We stayed at the Townhouse Hotel for four nights from 5 - 8 March 2007 as part of a fly-drive trip from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town during which we stayed in 6 hotels, all very different. The Town House was one of the two we would rate best value for money.
We initially had difficulty in finding the sort of accommodation we were looking for in Cape Town although we were booking about two months in advance. Vacancies were either at the top end of the market in the Waterfront, or in small, two star hotels. The Town House was one of the few exceptions. Initially we were unsure, having been advised to stay at the Waterfront as the city centre is full of 1970s concrete blocks, but limited choice led us to stay here.
I'm not sure how much renovation is still to do in the hotel. There is still some going on but only during the day when we were out and about anyway. The one afternoon we took a siesta in the room though and were not disturbed by it at all. We had one of the refurbished rooms and it was very nice - clean and comfortable with a flat-screen TV (not that we watched it much). The only (very minor) gripe - as with so many hotels - a not very powerful hairdryer with one of those annoying switches you have to keep pressed down. There was tea and coffee and a kettle in the room and a safe.
One thing we noticed, as another contributor has said, in South Africa it seems as though double bedrooms often have two twin beds instead of a double. In one hotel they made it up as a double for us, but in this one we didn't ask as we felt we'd already given them enough grief in changing our room! The reason for this was that initially we had been given a room opposite the lift which we thought might be noisy at night. We asked if there was any chance of a change of room and they did this without any difficulty. In fact the reception staff were extremely helpful throughout, including checking out the details of a cricket match for us.
The breakfasts were very good with plenty of choice. We ate once in the restaurant in the evening and it was fine. There isn't a proper bar at the hotel, you can order drinks in the residents' lounge area but it closes around 10 pm.
Parking is in the multi-storey car park attached to the hotel - you have to go up to floor M though - but there is a door direct into the hotel on the 7th floor, linked by phone to reception.
We didn't use the swimming pool, so can't give any information on that.
Location-wise the hotel is fairly quiet although in the city centre. It's a fairly short walk from the main city centre attractions but you need transport to go to the Waterfront. We kept the car we'd hired for our time in Cape Town. The main problem we found in staying in this area was the lack of restaurants in the evening. We found a couple - the Riboville which is a stone's-throw from the hotel and serves a mixture of fresh fish and Asian fusion and an enormous and (to us non-conoisseurs) baffling range of 360 wines. Also a tapas bar called Fork. There are a few more but you have to search them out and it's not the greatest experience walking around the semi-deserted city centre at night, although we were not threatend in any way.
Two important tips: If you want to visit Robben Island, this tends to get booked up at least 2-3 days in advance, so don't expect to turn up and get on the next ferry. Things are made worse if they have to cancel sailings due to rough seas. You can however phone through ahead and make a credit card booking ,and pick up your tickets at the ferry terminal. Table Mountain...expect to queue for an hour to get the cable car up...we're not sure if you can get priority tickets in advance, organised tours seemd to have them, but most people joined the back of the queue.