Montagu Guano Cave Resort — Local services in Langeberg Local Municipality

We were two families of which one were 6 people which included a 1 year old baby that made a booking for tented accommodation. The one family arrived and was told there was a double booking and that they dont have accommodation available for them. Its over school holidays so everything was booked. When we arrived and asked what was being done about it as we couldnt drive another 4 hours home the owner had a very nasty attitude and yelled saying that it has nothing to do with me and that she is dealing with our friends. Of course we were involved and before we checked in, we need to know whats going on and if we need to leave too. The owner then eventually after 3 hours found accommodation at a hotel for our friends for two days and said they must come back on the Sunday for one night. They arrived on Sunday after checking out and the owner said that she wanted to speak to them... That this whole situation was the family's fault and not the resort. My Friend had made an enquiry about camping and only an enquire and her email showed her current surname. She didnt make a booking for camping.. only enquired if there was space. She then decided not to camp and join us in a tented glamping site. She made the booking online and paid. There was an instruction to send the proof of payment to the resort. Her bank where the payment came from were in her married surname. She sent the proof of payment as well as the online booking confirmation to the provided email confirming that she has paid and her payment also included the breakage deposit. The resort allocated her payment to a CAMPSITE which is MUCH less than the tented glamping site and no breakage deposit is required. THEY ASSUMED the payment was for camping which is beyond me because her payment was for MUCH more. The resort didnt even query her payment to say that she overpaid if they thought it was for camping. They left it at that. In the meantime her booking was confirmed as she has received everything on email confirming a TENTED booking. On arrival after staying in the Hotel the owner shouted at the family saying it was their fault. She had no people skills whatsoever and then demanded for the family to pay them back for the hotel accommodation, as well as pay an additional fee to stay the Sunday night. She yelled sarcastically and asked the wife of the family WHAT IS YOUR SURNAME ANYWAY... So much so that the wife started crying. It was the most shocking way to handle this. The family had all confirmations on email and wanted to show her proof of the booking etc, but the owner had no time to look at it. The family then had to leave a day earlier after paying in full for their booking after they said that they were not going to pay more money as this was not a mistake on their side. If they looked at her email with the proof of payment and her booking confirmation the resort would not have booked her a campsite. If you run a business in hospitality you HAVE TO HAVE PEOPLE SKILLS. This is a lovely place but this owner's skills were...

My daughter and I had a trip through Western Cape, and searched for places to plan our trip as we go, so from Paarl we found out about Montagu Guano Cave Resort and decided we would go there in stead of Langebaan etc to see the cave and experience the resort.

Upon arrival we heard that they would not take us to the cave because we were just 2.. So that was a bit disappointing driving especially to Montagu for this (The Cango Caves did the whole tour with just me and my daughter.....)

The lady at reception also told me that they will close the restaurant at 8 as there are not many visitors, which I assumed is ok and reasonable and decided we will go at 6 to have dinner. Arriving at 6 we found them locking up and kitchen was already closed.. So now again quite disappointed with the effort we put in to visit this place and we basically came to a dead place where we could enjoy another resort instead. After me expressing my disappointment with this, yes the lady at restaurant offered to assist us but her staff already packed up and moved on. So I decided we would have to drive back to Montagu (luckily not far) and go search for other restaurants that were able to service us.

I am sure they might have better service when they are fully booked but I am also a business man and assist all clients doesnt matter if they only want something small or have a large project. I would expect a resort to treat clients from all over the same (and yes we are from Gauteng and thus it is quite an effort to get to Western Cape and choose various destinations on a once in a blue moon tour). All other resorts on our path accommodated us as expected except this one.

So maybe we caught them at a "bad" time just when the schools started in January but I wont return with the taste left in my mouth by this experience and an almost no-care attitude (because we are only 2 people camping)..

From there we decided to move to another resort the next day where we knew treatment was better and did not stay longer as planned to explore the area...

Avoid Staying Here – Disappointing and Overpriced||This was a terrible experience, and I would strongly advise against staying here.||The property is run-down, dirty, and smells unpleasant. Upon checking in after 5:00 PM, I tried to report our disappointment, but the after-hours number went unanswered. I searched for staff onsite, but there wasn’t a single person around. This lack of presence raises serious concerns about safety in case of an emergency.||There was no compendium in the apartment, no mention of Wi-Fi, or any password provided. When I texted for the code, it took three hours to receive a response, and the password they provided didn’t even work.||The "Mountain View" apartment was dark, dirty, and reeked. The curtains were old and dusty, and the bedding was low-quality polyester—not what you'd expect for R2500 per night. The tiny kitchen had no firewood or BBQ grill, and guests are expected to bring their own. How many tourists travel with firewood and a grill?||The towels were worn, and there wasn’t even a bathmat to step on after showering. The TV didn’t work due to a lack of signal.||We tried to make the best of it but ultimately decided to leave. After showering our children, we packed our car and searched for alternative accommodations because there was no way we could sleep in such a horrible environment.||Management seriously needs to lower their rates for such outdated and poorly maintained accommodations or invest in bringing the property up to standard. Charging premium prices for such mediocrity is daylight robbery.||The only redeeming factors were the day facilities and the friendly staff—but that’s about it.||Save your money and book elsewhere. There are plenty of great accommodations in Montagu that will still allow you to enjoy the pools as a day visitor without the frustration of...