I stayed here for one night as I was transiting Cape Town with a flight the following morning. The check-in experience was pretty quick and seamless, as my booking was pre-paid.
I stayed here being fully aware of the carbon-neutral moto. The hotel appeared clean and tidy. The free shuttle from the airport was trouble-free. The directions to the pick-up was simple to follow. The pick-up was on time, and it was a very short ride to the hotel - literally a matter of minutes.
The room I was allocated - 233 - was spacious and clean. However, I was surprised by the bizarre layout, especially with the way the shower and bedroom is almost open plan - only a screen separate the two areas. The toilet is separated by a door, though. Other than that, I had no major issues with the room. The bed was large and comfortable, my sleep was not disturbed and it was generally a positive short stay. The shower worked fine, it took a little getting use to the water-saving feature in the sink tap. The toilet flush may have a malfunction, because it would stay stuck when pressed, and required tapping for the button to return from a pressed state.
I felt safe during my stay, and was reassured by the security procedures in place when booking an Uber - drivers are asked to scan their driving licence at the gate when entering the grounds. The drive to the V&A Waterfront was about 25-30 minutes.
I had a late lunch at the hotel restaurant - Nuovo. The menu was okay, but not spectacular. I visited the restaurant when it was relatively quiet with diners. However, I found staff were not particularly attentive. It took a while before someone approached me and provided a menu. The vegan burger I order was nice, even if it looked a bit dry. It was the only chargeable thing I incurred, which I put on the room (250 ZAR to pay on check-out).
The breakfast is a decent buffet of hot and cold food, plus live omelette bar. There’s also pancake making facilities, automatic coffee machines and more.
On check-out, to my surprise, I was informed of bills totally 600 ZAR. I explained that I only had one meal at 250 ZAR, which the reception staff accepted. However, a few days later, I received emails claiming that I had an unpaid bill for 350 ZAR, which I had to explain again in my response (I did not receive further contact after that). I think this was a case of staff incorrectly reading a room number when processing, or a guest deliberately giving the wrong room number.
I caught the shuttle back to the airport after checking out, again trouble-free. All-in-all, a very good airport hotel, and one I could easily recommend to others.
