Having spent 2 nights at this hotel in January my partner and I were very sad to move on from this hotel to our next stop. It has a perfect location, right on the lagoon within metres of the lovely little marina complex with shops and some excellent restaurants.
Our lagoon facing room was well worth the additional small charge and was a beautiful room, very large, very light and airy.
The pool area is spotlessly clean and probably the best pool area we experienced in the seven 4* SA hotels we stayed in.
Breakfast here was excellent, buffet style with a wide choice.
My only criticism would be the lack of atmosphere in the bar area at night, but as most guests had such hectic schedules for this beautiful part of the garden route; a nice meal in the marina and early mornings meant that this really wasn't a problem!
The photos of the hotel most certainly don't do it justice

After reading some of the reviews on this Hotel, I was even thinking of cancelling my reservation. However, upon arrival we were really pleasantly surprised as it is in a fantastic position backing onto the waterfront with all different restaurants and boat trips. Rooms were sufficient - not over-spacious but very clean and the whole of the hotel was immaculate! Our room backed onto the car park but there was absolutely no problem (one overlooking the waterfront would have been an extra £30 per night - we decided not worth it as we weren't in it 24 hrs). During the end of the day it was quite eventful seeing the musicians and sellers plying their wares to the tourists returning from George on the train (the station is literally straight across the road)and it was very quiet at night . The staff in all areas were extremely helpful and you could not fault the choices at breakfast. The pool area was nice and clean. We had 5 nights at this hotel and would recommend it - it deserves the 4 star rating. Knysnia is quite busy with tourists (which we like) and there are some nice places to visit around the area. Most people we met said that as a base they preferred it to George.

We booked a standard room online, requesting a lagoon view. At the time of booking we were offered no choice of room and there was no description of the room. From the photo's the hotel looked clean, simple and pleasant with a nautical theme.

A friendly welcome at reception soon turned to abject horror when we got to our room. Apart from it obviously being furnished for business use, the curtains were drawn which made first impressions gloomy and uninviting. Upon opening the curtains it got worse -- we overlooked the car park!

The previously friendly staff refused to even enter into discussion regarding a refund, insisting that they would keep the full 3 nights money we had paid up front. The only option we had to try and salvage our stay was to pay an additional sum (nearly double what we had already paid) to upgrade to a basic lagoon facing room.

With regard the facilities itself, our upgraded room had no ventilation -- a quick shower resulted in rivers of condensation dripping from all the walls, mirrors and even the windows at the far end of the room. Someone else's hair in the bath remained there throughout our stay (we showered). We were so put off that we did not attempt to use any further facilities or try the food within the hotel.

The immediate surroundings, the well promoted Waterfront, was overpriced, catered to the lowest common denominator and was (like the rest of the town) a great disappointment. We had only two good finds: the metalwork gallery in the Waterfront shopping avenue, and the "34 Degrees South" restaurant.

South Africa was exceptional, and we're already talking about a return trip, but I will never return to Knysna nor will I ever set foot in any hotel within the Protea Hotels group.

Plettenberg Bay is where we're going next time!

Excellent value for money, good location, nice and clean rooms, good breakfast buffet