Hitgeheim Country Lodge — Hotel in Sundays River Valley Local Municipality

Having paid in full for our trip to Hitgeheim in July 2019 we were very disappointed when in reaction to Covid 19 the South African Government placed a ban on international travel. As with all the hotels we booked along the Garden Route which was our plan we contacted Hitgeheim to let them know that we were unfortunately unable to join them for our stay and to request a refund for the full amount we'd paid. Hitgeheim offered to postpone our holiday, however this was not possible for either ourselves or indeed our travelling companions so rather than issue our refund Hitgeheim suggested that we try and claim the 48,100 ZAR paid direct to themselves via our travel insurance. We duly claimed but unfortunately our insurers denied the claim owing to the fact that we had been offered a postponement in the first instance. We once again contacted Hitgeheim to ask for the return of our monies and were totally astounded by Archie the owners response. He was sad that our claim had failed however his priorities were to his business and that he was not prepared to offer any level of refund or indeed honour his original offer of a postponement! His exact words when we expressed our disappointment were "I rest my case". We had booked our 3 week trip independently and ALL other hoteliers with the exception of Hitgeheim did the honourable and morally correct thing and returned our monies. Should you wish to visit Addo please do so, we really loved our first visit so much so we were returning with friends to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. It would be wrong to penalise the Addo region based on the selfish behaviour of one hotelier, however think long and hard before booking Hitgeheim as there are plenty of good Lodges / Hotels in the area that I am sure are more worthy of receiving your hard...

Positives: Staff very nice & forthcoming The modern rooms are nice & great view (the ones shown on the pictures) generally nice view

Improvements: Our stay started with the hotel shuttle to the hotel and the owner picking us up with a 35y old Mercedes, then driving through a big township. We didnt feel very safe. The Hotel charges 100 Euros for this 1h Drive, and a normal VW Bus is available A lot of things like furniture etc a bit outdated and colonial for a 5 star hotel Food: Dinner is a set 4 course menu and feels like good homecooking but certainly Not Restaurant quality, particularly for the price (550 Rand pP!!) for that you get much better in tourist places. Lunch (small wrap and salad) cost 230 Rand and is mediocre. The only free food is the breakfast but way below 5 star, rather 3 star Hotel First we were assigned a room we actually didnt book (judging By the pictures), which was very old fashioned, dark and Not nice and smelled like our grandparents lived there. Only after asking we got what we booked The place is quite off and they close at night (only hotel that does that even in a remote location), hence your completely reliant on the hotel for food etc We feel the owner is taking advantage of that Situation with the high charges on food, Airport shuttle etc. Owner is generally bit dubiuos and claims that everything is the best, even told us the tap water is fine to drink, but staff tells you the opposite. We had bad tommies for 2 days

If the owner wasnt so dubios, food was better and things not overpriced plus getting what you booked the place would be quite nice, staff and the renovated rooms plus Location...

This is a difficult review to write because the location, food, staff and the accommodation was very good.

Our issue was however the dreaded Covid. The staff did not wear masks nor have did Hitgeheim have any anti Covid measures that we could see. It was a major issue to us as after we left Hitgeheim were taking a flight back to France (Our home). If we had a positive Covid test we would not be able to fly home. The staff did wear masks on request, however on the visit to the Elephant Park the driver didn't (apart from where is was mandated in the park area). The safari transport was an enclosed Landcruiser (we all opened windows).

Our point is that Hitgeheim is a resort where many people from all over the world visit. On our visit there were guests from Germany, Netherlands, UK and France. Covid cases in these countries at the time of our visit was very high.

The owner came to see us at breakfast the day we left. He was not wearing a mask and when requested to wear one he refused saying that "He does not do that anymore, I'm done with that he said"

We asked him to leave us and move away which he did, but it was a very unpleasant experience.

In summary, if Covid protection is important to you, check their current measures before you book. If Covid is not a priority to you then Hitgeheim is a very nice...