WM
Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge
Unclaimed Business
WM
Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge
Unclaimed Business
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Peter-John Steyl
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
6 May 2024, 14:37
Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge - A complete tourist trap
My wife and I stayed at this lodge for two nights in order to hike the Tugela Falls which is supposed to be one of South Africa's most amazing day hikes. It truly is, however, our experience was completely ruined by the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge. There is not a single good thing I can say about this lodge and can only in my opinion as a well travelled person be classified as a tourist trap. It is the only accommodation near the hike available if you want to avoid a lengthy drive before the hike, but in hindsight this would be the better option. Firstly the accommodation is overpriced for the quality of the rooms and the overall quality of the Lodge - especially when comparing this to our accommodation in the Drakensburg the night before. Then there is the road from the lodge to the actual hike start which is so badly maintained that it is completely inacessible by any vehicle other than a high clearance, low range 4X4 - a convenient additional inflated expense that the lodge profits from and after years of deterioration - show now intention of doing any maintenance to this access road. Furthermore, when booking a transfer at this inflated cost, you are then collected by a vehicle that is more than 30 years old, and crammed in to capacity, not always being guaranteed a proper seat and could easily be stuffed in the back with the backpacks with a foam mattress to offer little to no comfort for the treacherous road ahead! To add to this our specific transfer arrived late, then discovered he had a flat tyre - and no tools to enable him to change a tyre. Our time slot was delayed by an hour and a half forcing us to hike in a part of the day we were trying to avoid. Furthermore, the driver and hotel staff were completely unapologetic towards us and the inconvenience. On completion of our hike the same transfer driver and vehicle seemed completely oblivious and had made no amendments to their schedule for the return transfer due to the mornings delays despite us reminding them of this on our mornings drop off before the hike that we would now only be returning an hour and a half later than originally scheduled. This resulted in us having to sit waiting more than an hour for another transfer to return us. The Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge itself also offers very little improvement on the above complaint. With extremely basic rooms for the price charged, few to no extra facilities other than a massage parlour - which we did not try as I am sure it would have only disappointed us further if it was anything like the rest of the lodges services which we experienced. The restaurant was a joke - with the basic menu offering basic options that when served are tasteless, badly prepared (My steak was tough, flavourless and overcooked, whilst my wife's chicken was badly undercooked - even after returning to the kitchen it came back in not much better condition and seemed to have been microwaved). There is very little love put into the meals, no extra garnishing's and just plain disgraceful. With no other nearby options for lodge residents to get food this is especially terrible. The breakfast was just as unexciting with fresh ****ins probably the only notable effort. The remainder of the buffet was bland and constrained, with little to no vegetarian or pork altenatives, only scrambled egg, and rarely replenished if at all. Even a request for some fresh warm toast seemed like a mammoth task and was not eagerly or hastily done. The staff (both restaurant, cleaning and reception) seemed poorly trained with regards to the hospitality industries even most basic standards and their attitudes and behavior was shocking and unpleasant to have to endure as a paying guest. Their mode of communication seemed to be screaming across whichever open space they were occupying to their fellow colleagues - often not even work related and mostly just general load jovial conversation with each other with no regard for the irritation it may have caused to the lodges guests who were dining, sleeping or often just there to enjoy the lounge our outdoor areas. The kitchen had a constant blaring of loud voices of staff conversing with an obvoius disregard to guests tranquility. This loud shouting started from early in the morning when the first staff start their shifts, while most guests are still steeping or only starting to wake and is not confined to only the inside areas but also across lawns and parking areas outside guests rooms. The evenings were also not quiet and peaceful as it seemed that the lodge had allowed / not prevented some hikers to pitch a tent in the parking lot and also loudly socialise to the detriment of the roomed guests well earned sleep after a lengthly hike and horrible dinner. On complaining to reception of such, little to nothing was done to end this / remedy or even quieten this situation almost as if to sanction it. I can truly say that of my many stays around the country and world, this is down there with the worst of them and the only silver lining is that the actual hike and surrounding epic beauty of the Tugela Falls remains breathtaking with no thanks to the lodge itself, but rather all due to mother nature. In fact, I believe that without this lodge being situated near this amazing hike, and if it were placed anywhere else without a tourist attraction and with other nearby accommodation options - it would have ceased to exist!
