The house itself is really great with all the amenities a family needs. Couldn't get the kids of the trampoline! 😂 Liked that there was an inside and outside braai too. I am from the area originally, so I knew the location would be perfect for everything we wanted to do as it is close to both the winelamds and Cape Town.
It is really a lovely place, the only thing to be aware of is that it doesn't feel like the host works in the traditional AirBNB way where keys are handed over and the house is essentially "yours" for the period you rent it. We felt in that sense we didn't really get what we expected/paid for and ofcourse this is a luxury property and the price reflected that.
Check in was not possible at the 1pm time stated on AirBNB.
There were no towels laid out in any of the rooms (had to ask after the host left where they were which didn't feel very inviting). The house rules state that they have an optional cleaner twice a week, but we were told this is not optional and in fact they insist she comes as it is their family home. We found this slightly intrusive especially on Good Friday when we were trying to relax at home as a family, but we weren't able to with someone else in the house hoovering whilst we try to watch some TV. We completely understand the need for a cleaner, but in our experience with all the previous Airbnb's we rented, a cleaner would come once you have left to do a full clean prior to the next occupants. Maybe for a two week stay you could expect a cleaner in the middle of the stay although not always the case. We arrived on a Friday, the cleaner was there that day and then again on the Tuesday and the Friday (Good Friday). We were not planning to be there the next Tuesday so told her we would not be able to let her in (she doesn't have her own key). She came again the Friday. We were leaving the next day and the check out time was 10am. We were really surprised at 8am when the doorbell rang in the midst of packing our suitcases and low and behold - 2 cleaners arrived. The cleaner was only there the day before, so quite excessive! This was totally wrong in our opinion - we had no warning the cleaners would arrive before check out time. When we finished our packing and wanted to have a quick shower before we went (at around 9.15am) they had already cleared out all the towels from the bathrooms so we couldn't use the facilities we had paid for until the check-out time of 10am.
Another note regarding the cleaning - in all the times the cleaner came they never changed the bedding and we were not informed where the spare bedding was kept. Ideally bedding should be changed once a week so if you have no option but to have the cleaner, then this is some value which could be added for the guests.
The host showed up twice unannounced (once to drop their boat off in the garden and another time to drop off furniture) and twice she asked to drop things off (which we didn't mind that much as we were informed about it). This meant that we never really felt it was private enough for us to really relax and enjoy the beautiful home on our own which is what we thought we paid for.
The property is located in a private estate so very secure. Extremely secure - we had to get a code to enter every day. As we had no WiFi outside of the house we initially had some problems getting it through when we were out and about, however, this was sorted out and Kasia started sending the codes the day before. I would suggest that if they have Airbnb guests again that they add them as temporary residents (we were told by security a few days before we left that this was possible and an easy process).
The hosts are very nice people and responsive, but these are the niggles we had. If the above won't bother you then you will have an amazing time. It really is a lovely property with stunning views of Table Mountain and in a great location.