On The Estuary Knysna — Local services in George

Did not even stay… we arrived and checked in, only to realise the room smelled musty and closed up, a door that could not be opened for me to air the room as the keys were no where to be found, overall appearance was shocking with a broken glass window by the pool, and broken/unusable boardwalk down by the water, the location is not desirable which unfortunately if you have never been to Knysna you would not know this (like us).

They are directly next to the N2 with trucks and vehicles rushing past (yes - so cleverly pictured over the little bit of water between On The Estuary and the main freeway.)

Asking for the family room, they put us next to the bar, which only now after further reading other peoples reviews who had a similar experience, reading that the bar had closed at 23:00 with a rowdy bunch. After finding that out we were so thankful that we decided not to stay as we have a 5 year old!

Sure we were offered an “upgrade” although I’m not sure what the upgrade would have been since we booked the “Luxury Deluxe” room hence we did not even want to view the other option which was walking distance from the previous room.

We were so upset with the smell of the closed up tiny room, gecko mess, location, etc etc and just LEFT after being told we would get 1 of the 2 nights stay money back since we were so utterly disappointed - fair enough for everyone.

However, they are going back on their word… Currently in the situation, so no resolution as yet.

PS the invoice left for me neatly on the bed did not reflect the price I paid, as it belonged to the previous guests. So obviously the room was not prepared for us since the invoice was still waiting to be collected from the previous people, which led to much confusion.

I definitely would not recommend On The Estuary.

I am unable to reply to their response so I will respond here to voice the truth below

•The keys for the back door to air the musty room were 100% no where to be found in the time that we were there- the receptionist patted her pockets and said I’m sorry I can’t find them but will look for them.

•You certainly did not “keep coming” to me as we weren’t there long before we made our decision.

•I can read, yes there is a cancellation policy, but then you should not have said you would reimburse the second night and get management to decide on the first night payment.

•I now believe that this was told to us to get us off the property without too much of a scene since you were checking in the next group of guests by then and needed us out...

After seeing beautuful pics on booking. com we did not hesitate to book the venue. After looking forward, great was our disappointment on arrival and seeing our room. Damp on the ceiling, blinds broken etc. we were very unhappy and on the point of leaving and I spone to the manageres Tracy that was helpful and I upgraded to the upper room which I paid for. The two nights staying there we did not sleep much because of all the traffic passing through right next to the venue. I feel there is a total misrepresentation based on the photos. Will never visit again. Breakfast was luckily good and I wanna thank the staff and Tracy for trying to make the best of...

Advantages. The owner or receptionist (or both in one person) was great. Good communication. Very nice. It is close to N2. It was the advantage for us because we traveled around Knysna and it was very easy to navigate. The place is nice and quiet. Tables outside of the rooms. BBQ space. Fridge, microwave, kettle (coffee, tea). Disadvantages. Close to N2. It can be loud. Please, consider this if it may be a problem for you during the nighttime. Our room had broken air conditioner and shower. It was a problem. Try to avoid room #4. Please, note that our friends lived in other rooms and had no such problems and had better experience. May be we are...