Before I review the hotel, let me warn prospective travellers that booking through the Lanzerac website is not considered direct and a 20% admin fee is charged should you wish to cancel your booking. The website booking is run through a 3rd party and the hotel considers direct bookings to be via tel, email or fax. This is misleading as one would think that the hotel's website is direct!

We stayed in a superior room for 3 nights. I was offered a welcome drink on arrival and am still waiting for my Sauvignon Blanc... never arrived! The room was huge but outdated and in desperate need of a deep clean. The furniture is very old and one of the curtains was hanging from its hook. The TV screen is the size of a computer monitor with very limited channels (9 in total I think) and the only news on offer is Euronews. The kettle is placed on the one side of the room and the tea/coffee and cups are on the other side of the room.

The bathroom geyser does not have enough hot water for a couple to soak in a bath and shower off afterwards. The water pressure in the shower is not effective. There were certainly more than enough towels in the bathroom.

The next morning we ordered breakfast to our room and was surprised to find the poor standard of food. The toast was cold and only had 3 slices. There was a small muffin and an even smaller pastry which formed part of the health breakfast. They both did not look appetising. The Lanzerac omelette lacked cheese, even though we ordered a cheese, tomato and mushroom omelette. The full English breakfast was not good at all and our tray was short of salt & pepper and included 4 knives and 1 fork. So we had to call for another fork. The ladies who carried the tray to our room did not appear to be impressed to have had to walk all the way to our room which was on the far side of the hotel.

That afternoon we ordered toasted cheese & tomato sandwiches as we were getting ready to attend a wedding. The sandwiches were short on cheese. It seems like the Lanzerac has a cheese ration going on. We also ordered a large bottle of water which did not arrive with the food.

That evening we returned to our hotel at around 2am and found that the water in our mini bar was replaced and all we had to drink was the 2 small bottles of water offered complimentary. The next day we tried the luxurious breakfast for room service and it was better than the previous day's choice. But still not the quality we would expect from the Lanzerac.

We brought some friends back to our hotel after lunch and ordered wine & beers at the pool. It took over 30 minutes to arrive and our friends had to leave to the airport so we were left with the booze and no one to share it with. That evening we had a light dinner at the hotel restaurant and opted for the butternut soup. It was more of a dessert than a soup! It was extremely sweet and was the consistency of custard. Never had soup like that before. We told the waitress and all she could say was "oh". The chairs in the Governor's hall are in desperate need of a clean and have stains all over them. Just disgusting!

The next day we thought we would have our last breakfast at the hotel restaurant and believe me it was no different. The setting was pretty but the cushions on the chairs were not tied so each time you got up from the chair, the cushion would move or fall to the floor. The plates at the self service area had greasy fingermarks on them. We opted to order the Eggs Benedict and we were told that they were out of muffins and we were given the bread used for toast. We had no napkins on our table and I just found that the staff were not in the least bit willing to assist with a smile...

Overall, I would not recommend this hotel. Our bedding was not changed once during our stay, not even the pillowcases. It has certainly deteriorated in standards. I was last there in 2000 and it certainly was a different place then. It is now dirty and in desperate need of a update to the decor or replacing some of the dirty cushions. It is not worth the rate one is offered and there are far nicer hotels in the area with more modern facilities and better service. The staff at Lanzerac need a lesson in courtesy and customer satisfaction.