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Peter-John Steyl
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
6 May 2024, 14:37
Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge - A complete tourist trap
My wife and I stayed at this lodge for two nights in order to hike the Tugela Falls which is supposed to be one of South Africa's most amazing day hikes. It truly is, however, our experience was completely ruined by the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge. There is not a single good thing I can say about this lodge and can only in my opinion as a well travelled person be classified as a tourist trap. It is the only accommodation near the hike available if you want to avoid a lengthy drive before the hike, but in hindsight this would be the better option. Firstly the accommodation is overpriced for the quality of the rooms and the overall quality of the Lodge - especially when comparing this to our accommodation in the Drakensburg the night before. Then there is the road from the lodge to the actual hike start which is so badly maintained that it is completely inacessible by any vehicle other than a high clearance, low range 4X4 - a convenient additional inflated expense that the lodge profits from and after years of deterioration - show now intention of doing any maintenance to this access road. Furthermore, when booking a transfer at this inflated cost, you are then collected by a vehicle that is more than 30 years old, and crammed in to capacity, not always being guaranteed a proper seat and could easily be stuffed in the back with the backpacks with a foam mattress to offer little to no comfort for the treacherous road ahead! To add to this our specific transfer arrived late, then discovered he had a flat tyre - and no tools to enable him to change a tyre. Our time slot was delayed by an hour and a half forcing us to hike in a part of the day we were trying to avoid. Furthermore, the driver and hotel staff were completely unapologetic towards us and the inconvenience. On completion of our hike the same transfer driver and vehicle seemed completely oblivious and had made no amendments to their schedule for the return transfer due to the mornings delays despite us reminding them of this on our mornings drop off before the hike that we would now only be returning an hour and a half later than originally scheduled. This resulted in us having to sit waiting more than an hour for another transfer to return us. The Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge itself also offers very little improvement on the above complaint. With extremely basic rooms for the price charged, few to no extra facilities other than a massage parlour - which we did not try as I am sure it would have only disappointed us further if it was anything like the rest of the lodges services which we experienced. The restaurant was a joke - with the basic menu offering basic options that when served are tasteless, badly prepared (My steak was tough, flavourless and overcooked, whilst my wife's chicken was badly undercooked - even after returning to the kitchen it came back in not much better condition and seemed to have been microwaved). There is very little love put into the meals, no extra garnishing's and just plain disgraceful. With no other nearby options for lodge residents to get food this is especially terrible. The breakfast was just as unexciting with fresh ****ins probably the only notable effort. The remainder of the buffet was bland and constrained, with little to no vegetarian or pork altenatives, only scrambled egg, and rarely replenished if at all. Even a request for some fresh warm toast seemed like a mammoth task and was not eagerly or hastily done. The staff (both restaurant, cleaning and reception) seemed poorly trained with regards to the hospitality industries even most basic standards and their attitudes and behavior was shocking and unpleasant to have to endure as a paying guest. Their mode of communication seemed to be screaming across whichever open space they were occupying to their fellow colleagues - often not even work related and mostly just general load jovial conversation with each other with no regard for the irritation it may have caused to the lodges guests who were dining, sleeping or often just there to enjoy the lounge our outdoor areas. The kitchen had a constant blaring of loud voices of staff conversing with an obvoius disregard to guests tranquility. This loud shouting started from early in the morning when the first staff start their shifts, while most guests are still steeping or only starting to wake and is not confined to only the inside areas but also across lawns and parking areas outside guests rooms. The evenings were also not quiet and peaceful as it seemed that the lodge had allowed / not prevented some hikers to pitch a tent in the parking lot and also loudly socialise to the detriment of the roomed guests well earned sleep after a lengthly hike and horrible dinner. On complaining to reception of such, little to nothing was done to end this / remedy or even quieten this situation almost as if to sanction it. I can truly say that of my many stays around the country and world, this is down there with the worst of them and the only silver lining is that the actual hike and surrounding epic beauty of the Tugela Falls remains breathtaking with no thanks to the lodge itself, but rather all due to mother nature. In fact, I believe that without this lodge being situated near this amazing hike, and if it were placed anywhere else without a tourist attraction and with other nearby accommodation options - it would have ceased to exist!
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Seipei M
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
30 Aug 2018, 11:04
Poor service and client hospotality
The worst service in the hospitality industry you can find. A simple issue is blown out of proportion and they don want to listen to the customer. I wanted to get 2 mains from my food allowance but was cohersed into taking a horrible asparagus soup as a starter which I didn't want.
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Seipei M
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
30 Aug 2018, 11:04
Poor service and client hospotality
The worst service in the hospitality industry you can find. A simple issue is blown out of proportion and they don want to listen to the customer. I wanted to get 2 mains from my food allowance but was cohersed into taking a horrible asparagus soup as a starter which I didn't want.
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Lize-Marie Dreyer
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
18 Oct 2016, 07:45
VERY VERY POOR! DO NOT BOOK AT WITSIESHOEK.
