Find Mossel Bay Hotels With Hot Tub

great hotel in Mossel bay! We didn't realize Mossel Bay was a busy commercial port, but the hotel delivered: a nice room, comfortable bed, plenty of room and a nice sitting area complete with small kitchenette! We had a nice view of the harbor and were welcomed and shown to our room with kind hospitality. The property is nice and we ended up eating in the restaurant adjacent for dinner: Cafe Gannet. It was was packed, and we know why--terrific food and service! Although Mossel Bay itself was somewhat disappointing for us as part of the ”Garden Route”, the hotel was terrific.

I want to start by saying that my low review has nothing to do with the game drive or the accommodations, but instead the management and their inability to provide a solution to a problem that was their own fault. I booked this stay for my girlfriend’s birthday 6 months ago. (Her birthday was never acknowledged during our stay here by the way). In my package, I booked and paid for a 90 minute massage for the 2 of us. When we arrived to Gondwana, we asked about our spa treatments, but we were told by management they did not have us booked. They told us there was change in their booking system during July 2023 when we booked, and they had never transferred our spa reservation over, although they still had confirmation of our purchase. We asked for a resolution because we had been looking forward to these spa treatments. They offered us 60 minute massages during our afternoon game drive, which we obviously didn’t want to miss (plus the package I bought included 90 minute massages, not 60 minutes). The only other solution that was offered was for one of us to receive a massage on the morning of check out—Also not a good solution. We asked if there was any other compensation that we could receive for the inconvenience, but we were only offered a refund for the spa treatments. What makes all of this so frustrating is that they admitted this issue was their own fault when they failed to transfer our reservation in the booking system, but due to a lack of resolution, it felt like it was our fault for being uninformed and unprepared. We chose Gondwana because we heard it was the most prestigious game reserve in all of the Cape, but the lack of care for an inconvenience in our travels that was their fault has left us extremely disappointed. For a place of this caliber, they could do more than just offer a “sorry.” This is a very expensive stay, and you would think that would equate to caring about the guest, but it doesn’t. I want to mention that our game drive guide, Ruan has been nothing short of incredible. We’ve loved every minute of our game drives, along with the service at the restaurant and the luggage and housekeeping crew. But that is their job, to provide excellent service, and management should be held to the same standard. Unfortunately, with the lack of care of our reservation from management, what could have been a once in a lifetime time experience is left feeling flat.

Ok. Lots to say! We booked a 9am drive and arrived at the dirt road into the reserve with 40 minutes to spare. The road said closed! So we used google maps and information on their website and found another entrance for the lodges. So we drove for 40 minutes thinking we would just make it. But we couldn’t access the site there! So we went into the lodge reception and they called ahead and rebooked us on the 1pm and said they had reserved a table for us in the restaurant. And they told us to ignore the road closed sign! So another 40 minute drive back only to find the table reservation was not for anything complimentary! They could have emailed us to advise us to ignore the road closed sign but didn’t. The manager could barely apologise for what he called a minor inconvenience! To us, that was a stressful 90 minutes of extra driving! We had already filled in the online indemnity form- but they wanted a paper copy despite them saying in the on line form ‘save the trees’. To add insult to injury, the manager said he would come back to us about something complimentary but never did. We then went on the drive, got stuck in a mud ditch and had to wait for an alternative vehicle, which was filthy and uncomfortable compared to the first vehicle. Overall a memorable day for the wrong reasons. At least we saw some incredible animals.