Strange experience in this house in Constantia.
We spent Christmas from 21-26 Dec in this house. We were 5 adults, one 3-year-old and a 6-month baby. The house is advertised for eight people, with four bedrooms. While two of them are adequate, two bedrooms are small single teenage quarters barely fitting a decent bed in it and not suited for 2 adults on holidays. The bathrooms are ok, but in one the toilet flush was not working. The outdoor area is pleasant, although a bit smaller as advertised (with the smart wide-angle photo) and the trees are so tall, that you can get a bit claustrophobic, if you like it a bit airier. The pool was clean, but the lose concrete tiles around were uncomfortable, not to say dangerous. We discussed the entire week, if the interior of the house is set in “retro vintage” design or just plain old with a touch of careless negligence and an attitude “it is good enough for rental”. Many furniture looks scrappy with chopped off corners and missing screws, sofas with torn upholstery and carpets that looked like they were chewed by dogs. The terrasse had large cracks and the door from the living room could only be opened with a special procedure. The kitchen machines all needed a deep cleaning before they could be used, the toaster went up in flames and we were told, that is normal, just use the left slot only. Unexpected and to our great positive surprise there was a piano in the house. Our musicians however were playing the Christmas songs with painful grimaces, since it was so out of tune – but it fitted the overall impression we had of this house. One of the wonderful things in South Africa of course is to braai their fantastic meat and the Braai place looked great, but there were only 2 (two !!) pieces of wood. Upon our request, where they store the wood, we were first told to buy more ourselves. After hinting that we pay a small fortune per day to stay in this place, there was sufficient wood delivered within 15 minutes. We do of course understand that you need to keep cost under control and that the locals think the rich foreigners can afford it anyway. To milk these tourists to the max seemed like the strategy of the owners. It started with charging us a premium for a baby cod separately and culminated in the message on Christmas day (!) that only one roll of toilet paper per toilet is included in the rent, and if we need more that is our problem. Thanks to the local agent the problem was overcome quickly but left a very disturbing impression with the entire family, it was surreal, definitely a first and hopefully a last.
It is not the type of sentiments you want to have around Christmas and thankfully there was Memory in the house who helped all week with the daily maintenance and was very kind to all of us. We moved today to a different house in Stellenbosch and it was very refreshing to see that the Braai wood is plenty, a baby cod and chair was arranged, the furniture intact and there is plenty of toilet paper – all without asking for more money! We are using Airbnb around the planet and naturally have different experiences – but this one was definitely on the very low end. While we will certainly be in Constantia again, we will choose other quarters to stay.