Corner of Wale St & Burg St,
Cape Town Central 8000
Phone:021 481 4000
Located in the very heart of the city, in front of the cathedral, by the local gardens, the always busy St George Mall, and many of the must-see sights of the city, the Three Cities Rhodes was a home away from home during my stay in Cape Town.
My apartment on the 7th floor was very quiet, huge! very luminous during the day with views of Table Mountain, with classy decoration, and very comfortable. It has a full kitchen, Vaddaboom!, with fridge, washing machine, dryer, stove, microwave and a basic set of cooking tools, crockery, cutlery and glasses and cups. The living area, despite being conjoined with the kitchen, was huge, with two couches, a big dining table, flat screen TV+DVD, three mini coffee tables with magazines, and what is not. The bedroom had a full closet (yes, a full separated closet!) with a big sized safe, plus several drawers and side tables in the room. The bathroom had separated shower and bathtub, a small selection of good quality toiletries and a hair drier.
Some of the heating buttons on the wall warm up the floor underneath the carpet and it is just wonderful walking barefoot! Not enough? All the apartment had plenty of power points, so recharging or plugging many gadgets at the
same time was not a problem at all.
The apartment was spotless clean and fully serviced every day.
All the staff were very helpful, welcoming and lovely, especially the ones at reception. My especial thanks to Moses, who dealt with many of my queries and issues and did always so with attentiveness and professionalism.
THE EXTRAS
++ Great gym, with plenty of machinery. It is not huge, but it has a great selection of cardio and lifting machines.
++ Great pool area
++ Great view of Table Mountain from the upper floors and the aviary.
++ ATM in the premises
++ An office of Cape Town Tourism in the building, in front of reception. Most tour companies pick up and drop off this hotel.
++ Long opening hours good-quality South-African-made gift shop in the building with attentive staff.
++ Intelligent safe access to the lifts and floors.
++ Three different exits to the street.
++ Several supermarkets around, one of then in front of the hotel. The one opening till late is the Pick & Pay located at about 10 minutes walking distance from the hotel.
++ Two cafes in the
building. I just visited Motherland for some proper caffeine fix. The
staff were great, the coffee OK, the price ridiculous. Five bucks for a
medium takeaway pained me to the core on the second visit and I stopped
visiting.
++ An in-house Spa, called Wellness Club Spa. The Spa has fabulous premises, a glamorous reception, a very welcoming and lovely lady owner, and great staff. They open long hours, are very accommodating about anything, and accept cash, credit or in-room bill. I had one of the best remedial massage ever by a Chinese experience masseur, and a lovely Thalgo facial by a local therapist. The body scrub was sub par, though. I loved their steam room (perfect temperature!) and rest rooms.
SO SO
# The air-con and ventilation system were very noisy, especially the latter in the bathrooms, which keep going on non-stop.
# Free Wi-Fi limited to 100 MB per
day (enough for emailing and browsing, not much else). If you want faster and bigger you have to pay for it.
UNACCEPTABLE
-- I tried to make some phone calls from my room. The line was engaged all the time, probably because I forgot to introduce some of the local prefixes. Upon checking out, I was told that I had to pay 12 Rands because it showed that somebody had replied, perhaps a voice mail service. Nothing of that happened. The sum is very small, but paying for not speaking is never good. The guy at reception was lovely and sorted out things for me, so I did not have to pay anything.
-- My last hours at the hotel were quite upsetting. Checking out time is 11am. At 9am the lady at the tour desk called to tell me to be at the lobby at 10.45 to get my transfer to the airport ( I found it odd, as I had arranged things the previous day) A few minutes later, one of the ladies working at housekeeping tried to open the door; when I opened from inside, she apologised and said that she thought I have left... it was not 11am and I had not checked out, how on earth did she come with that idea? Ten minutes later a couple of guys rang the bell asking to enter the apartment to fix whatever; I told them NO, to come after I vacate the room. Ten minutes later, again!, a cleaner rang the bell and asked me when to come to do the apartment. I felt that they were trying to speed up my departure. This sort of behaviour is unprofessional and unacceptable in a four star hotel, as this is not a charity shelter. I don't want to feel pushed out of my room, one I paid, because housekeeping wants to hurry up. As they pushed me, I did stay until I needed it. :)
IF THIS WERE MY HOTEL I WOULD...
>> Provide customers with disposable sleepers and wardrobe. This is a four-star hotel and one expects these things to be there.
>> I would have a scourer and better quality dish-washing liquid in the kitchen.
>> I would add a lamp in the living room area, as the light is dim in the evenings and not good for people with poor sight.
>> I would live up the decoration of the apartment, which is a bit outdated regarding style, by adding some splash of colour on the bedroom and living room.
>> I would make sure that I have adaptors for Australian guests. This is a problem throughout Southern Africa, as many of the Universal adaptors would fit the two-pin Australian plugs, but not the three-pin ones, which are standard in Australia.
>> I would provide a return shuttle to the Waterfront. At the moment is just one way, and guests have to return by taxi. It would be great if the hotel had its own van, at scheduled times, even if they charged a few Rands per head.
>> I would place the safe mid level in the shelves not in on the floor one! It is just annoying and not practical! The batteries that run the program had to be changed and the guy who did the job had it not easy.
>> I would give strict instructions to housekeeping not to disturb customers until they check out and reception has the keys of the apartment-room.
MIND
There is an ample cabinet behind the toilet mirrors.
***
This is a great hotel, in the heart of the city, with many services and facilities for customers. One of the few hotels that I can say that you get value for money!
703 Hay St
