Extremely disappointing stay

To whom it may concern

Please note that I booked to stay at The Premier Hotel, The Winkler in Mpumalanga during their Black Friday sale last year. My trip was initially booked for 2nd - 5th Jan however as a result of Covid, Simon assisted with moving it to the 8th - 11th of Feb.

I discussed with Simon that this was an anniversary stay and he assisted with some additional treats for my wife and I.

We arrived at the resort on the 8th around 17:30, the place was completely empty, this was okay as we are in the middle of a Pandemic. We were then lead to our rooms, upon which we noticed the condition of the building itself which was quite untidy and sort of dilapidated.

We entered the room and it was neat, extremely old fashioned however it was neat. After a short while my wife started experiencing an allergic reaction to the dust, most likely from the carpets, she then had to keep her mask on.

Around 11 that evening I decided to run a bath, after about 5 minutes I noticed the water was still cold, I then tried to call reception however no answer, I then left my room to go to reception, it was extremely dark, not a single light was on, there was no one at reception and I managed to find someone in the bar area that said to leave it running for a while. I went back to the room and did so, it never got hot so my wife had to boil water in the kettle and that sufficed.

In the morning I noticed the water pressure in the shower to be extremely low, there was barely anything coming out however we managed and proceeded to breakfast.

We were then seated in the dining area, however due to being the only couple at the hotel there was no buffet breakfast and we ordered off the menu. We had asked the waitress if there were any pastries and ****ins off the menu available and she said yes, when it came I noticed mould on the pastry. At this time the breakfast we ordered was served, I made the waitress aware of the mould and my wife and I barely ate breakfast, we were so scared after being served mouldy pastries.

We then decided that we could not stay here any longer and we went to reception to inform Simon. Unfortunately, Simon was not in, we informed the lady present of our dissatisfaction throughout the stay and that this is absolutely not the service one should receive at a 4 star hotel, we asked that Simon contact us immediately. We then left to find suitable accommodation elsewhere in the area. Upon our return, Simon was still not in and had not contacted us, the lady who assisted us advised he was in an area without signal. We handed over the key card and informed her to please tell Simon to contact us urgently regarding monetary concerns.

To this date, we have yet to receive a call from Simon.

This is appalling for a 4 star Hotel, I am well aware of the Premier Hotel chain and I do believe that there are hotels under this chain that are in fact 4 star, however The Winkler is absolutely not one of them and insinuating on their website and other accommodation sites that they are is absolutely false advertising. We are completely aware of the impact Covid has had on the tourism industry however to falsely advertise accommodation as 4 star to secure guests is intolerable. The Premier chain needs to take this branch into special consideration and consider closing down entirely or advertise them truthfully.

This is extremely disappointing, especially because there was numerous correspondence with The Winkler discussing that this was an anniversary stay and we were hoping for much more than we received.

Kind regards, Zane Thomas ***