Cozy Blue Guesthouse

I wish I could give this zero stars. It was the worst experience of my life. I’ve never stayed in a hostel, but I imagine this place is worse. Finding it is difficult, and when we arrived, the son was standing at the gate smoking and came over as if he wasn’t sure he was meant to help guests. Our bakkie wouldn’t fit in the filthy garage at the first property, so we were sent to another one, Amalinda Rosedale 100, which must be more than 20 km away. There, a woman who seemed unhappy to see us showed us three rooms. They were dirty and smelly, the doors were broken, the blankets were better, but the towels looked old and dirty. Our car had to stay somewhere in the yard while their own cars used the shelter, so its safety was left to us. We told the owner we weren’t comfortable and wanted to leave and get a refund. The woman was away and said we’d discuss it with her husband, but nobody was there. She had apparently told the husband, son, and helper to leave, so we had no one to assist us. The owner of that dirty, zero-star mshiga-shiga place was arrogant and said we had to pay for the inconvenience and for rooms she’d held for us. We arrived at 04:00 am, and all the rooms were empty, including one at the original cozy blue guesthouse. Somehow we were blamed for inconvenience when we were the ones put out. Anyone planning a holiday in East London or elsewhere in the Eastern Cape should bring a huge bag of disappointment along with their clothes. If you haven’t decided yet, stay far away. The place doesn’t seem to be supervised by any tourism grading authority, which may explain the poor service.