One Calais Place — Hotel in Sea Point

Great location with amazing views. Check in staff were wonderful, very friendly and helpful, especially Cardre. Unfortunately, the tiny swimming pool on the roof was dirty. There are particles of gunk in it which put me off swimming. There’s only one umbrella for the whole deck. It’s the saddest broken umbrella I ever did see. Such a beautiful day I couldn’t enjoy the deck because there was no shade outside because the single broken umbrella was already occupied. What a pity, it’s got so much potential. So lovely and clean with good linen. Decorated well. Unfortunately, the bathroom is still in the process of being renovated. There’s masking tape remaining in the bathroom and damp showing through the walls. Hopefully working on improving these areas will result in a better experience for future guests. I did cross paths with a cockroach 🪳 in my room, and had to ask for an additional toilet roll and body wash to be topped up (I was running low during my 5-night stay). Load shedding (scheduled power outages) are inconvenient and disruptive. The stair cases are generally unlit - so you need to use your cellphone torch to see where you’re walking. The lift cannot be used during load shedding and if you’re in the lift when the power goes out, there’s a notice in the lift informing that guests will be responsible for the technician’s call-out fee if you get stuck in the lift - so you need to check the load shedding schedule app before using the lift. When power comes back on, there’s fire alarm sounds. I woke up hot at 2am because the power went out so the air conditioner stopped working. I opened windows so that was fine. However I was woken up by the fire alarm going off at 4am. Grabbed a jacket and my phone and ran out the apartment - and the alarm stopped. It was quite a frightening experience. The same happened the next afternoon - see the video recording. And again on the last night of my stay. Not only is this an annoying disturbance, but this means that there’s no battery backup for the fire alarm system. 🔥 So should there be a fire in the building while the power is out, you’ll not be alerted. This is a serious safety risk!

The swimming pool was partially drowned on Sunday - so despite the beautiful weather, the (dirty) pool could...

I stayed here for two nights. We came here, and the first thing I noticed was a broken toilet pot seat. Apart from that, the showers are leaking, and it gets wet everywhere, but the one thing I hated the most about this place is the dirty carpet and floors. I had my two babies with me, and when they're crawling, they're so dirty and black. Very small space and a very steep road to enter this place. Not to mention no backup when there's loadshedding, and this can be an inconvenience during the hot summer nights. Very noisy neighbors who don't consider other fellow travelers on the other 'apartments'. Also, just to mention. As you enter the property, they have a disclaimer on the walls that says they're not liable for any damage, injuries, or stolen goods on their property. So they completely reject any kind of responsibility for incidents happening on this property, which I completely and utterly find sketchy, especially after seeing other reviews of stolen goods inside their rooms.

So 100% this is a place I'll never recommend to anyone. I am amazed at why and how this place is...

Apart from two men attempting to enter my room at 6AM and the place holding my refund for over a month, the place was nice views but definitely unsafe. Would never recommend especially for solo female travellers because when the door didn’t open (it was locked form the inside because I just had a feeling about this place) the men asked each other if they should attempt to open it again 🫠 at 6AM!!!! While I’m alone inside freaking out because??? The man who attempted to enter my room at 6AM is supposedly from head office he was accompanied by the security guard who helped me take my bag to my room the previous night but they claim they didn’t know that the room was occupied 🤔 so someone from head office left at 6AM to come and look for a vacant room and decided to enter mine with the security who KNEW I was there??? Righttttttt. The matter was handled so poorly till this day but I ended up booking a different spot and enjoyed the rest of my...