A MOST GHASTLY EXPERIENCE – R16,000 FOR ABSOLUTE DISAPPOINTMENT!
Aquila has been on my bucket list for years. It is somewhere I have always wanted to visit but could never ordinarily afford. When I was given the opportunity to take my family for a one-night stay, I was incredibly excited. Our family had not stayed away from home for a night in eight years, so this was meant to be something really special.
On arrival, there was hammering, drilling, grinding and jack-hammering – essentially, a whole construction site, with construction workers everywhere. Why were we not informed about this when making the reservation? I find it completely unacceptable that significant construction was taking place and this was not disclosed to us at all.
We also own a holiday resort, so we fully understand that maintenance and construction need to happen. However, when this happens at our resort, we inform our guests beforehand and give them the choice of whether they are happy to stay under those circumstances and/or offer them a discounted rate if their stay is going to be affected. Aquila gave us no such choice, in fact, never even informed us and the construction was happening over a weekend, when leisurely destinations are popular.
And, from one holiday resort owner to another: men in overalls and women in bikinis is NEVER a good idea!
The room was in poor condition and horribly dirty. The floors were unswept, we would feel the sand/gravel under our shoes. There were even feathers from a feather duster left stuck in the thatch. The fridge was dirty, had no shelves and froze the cold drinks we needed for the following day's drive home. The toilet was cracked, the drains appeared blocked and, occasionally, we were treated to a delightful whiff of sewage.
I actually chose not to complain about the cleanliness when we first entered the room. I thought perhaps it was a once-off, it wasn't affecting the bed, and I didn't want to spend our very rare family getaway complaining about everything. I seriously regretted that decision later.
When we eventually got into bed after 10 p.m., the mattress was absolutely dreadful. One couldn't move without it squeaking and creaking, the springs dug into our backs and sides, and we literally had to lie like statues because of the noise. And then we discovered SAND IN THE BED.
That was the point at which I questioned whether I should have brought the cleanliness of the room to someone's attention when we first arrived. If there was sand in the bed, how clean was the bedding? I was even reluctant to use the extra blanket because, by then, I had completely lost confidence in the cleanliness of it all.
My husband and I seriously contemplated leaving and staying somewhere else for the night, but by then it was after 10 p.m. It was simply too late to start asking for rooms to be changed or trying to find alternative accommodation.
The bed was the final straw. That mattress is finished with this world and desperately needs replacing.
The game drive was okay. I am, however, not sure how the drivers are taught to explain what has happened to the animals. Our driver quite casually informed us that there is only one giraffe because the others fell down the mountain and died.
WOW.
There may be more to the story, but surely something like this should not be disclosed to the public. It shows lack of experience from the reserve.
On the plus side, most of the staff were friendly. Unfortunately, when checking out and I mentioned the terrible condition of the bed, they laughed at me. Perhaps it wasn't intended badly, but laughing when a guest raises a genuine complaint about an extremely uncomfortable mattress is hardly reassuring.
The food was average and mass-produced, which I honestly did not expect, particularly considering what we had paid. I understand that Aquila caters for large numbers of guests, but the overall dining experience certainly did not reflect what I expected from a stay costing this amount.
And that really is what I keep coming back to:
R16,000 FOR ONE NIGHT.
Undisclosed weekend construction, a poorly maintained and dirty room, plumbing issues and sewage smells, an appalling mattress, sand in the bed, average food and then being laughed at when mentioning the bed at checkout.
What exactly were we paying R16,000 for?
I do not expect perfection. We are in the hospitality industry ourselves and understand better than most that things go wrong. But there is a significant difference between one unfortunate problem and an entire experience that falls well below what a guest could reasonably expect.
What makes this particularly disappointing is that Aquila was a bucket-list destination for me. This wasn't simply another weekend away. We had not stayed away as a family for eight years, and I would ordinarily never be able to afford this type of experience.
I had looked forward to it for years.
After returning home, I read through other reviews and was highly disappointed to see that a number of the issues we experienced appear to have been raised before. That makes it even more concerning that they seemingly continue.
I suppose I may now join the other reviewers who receive a response saying that their concerns have been "forwarded to the relevant departments" and then hear nothing further.
I sincerely hope I am wrong.
Having considered the stay as a whole, I do believe that some form of substantial refund is warranted. The construction alone should have been disclosed before we arrived so that we could decide for ourselves whether we were prepared to stay under those circumstances.
I am not interested in a voucher, complimentary stay or an invitation to return to Aquila. We do not wish to return.
I would simply like Aquila management to consider whether the experience described above genuinely represents what a guest should receive for R16,000 for one night, and respond accordingly.
Sadly, after finally having the opportunity to experience it, once was more than enough.
