Villa Aqua

The views of Camps Bay were gorgeous, and Vanessa, the daily cleaner, was lovely. The lounge was comfortable enough, too. But the villa felt extremely dated and disappointing, far from the “world class” place advertised. We’re frequent visitors to Cape Town, and we won’t book with Totaltay again. The pool was dirty when we arrived, and its cleaning machine was broken with no sign of repair. Staff came to clean it during our stay, but could only do so much with faulty equipment. The water feature shown working in the TotalStay advert photo didn’t work either. There were only four loungers for a villa that sleeps eight. We booked because we wanted an en-suite for every bedroom, but only three of the four have one. The remaining room has a bathroom across the hall. Two bedrooms also lacked the advertised air conditioning. One fan was broken on arrival, and the shower head was clogged with limescale and barely dribbled water. Both had to be replaced during our stay. The air conditioning units could use a thorough cleaning and service. The bathrooms and kitchen are in poor shape and badly need a full refurbishment. The fridge wobbles a lot when opened or closed, and the villa as a whole is so well used it needs an industrial deep clean. Lamps either didn’t work or were too far from sockets. The master bedroom balcony frame and doors are rotting and off their track, so they can’t open fully to enjoy the space. One mattress was a filthy, rock-hard orthopedic one that should be thrown away. My sister had to cover the stains with spare duvets and use them to make it softer enough to sleep. Some bedrooms had very little furniture, with no wardrobes and so on.

A beautiful, exquisite place with lovely views and welcoming, friendly staff.

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