The de waal hotel in cape town is a decent enough hotel, although somewhat lacking in character. It's quite a plain hotel and much like many other hotels around the world.

The rooms were nice enough rooms - modern and spacious with linen changed daily. Our room looked out toward the city, which was a decent view, although would have preferred to have been on the other side of the hotel which looks out onto the impressive table mountain.

The location was OK in that it's a 5-10 min taxi ride to the V&A Waterfront, but the hotel itself sits near a busy main rode, which is a slight drawback due to some noise. Whatsmore, there is nothing of any interest within walking distance as the hotel is set in a more residential part of town.

Pool is slightly on the small side, and sits in the shade for the latter part of the afternoon, which can leave the water very chilly! Although we were there in the South African summer, the pool area was very quiet, which was nice if not slightly strange. Maybe other new something about the water we didn't...

The staff were excellent. Never met such a friendly bunch of hotel staff in my life. They were not only very polite and helpful, but were also happy to chat away to you (ask you how your day was, what you'd seen, recommended good restaurants etc.). What's more, the customer service came across as if they were honestly meant what they were saying, as opposed to the often fake "american - style" customer service.

There's an irish style bar as part fo the hotel which is nice enough. Quite a pleasant place to have a quiet drink. Met a couple of drunk Icelandic pilots on my last night there, who were apparently flying out to LA the next day... glad I wasn't on that flight!!

Overall - nice enough place, with excellent staff, although somewhat lacking in character.