Allstar Villa

The location is great and the rooms are neat and clean (albeit on the small side). On an overnight business trip, one carries the minimum. So was very surprised that the bathroom has no shampoo, soap / gel in the shower. Upon asking, I was giving a huge bottle of Radox Bath Soak. Clearly not ideal. Breakfast was a huge disappointment. 2 cereals and milk. The offer for a cooked breakfast was accepted. The food was OK. Coffee was from the coffee machine.

The picture on the website and brochure and the 4 stars for this accomodation promises a lot. Location and building were true. Besides missing shampoo and shower Gel in the rooms (we had our own with us) the breakfast was far behind all promises seen on pictures. There was no buffet like on the pictures. Only a coffee machine. All other food on request. No butter was available for two days. No coffee on one day as no electricty and kitchen was not prepared making hot water by a gas cooker. One morning no coffee beans in the machine, so no coffee, only Nescafe (which we brought from our rooms, as not enough on the table). Early in the morning an extreme smell of cooked ham came up into the sleeping rooms, every morning. Reason is, that there is no door to the kitchen, and all smell comes up from the ground floor. Personel was friendly and helpful and lack of electricity is not that we critisize. It was the situation, that was badly managed. Butter and coffebeans off? Not understandable. No gas cooker in the kitchen, despite there was plan available, when electricity will be off, so no surprise, all planable. A management problem. Overall: disappointing, as 3 times our start into the day was not funny

We chose this Guest House from photos / details on the website “ Bookings.com” ( and internet generally ) and the public should be cautioned that “ what you see is not what you get “ !! The property looks very impressive from outside and appears to be very elegant inside. The pool is clean and was most welcome on a hot day ( though the automatic cleaner was not working and the very weak flow of water into the pool should have warned of things to come !) Whilst the room was spacious ( the Junior Suite, downstairs , next to the dining room and pool ) there was a LOT that was not acceptable for an establishment of this nature , viz , to be classified as 4 star and considering the price of R 1200 for 1 night. Let me say at the outset that, Allan, the manager, was very polite and helpful and tried his best but clearly the problems in the room showed a complete lack of interest on the part of the owner- who is ultimately responsible for everything and should be keeping a check on his establishment and not just sitting back and taking in the money ! Alan , although trying to be helpful, was completely out of his depth and unable to attend to any of the deficiencies in the room, viz:- -The door into the room scraped on the floor each time opened or closed and made a terrible noise. -The bathroom door had a hole in it and appeared to have been kicked in. -The one bedside lamp had no bulb in it. Even when one was eventually found it was difficult to get it to work and I got the impression we were lucky to find a bulb -The bedroom has small ceiling lights and 4 of the 12 lights did not work - In the bathroom there were similar lights and only 1 of 3 was working -The TV reception was so poor ( only in this room not in others which the manager checked ) that the TV could not be watched. The manager was unable to solve the problem and it appeared that the TV set was faulty , if not giving in entirely. - There were stains on the one sheet ( they could have been old blood stains ? ) -The room was very dusty ( even finding a champagne cork under the stand the TV was on ) - The toilet roll holder was broken and just managing to stay on the wall ( no spare roll provided either and we had to ask for that ) - the toilet seat was lose - In the bathroom there are 2 wash hand basins. One of these hand basins had come lose from its fitting and moved from side to side and at that basin the cold water tap did not work. - the bathroom window did not closely properly and our security felt compromised. - The right hand side mirror in the bathroom was cracked Whilst not faults exactly felt it was very poor for a so called 4 star guesthouse not to - provide the usual soap or toiletries in the bathroom( that are normally found in a 4 star establishment ) - to only have a fitted sheet and duvet on the bed . No top sheet provided ( in the extreme heat of a Cape Town summer this was odd) In similar fashion the breakfast was a complete let down, rudimentary at best . In the breakfast area there was just a coffee machine and 2 small containers of cereal, NOTHING else on offer. No juice, no yoghurt, nothing. We were asked if we would like an “ English Breakfast “ Prior to the hot meal arriving were presented with a small plate of sliced fruit ( clearly done some time ago as the apple was already going brown ) and the hot meal consisted of 2 eggs, 1 small sausage,1 small rasher of bacon and a few mushrooms. We were NOT asked if we wanted toast , let alone if we wanted white or brown toast or any other form of bread, but were served with a basket with a number of slices of white toast. The horror of all horrors manifested itself with the dish of margarine provided !!! Surely in this day and age we all know how very bad for one this artificial chemical substance is !! I was always led to believe that Guest Houses are required to provide butter ? It was certainly a disappointing experience and all of this could easily have been avoided if proper attention to maintenance was undertaken and attention to detail given. The manager was clearly in a helpless position and if an owner is going to allow his proper to deteriorate to such an extent it should not be supported. If you are reading this and want to stay in the Sunset Beach area please be aware that unless you are looking for below average quality accommodation this place should be avoided at all costs and you would be strongly advised to look elsewhere.