Escape to Kievits Kroon Booking Number *** (roommate shared 121)

what started out as a great night away for my wife and i , was quickly dismissed as we checked into kievets kroon.

I browsed hotels within 1 hr of jhb just to have a short break which was overdue. I booked ourroom on Booking.com, received my booking no ********** 640. We were excited and looking forward to a good rest, so off we went.

Upon arrival, at 14:20 we were told that the room was not ready, that we should take a seat in library bar and get a welcome drink, then they would bring us the card when room was ready.

We sat in the library bar, for 10 minutes and to our surprise no one served us nor asked whether we wanted something to drink.I looked around and it seemed busy so we gave them the benefit of doubt. I said to my wife, let's go to the room and unpack, and return to the pool, we can get a drink there to unwind. (in these 10 min our room card was delivered to us).

Upon arrival to our room, no 121, we were horrified at the what we saw. What should've been a nice refreshing experience of a clean room as a 4 star should be , instead we were greeted by a dirty, un-made room (after waiting for our room to be ready)....By now I'm disgusted, I said to wife, lets go put our bags in the car and go to the bar whilst they clean, trying so hard to ignore this because I didn't want to be too fussy and ruin the night away.

We return to reception, I tell the lady who checked me in that our room was not cleaned and you gave us the card notifying us it was clean... her response "we so sorry"

so we go on our merry way to the pool to relax .... after 20 odd min waiters walking right past us.... I had to get, up walk into the bar and request a menu and service......

Eventually 35min later, some one comes to serve us. I ordered a pineapple ****tail and vodka and sprite zero......waiter came back 3 times to ask 'vodka and......' i reply sprite zero...now the warning signs are popping up as service or pride is lacking at kievets kroons. Clearly ethics and training are required. (red flag no 1).

My wife and I have 2 drinks each, my wife went to the spa to have her treatment, I went to the room, it appeared to be clean, so I unpacked our bags, and had a little snooze. Since it was one night's stay, I opted not to unpack our clothes into the cupboard. I left it in the cases.

My wife finished the treatment at 6:15 pm. I picked her up, take her to the room, and we have a bath... I then notice two blue face cloths.... I look at my wife and mention, all the face cloths and towels are white, but i see two blue face cloths.... we shrug it off... "maybe previous tenants left it behind and room service was in a hurry to clean" (red flag no 2).

So my wife is getting ready to attend dinner, I open the fridge and see an expensive bottle of wine, and fruit juice, a M'cdonalds happy meal, and milkshake.Once again,I put this down to room service being in a hurry to clean. Therefore, just human error.(red flag no3).

We then walk to dinner, through reception... past the pool.. to restaurant...I then sit down with the wife in the "booth" type table... surprise surprise, the cushion is broken and chair is moving etc.My wife is small so she could not have broken the chair with her weight. We move to a free standing table.By now we are starting to question this star rating of theirs... this "world luxury hotels award 2017" and so on. Anyway, we sat down, we had dinner. My wife asks the waiter for serviette as she has some sinus and would like to blow her nose.Eventually she goes to the restroom to blow her nose as the waiter disappeared.

She returns, we eat starters, her nose starts again, we ask again.... surprise... no serviettes. What restaurant has no paper serviettes...? So I eventually say to her, go get a toilet roll out the ladies restroom and bring it here.

Thee night proceeds, we eat dinner, we get our own toilet roll. We order a cappuccino ....and 2x coke zero but 45 min later waiter returns.. "ahhh sorry no one knows how to make a cappuccino" (red flag no 4). In response I ask her to bring a coffee....normal coffee ....(im thinking 4 stars....no one knows how to make a cappuccino" ... but anyways keeping our smiles 30 min later no coffee.... eventually we cant anymore we are getting agitated so we leave... we go to counter to settle the bill and to our dismay.. we must tell the reception what we had so we can receive a bill. At this point we questioned where and what our waitress had been up to? oh wait..awol.. we had three waiters when we looked back on the evening and not one of them could determine what we had.

We gave them an honest account of what we had (My wife still commented that they could be *****ed if they rely on customers to round up the bills) 2xbuffets 2x coke zeros (in which i received coke light) 1x sparkling water 1x still water...

R 526.00..... I shook my head and payed as that meal was no where near worth R 526.00 ... no where near a 4 star rating hotel...... (red flag no 5).

NOW my wife and I decided to call it a night. The whole walk back to the room I was complaining.... questioned my standards as "maybe i am overreacting and expect to much". I tried to not make it unpleasant for my wife as she was really looking forward to this time away.

We got to the room and changed into our pj's, just un-wind, put on the tv,laugh and say what a s$%^ day its been, lets hope tomorrow is better .

Next thing we hear our door open and people chattering on their way in. A couple walks into our room. I jump up to see what's happening...CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, we discover we are DOUBLE BOOKED in room no 121.....UNBELIEVABLE! I gather my thoughts as I watch this couple open the cupboards and take their belongings, laptops , etc. The woman is pregnant and tired, the husband is fuming mad and my wife and I stand there in utter shock, dismay, embarrassment and disbelief. We can't believe that this place can operate at this level and achieve all these "awards" there just is no way this is possible.... so much cannot possibly go wrong in 1 booking.... (Red flag is burned by this stage).

With great disgust and disappointment I walk up to reception... and request to see a manager... guess what .. we wait 10 min (urgency does not feature in this hotel code of ethics.)

By then, our "roommates " who happens to be on their last trimester have also made their way to reception. We were all standing in reception hugely embarrassed, awaiting the manager. The manager arrives, and I demand a refund... A transaction was done for reversal on my card. I will definitely follow up on the reversal and not take it for granted that it was processed. My wife and I left the venue at 10pm.

We t drove home and arrived at 11:30.

We have wasted half a tank of diesel, spent R526.00 on a average dinner, shared a room with another couple, begged for service, begged to pay our bills. I sit here today (next day) ..writing this as kievets kroon is generally viewed as a romantic getaway where couples can have picnics and unwind. We want our experience to alert others not to get their hopes up high and reconsider other options as our romantic evening was truly one of a kind....... one from Hell.

4 stars.... all these awards that you brag about on your website....highly questionable..

and i know nothing will come of this review... but if i can save just 1 couple from experiencing the embarrassment and humiliation that my wife and I encountered, my goal is achieved.

No thought or mention was given to the fact that this directly impacted our constitutional right to privacy as my wife and I could have been in the bath or any other compromising situation when the other couple arrived. Furthermore, had any of their belongings gone missing for whatsoever reason, the loss could have been turned on us and we could have been financially implicated for unforeseen damages and missing items which would have been attributed to us without our wrongdoing. As such, we feel this is an injustice of injuria.

yours truly Richard