room, in the corner next to the boundary fence, with no views, as it is set down from the hotel pool, next to the general picnic area, with access through the dining area only was the first disappointment. Quick to be trumped when we found out the room next door was booked on a booking site for 30% less, and, had more accomodation ( sitting area / fireplace? ) than the room we were allocated. From there it was downhill. The bed was anything but romantic - two single beds pushed together, the one mattress rock hard, the other hollow. And do not expect your room to be cleaned, we returned at lunch time to find the room in the same state as we left it - had to go ask Reception to send a cleaner, and then leave the room for 2 hours for them to clean. The breakfast was old and tired, served in a lifeless cold room, but not as tired as the staff that could barely get away from leaning against the serving counter to offer us coffee, sorry, filter only. Bread, supposed to be baked on site, was stale, milk under plastic clingwrap and the dog eared menu list a few egg options. We skipped breakfast both days and went around the corner to the little bistro. Making the most of the location, which is great and the only saving grace of this place, we explored Hermanus and had a great time, despite this poor hotel. There was no visible management on site over the weekend. I raised my complaint with the Reception staff on checking out and was met with a shrug of the shoulders. I contacted the hotel the next day, was send from pillar to post, finally got told that they will "look into my complains" and "come back to me" and "investigate why the rate was what was offered" a month later, still nothing. There are many better places in Hermanus for R10k a weekend, this is a rip-off and, just because they have a great location, can continue to do so. Recon many an international guest must have thought that this is the best SA can do in Hermanus and that is...