Oceanway and Benri B&B

My husband has stayed here countless times, seeing that he works in East London occasionally. We stayed there in 2017 with our daughter, and had a very pleasant stay. Decided that we wanted to take our son there for his first vacation on his second birthday in April 2021.

I asked for a quote and availability, where I then received a quote for a second story unit. I then specifically asked for the ground floor unit with an enclosed garden that we stayed in, in 2017. This was available, I made the booking and paid our 50% deposit on the 2nd of December 2020.

On the 23rd of April we drove 7 hours, reached our destination. Got to the unit we booked, just to see that the keys were incorrect. 3 minutes later a lady walked up to me and told me that I was at the incorrect unit, they booked this unit. I called reception and she came immediately. She then tells me that there must have been a mistake with the booking as we were booked in the second story unit. But she can also see that our booking was made early December 2020 and theirs in March 2021. I went through all my emails and saw that I definitely booked and paid for the ground floor unit. I told them that there is no way that I could stay up there with a 2 year old. The owner arrived apologized and then asked us to move out of the way so the 3 people that booked in March can move into the unit.

How embarrassing, as if we made the mistake? We just stood there like idiots. The owner asked us if we couldn't just keep all the doors locked, this was now so our son can't fall down the stairs or balcony???? They then offered to move us to another unit which was on the street with no fence, which was actually worse? I asked the owner four or five times why we were being moved around. Our booking was made first. But they just kept apologizing. Not once did they try and move or make another plan for the people that were incorrectly booked, nor did they give as any explanation as to why our booking was being treated as less important. If their booking were paid for before ours it would have been fair if they got to stay in the unit. They ruined what was supposed to be an exciting day for us as a family. The situation was treated so unfairly and unprofessionally. We eventually ended up at another guest house, where we really enjoyed our stay. But it still does not make up for how we were treated by Benri and Oceanway. We will definitely not ever be making use of them for personal or business trips ever again.