We are a family of five (parents with 24,22 &13 year old) and booked two rooms over Christmas period 2011. I booked through the hotel directly and found this worked very well. This hotel is good value for money. It's clean, refurbished and welcoming. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Prior to arrival we requested rooms together at the back of the Hotel and this was provided. The reason for this request was to avoid hearing the setting up of the stalls every morning, a tip from another tripadvisor review. The location proved ideal for the older crew as they frequented night clubs on Long St. All of us felt secure here and would def consider it again if on a family holiday. A/c could have worked a bit more strongly in my room. A/C in other room worked perfectly. Breakfast very substantial.

We visited the Inn on the Square over New Year's 2012.

Finding a room was brutal, and the Inn on the Square was by far the best value for the money that was still available.

The hotel has probably been there for 50 or 100 years. The building is clearly historic (read old). But, they have redone the rooms to be quite modern and comfortable. The bathrooms are really nice, but REALLY small. Like you have to open the door, step halfway in, and then bring the door back in front of you to close it before using the toilet or shower. But, once you are in there, it is very nicely designed.

The hotel is incredibly conveniently located for downtown Cape Town, within a short distance of all downtown sites (except the V&A Waterfront), and right next to the Greenmarket, a great place to buy African products that was a LOT better than I thought it would be.

The big issue that I have is that I am not sure that I would again choose to stay in downtown Cape Town, even though it is a very nice city. Really, it seems to me that the beauty of Cape Town is outside of the center, so I would probably not stay at the Inn on the Square again.

Also, downtown Cape Town in the area near the hotel can feel a bit seedy, and there are some seedier areas near the hotel. It doesn't feel unsafe, there are just a lot of homeless people who sleep in that area which is a bit uncomforable (including in beautiful spaces like the 'Company Gardens', which are adjacent to the Legislative Houses, and very close to the hotel).

But, again, the place was fine.

We did have a couple of small physical plant issues which were not really addressed by the staff (the safe in one of our rooms didn't work, and they promised to fix it but didn't - fortunately we had two rooms so it wasn't a big deal). Also, when we check in, one of our doors, squeaked badly when closing, We fixed it by using a Swiss Army knife to screw the door hinges tighter, but I am not sure for how long it had been like this, and I don't know that it would have been fixed if we asked about it.

But, again, I digress, the place was fine.

I found the Inn on the Square quite by accident. I had a crappy room in a B&B over Christmas -- but I wasn't quite planning on finding a new hotel. Only because it was a hot day and I needed a cool place to sit -- and walked into the Inn -- and discovered such exceptional, quiet professionalism and courtesy -- did I find the Inn. But it wasn't until late that night, sitting in my awful B&B where I couldn't sleep due to the lack of airflow -- did I get online to try and find a room. And I was pleasantly surprised by the affordability of the Inn. So sometime around 4am I made an online reservation.

And because I still couldn't sleep, I sauntered over to the hotel at 6am and asked -- is there any possibility I could check in now? And they said absolutely. So I did -- then went back to my B&B to check out and grab my bags -- and was able to get in my morning shower before 8am.

The thing is so great about this hotel is the staff. Really warm, really courteous, really customer-focused. The rooms are very clean -- sure, there are probably larger rooms to be had in Cape Town, but probably not at this price. It was super-comfortable, good bed, and again -- people treat you really well there.

If I had to find something to complain about, it's the wifi. If you need to be glued to your computer in your hotel room -- this is not the place. The wifi was terribly frustrating in the room. But, step into the lobby... or even the hallway... and you're fine.

One other note -- not a complaint, just a note -- there was one day that I was using the "business center" which is actually two PCs in the relatively small, but charming and attractive lobby. Two couples along with two children (not sure which couple the children belonged to) came in and were using one computer while I used the other. They were the most ill-bred ill-mannered adults I have ever witnessed. Dressed nicely, clearly educated, without a single brain among the four of them. They were yelling at each other the whole time. Then, one of the children chased his sister into the revolving exit door where she promptly got her finger stuck (ugh! for about 60 seconds of agony!) and the parents absolutely lost it with the children that they weren't bothering to supervise. Yelling at the top of their lungs. And when that was finished, oh my god, the husband started yelling at his wife. Or girlfirend. Or whatever. Something along the lines of "how dare you talk to me like that" at the top of his lungs. It was awful to witness. I almost confronted them myself, and probably should have. This went on for at least 25 minutes, at which point I left out of disgust... and their piggishness continued. As I walked to the elevator I noticed that the hotel staff was clearly uncomfortable with everything -- but they didn't do anything to stop it.

The reception staff (and others who work there) are a soft-spoken, highly professional and highly courteous group and I could tell they were even more uncomfortable than I was, obviously. I hope they read this and realize that next time such a disaster occurs in the lobby, they might want to protect the respectable guests even if means offending (or losing) the vile slime that walked into the hotel that day.

A great hotel. I'll be back.

I booked 2 rooms for my family thru Hotel Express Intern. for 4 nights, 30 Dec - 02 Jan. We were impressed with the front office preparation for our arrival, requests in order, rooms are comfortable and very clean (i like efficient clean showers). Room amenities,(coffees,teas) however, were not replenished on a daily basis- room keeper probably forgets this. Can the Hotel reconsider the phasing out of locker doors as part of their room 'decor'?Guests' belongings must be stored out of sight. We enjoyed breakfast time, food was freshly served. Is there anything better the hotel can do with getting guests parking of cars cheaper and convenient, we want to park our own cars at our convenience. We would visit again in future.