Beaufort Manor Country Lodge

We have stayed at this resort many times before and have always found it well appointed, relaxing as an overnighter, friendly and comfortable. Although the check in and staff were there usual friendly and efficient selves, we noticed that the resort had deteriorated from the previous visits, which is a shame. The outside lights are very bright and shine through the light curtains, making the rooms very bright at night when trying to sleep. The fountains where left on during the night and although pleasant earlier on, became a nuisance as the long night went on. Dinner was delicious, but the bar did not have beer or red wine in stock, so we could only order white wine to share with the lamb shanks - not an ideal choice. This resort is also now becoming over-priced for the location especially during the off season, when other venues offer specials. Saying this, it was still comfortable, well appointed, secure and excellent location. I will still look at this resort in future, but with less appeal, based on this last trip.

On booking I requested to know why the Airbnb price was lower than working directly with the Manor. The answer was that the owner is steadfast and management is not allowed to offer discount. This would all be fair if the accommodation was par with the 4 star rating and price. The rack the glasses were on were extremely dirty, with little things that looked like dead insects. The linen was dirty with marks. There were initially not enough towels in the room. At breakfast the fruit bowl was basically empty and not refilled, the yoghurt was luke warm and not cold. There was not enough butter for our toast, and the fruit juice was also luke warm. This was all brought under the managers attention and I requested that the owner give me a call to discuss, as this was our 8th time we visited the guest house, and the decline is clearly visible, but in a month’s time no effort from the owner to contact me. It is clear that the owner does not want criticism but is steadfast on his pricing. I would not visit this guest house again, and would rather discourage anybody I know to rather give this guest house a pass.

We stayed in one of the self-catering cottages with the hope of having some nice Karoo lamb for dinner - seeing as the listing says there are braai facilities available. Firstly, the kitchen had missing utensils, and the ones that were in the cupboard were dirty. While there was a braai outside, there was no grid or tongs so we had to go ask at reception. They had us go look at all the other cottages to find something, but to no avail. The one lady eventually managed to get a dirty grid somewhere and was kind enough to clean it for us. The TV in the cottage also did not work, looked like the power button was broken. Overall quite a disappointing experience.