<p>My friends and I took a trip to Witsieshoek for a weekend over a month ago. We had a terrible stay as the accomodation was truly horrific. We searched for the manager twice on our stay and couldn't find him so we wrote him an e-mail in the car on the way home. It has taken them over a month to come back to us and their response has been extremely unsatisfactory.</p> <p> </p> <p>Dear Witsieshoek,</p> <p> </p> <p>It’s hardly a surprise that the service from you is as bad as the state of the accommodation of the Hikers Cabin at Witsieshoek.</p> <p>Here is a list of all our issues with the Hikers Cabin:</p> <p>1. We arrived to accommodation that had not been cleaned - it wasn’t just dusty but dirty. By the Saturday afternoon we actually had to complain at reception to get the place cleaned. The cleaning ladies arrived and didn’t even want to mop the floors claiming that they didn’t have a mop. We insisted and soon a mop magically appeared. Apparently the ‘we don’t have a mop’ excuse had been used many times before as once that floor started being mopped you could see exactly how much dirt there was - the water in the bucket was blacker than soot and you’d swear that floor hadn’t been mopped in years. The bathrooms were equally disgusting!</p> <p>2. Layers of dust in the bathrooms and all over. We had trouble sleeping and breathing the first night we slept there (Friday).</p> <p>3. The rooms lacked plugs and working heaters. We froze all weekend! We asked for a heater at reception, they gave us another broken one.</p> <p>4. No proper cutlery for a self catering place - not even a bread knife or a cutting board to cut bread on!</p> <p>5. Horrible, washed-out, hole-ridden linen and beds that don’t even have mattress covers or fitted sheets on them - we were almost too disgusted to sleep in these beds!</p> <p>6. Not enough Toilet Paper for the guests. A basic necessity that should be available.</p> <p>7. Not enough hot water for the guests. Another basic necessity. I don’t know how everyone can shower when all the rooms have been booked.</p> <p>8. Finally, false advertising on your website which goes against our consumer rights. The Consumers Right to Fair and Honest Dealing states that: "Suppliers are not permitted to, directly or indirectly, provide consumers with false, misleading or deceptive representations regarding goods or services; and Suppliers are not permitted to use exaggeration, innuendo or ambiguity when referring to goods or services or the benefits thereof.” Your website shows images of lovely rooms with clean white linen and says: “The Cabin has six cosy rooms” and “is heated with oil heating” - what a joke! Those rooms are certainly not cosy, nor are they heated, as we almost froze that weekend.</p> <p> </p> <p>Honestly, you should be ashamed that you let any guests stay in accommodation in such a condition!</p>
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Lize-Marie Dreyer
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
18 Oct 2016, 07:45
VERY VERY POOR! DO NOT BOOK AT WITSIESHOEK.
<p>My friends and I took a trip to Witsieshoek for a weekend over a month ago. We had a terrible stay as the accomodation was truly horrific. We searched for the manager twice on our stay and couldn't find him so we wrote him an e-mail in the car on the way home. It has taken them over a month to come back to us and their response has been extremely unsatisfactory.</p> <p> </p> <p>Dear Witsieshoek,</p> <p> </p> <p>It’s hardly a surprise that the service from you is as bad as the state of the accommodation of the Hikers Cabin at Witsieshoek.</p> <p>Here is a list of all our issues with the Hikers Cabin:</p> <p>1. We arrived to accommodation that had not been cleaned - it wasn’t just dusty but dirty. By the Saturday afternoon we actually had to complain at reception to get the place cleaned. The cleaning ladies arrived and didn’t even want to mop the floors claiming that they didn’t have a mop. We insisted and soon a mop magically appeared. Apparently the ‘we don’t have a mop’ excuse had been used many times before as once that floor started being mopped you could see exactly how much dirt there was - the water in the bucket was blacker than soot and you’d swear that floor hadn’t been mopped in years. The bathrooms were equally disgusting!</p> <p>2. Layers of dust in the bathrooms and all over. We had trouble sleeping and breathing the first night we slept there (Friday).</p> <p>3. The rooms lacked plugs and working heaters. We froze all weekend! We asked for a heater at reception, they gave us another broken one.</p> <p>4. No proper cutlery for a self catering place - not even a bread knife or a cutting board to cut bread on!</p> <p>5. Horrible, washed-out, hole-ridden linen and beds that don’t even have mattress covers or fitted sheets on them - we were almost too disgusted to sleep in these beds!</p> <p>6. Not enough Toilet Paper for the guests. A basic necessity that should be available.</p> <p>7. Not enough hot water for the guests. Another basic necessity. I don’t know how everyone can shower when all the rooms have been booked.</p> <p>8. Finally, false advertising on your website which goes against our consumer rights. The Consumers Right to Fair and Honest Dealing states that: "Suppliers are not permitted to, directly or indirectly, provide consumers with false, misleading or deceptive representations regarding goods or services; and Suppliers are not permitted to use exaggeration, innuendo or ambiguity when referring to goods or services or the benefits thereof.” Your website shows images of lovely rooms with clean white linen and says: “The Cabin has six cosy rooms” and “is heated with oil heating” - what a joke! Those rooms are certainly not cosy, nor are they heated, as we almost froze that weekend.</p> <p> </p> <p>Honestly, you should be ashamed that you let any guests stay in accommodation in such a condition!</p>
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