This happened a year ago in 2011, but I still feel so angry about it that I wanted to write this review.
My husband and I wanted to spend the evening of our wedding at a beautiful guest house as we got married in our local church on an extremely tight budget. Everything was fine at first, we got upgraded to the honeymoon suite, received good service and the guest house is beautiful with a great view.
After a quick breakfast the next morning when we checked out and wanted to pay for the mini bar, I realised that all the cash and vouchers we received as wedding gifts (that was given generously by friends and family very specifically to help finance our short honeymoon) were missing from my handbag, as well as cash from my wallet - (about R9,000 in total) and it was taken from our bedroom during the half-hour we had breakfast.
We were the only guests there that night, apart from the three staff members on the property - the owner wasn't there during our stay. We asked the owners' daughter to come investigate the theft; but she refused to search the staff members for the money, saying she's known them all her life and it won't be them. We ended up having to leave without time to phone the police, in order not to miss our flights. Even a year later, I have been too embarrassed to tell my friends that their generous gifts were stolen and we had to go on honeymoon with very little money.
This experience tainted a beautiful memory of our wedding day, and resulted in an extremely great loss for us financially. I was also very disappointed in how the situation was handled. Don't stay there if you value your belongings.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
December 1, 2012
As a guesthouse, Northcliff Manor takes great pride in providing guests with a serene and most especially safe environment. I as daughter of the owners, was standing in for them as they were out of town that weekend of 26 August 2011. While I regret that the incident you refer to has left you with a disagreeable memory of your honeymoon, I’d like to respond to your review with my account of the events as they occurred.
During your stay we tried our very best to accommodate you and your wedding party and make the occasion a pleasant one for you. We upgraded you ( to the value of R400.00 ) free of charge to our honeymoon suite with complementary champagne and additional extras to ensure that you had a romantic stay for the night of your wedding.
The morning of 27 August 2011, I was called in by our housekeeper who stated that you had rudely accused her of theft. I, along with my husband, arrived as soon as I could to see whether we could assist. Your husband was very ill and unable/unwilling to be involved with the discussion or assist in ascertaining the whereabouts of your misplaced belongings. During the discussion, you were uncertain regarding the amount of money and vouchers and where you believed it was last stored. I assisted you personally in a search of the rooms, the grounds, and your car.
Your request that I conduct a body search of my staff in your presence was declined. Not, as you write in your review, because they are long-standing staff members who I insisted are beyond reproach, but rather because it is unlawful and because a search should only be conducted by the police. Incidentally, the staff did indicate their willingness for the police to be called to conduct a search of themselves and the premises. There were only two members of housekeeping staff employed on the morning you refer to. Our housekeeper, who cooked the breakfast for you, and her assistant, who was serving you. Therefore all members of the housekeeping staff were attending to you during the breakfast when you allege that your belongings went missing.
As per your review, my suggestion that we involve the police in order to conduct a search of the persons present and the premises was declined. In no way did I try to prevent you reporting the matter or persuade you otherwise. You did not call the police which perhaps indicates a level of doubt in your own mind as to where or how the money went missing. After all, weddings are frenzied affairs and your belongings may have gone missing elsewhere.
Additionally, there are safes in every room specifically to ensure the safe keeping of valuable items.The key of the room-safe is on the same bunch as your Room key and Remote. We also have a large safe in the office which guests are allowed to use by request for items too large for the room safes. Neither of these was used by you.
There have been no other such allegations before or after your stay. It is difficult to face an unsubstantiated accusation a year and three months after the event, with little that can be done to remedy it. Again, while I regret that the incident sits disagreeably with you, I believe that it was handled as well as could be given the circumstances.
Yours sincerely,
Jana Morgan.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
