Channel View Lodge

I used this place more than 10 times between 2013 and 2015, and never got bad service. The exception was one of my two nights in the room next to Shoprite: some guests who sounded Nigerian or Congolese by their accents booked it, then had more than 10 people sharing the room and making noise both nights. I don't think a room can be shared by 10 people.

The boss welcomed me so warmly 🥰, and the woman at reception was friendly and professional. The whole place is lovely, and the rooms are perfect, with air conditioning wow 🤩. They clean the rooms every day, though there's one young woman who can't clean. I don't know if she's lazy or what 😠.

The receptionist was lovely and tried to sort things out, and they did bring us a replacement kettle. Still, this really only works if you need a bed for the night, not a weekend away. The room was small but fine for one person, though the place felt hastily built: the bathroom door stuck, and the closed main door had wide gaps you could see through. We arrived Friday night and were welcomed by friendly staff. After paying, we found the electricity tripped about once an hour, including when I tried to make coffee. The room phone didn't work when I tried to report it. We couldn't use our own plugs for hair dryers or chargers, either. The TV had just one working channel at first. The next night there were five, all in Zulu, and after we asked to change it, a movie on M-Net was switched to an African channel. Breakfast the next morning was ice cold. My soft egg came hard, with a little onion, one piece of bacon, two untoasted slices of bread and a teaspoon of butter, for R50 a plate.

They wouldn't move me to a room with hot water, even though there wasn't any in the evening or the next morning. Instead, they offered a bucket of hot water brought from a nearby room that had no guests during my stay. Honestly, the service was appalling and I hated the experience. Very disappointing.