Graskop Holiday Resort — Hotel in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality

Although I am all for supporting local businesses this turned out to be a resort I would NOT recommend at all, sadly, as it has so much potential with its location.||As was told to me it was a council/municipal run location that has been taken over by a private businessman for a 5 year contract and is into its 2nd year of that takeover. ||The place was put forward in connection with an event in the area that we were attending. ||I struggled with its terrible website, to make a booking and that in itself should have given me fair warning. I finally managed to make a 4 night reservation and despite arriving with a reservation reference number the receptionist insisted we did not have a booking. 20 minutes later, accompanied by lots of "huffing" noises from her, we were grudgingly given a key. First we had to assure her that having no TV or microwave was not a problem to us, but I did check that a fridge/freezer was part of the deal, and was informed it was as we had booked a chalet and they had been recently renovated - it was the rondavels that were still being renovated. ||Ignoring my better judgement to inspect before paying, I paid and we drove in through the gate onto a badly potholed piece of tar road. Opening the chalet door showed a sadly neglected, cold, unwelcoming abode that had no fridge. Returning to the reception I was informed to not worry as a fridge would be delivered. When I asked from where she stated it was being cleaned. I asked if any of the other chalets had a fridge as we had food in the car that needed a fridge and freezer. On being told yes I requested we have another key. Inspecting the 2 other chalets that we were given keys for, we found the same sadly neglected unwelcoming interior with a under-counter fridge but no freezer. Returning to the reception I was informed that they did not have freezers. At this point I declined to stay and requested a refund. A phone call to her boss relayed that a refund would be paid within the next three days, so we departed having left our bank details and contact number.||We remained in the town (which is small) attended our event at the resort and on the fourth day called in to ask about the refund which had not yet reflected in our bank account.||The staff behind reception knew nothing about it but very efficiently tracked down the first receptionist, confirmed our claim and called in the accounts person to make a refund through the card machine on the counter. However it transpired that no one knew how to do this and consultation with the boss produced an apology that they were not set up to do refunds immediately and an EFT would be made the following day to our bank. ||We left the area to return home having been given the direct line to a very helpful employee who said if we had not received funds by the day after to call her directly for follow up.||No money arrived into our account and so began a series of phone calls to try to speak to the boss (Elliot) directly. After 9 phone calls of leaving a message for him to call (and the staff assured me he was getting these messages) I finally got to speak to him. A polite phone call was conducted in which he apologised and said he was making payment as we spoke and would email me with proof of funds. ||Nothing arrived so the next day I resumed my attempts to contact him, with no luck. ||In desperation I contacted the event organisers who offered to take up my cause as he was a neighbour, they were to be having a meeting that evening so they would raise the issue and keep me informed and also gave me a direct number for Elliot. More promises of making a transfer. No money. More phone calls. By this stage my calls were going unanswered so I used my husbands phone, to be answered immediately. Yet another polite call with more promises of a refund. At this point I rested to watsapp messages which were received by Elliot, but not replied to. Again more phone calls (with a hang up when I said who was speaking), again all going unanswered. Finally resorted to Skype calls with more promises, a hang up from his side, and finally stayed on line while he made the transfer and forwarded proof of funds -sadly not the entire amount as he incorrectly stated we had paid by credit card (untrue) and the shortfall was cc fees/bank fees. ||A totally unpleasant experience leading to a really bad review written here. From someone who has stayed in many many locations and written many many...

Honestly disappointed! From the gate ... I mean there's no locks to properly secure and make sure the gates are locked. The drive to our chalet was a mission... it's just potholes, the road is rotten. The rooms, I appreciate that the linen was clean but the toilet.. My goodness, it smelt as thou it's a public toilet... The pool is poorly maintained. The flooring needs to be renovated. I get that the place is reasonable but they shouldn't now make us feel as thou we settled... If you want your customers to be happy and recommendtthe place, please be serious about renovating or rather sell that place to a owner that will look after the place and do serious renovations. And those curtains... My gosh...

We arrived late at the resort but the lady was kind enough to wait for us....good start right. Unfortunately when we got to the rooms to our surprise the bedding looked like it had not been changed, the door in one of the rooms was closed with a ladder, we didn't have enough cutlery and crockery were missing. Some of the stoves were not working in other rooms, the electricity kept tripping and the service was terrible.||This place looks like it was nice when it was still fresh but now its no longer maintained, the dining hall had horrible furniture and it took a long time to be able to make tea and...