We arrived very early at 8am and the reception staff were friendly and efficient. No room was available for us, but we were allowed to shower and change in the spotlessly clean shower room by the hotel pool. We then sunbathed until our room became available at 2pm.
We stayed in a loft room during our holiday to Cape Town. Whilst these rooms are large, and very stylish we did have a few issues which would stop me from staying here again.
We stayed in 2 rooms during our stay. The first faced the busy road outside and we were disturbed by traffic noise, especially as the window catch was broken and the window wouldn't fully close. The second room we stayed in was at the back of the hotel and much quieter. However, the loft rooms have very large floor to ceiling windows and a room at the back of the hotel means you have full sunshine shining directly on your room at 6am. The curtains had too big a gap above them which let in lots of light and meant we were awake very early when the sun came up. We were also disturbed by the (metal?) roof creaking as it warmed up once the sun shined on it in the early morning.
The aircon was inadequate for the large size of room and was unable to cool the room as much as we would like in the 30c temperatures we experienced. This is not helped by all the air being directed downstairs away from the sleeping area. In the second room we stayed in, the aircon was noisy and made a tinkling noise which again disturbed our sleep. On one day, it appeared to be not cooling at all. We complained and were told that somebody would have a look at it, but I am not sure that anything was made any better if anybody did check it at all.
We were also disturbed by noise from televisions and music in neighbouring rooms. It's all very well putting in 47" TV and ipod docks etc, but if you are going to do this you need to make sure that sound insulation is adequate. On one occasion, we went next door to ask that our inconsiderate neighbours turned their music down but nobody answered the door. We called reception to complain and were told that they would not knock on there door as there was a "do not disturb" sign on it. So there you have it, if you want to make a noise, just use your do not disturb sign and you will be untouchable.
The rooms were advertised as having a kitchen, yet the facilities were ill thought out. In particular, the minibar sized fridge was way too small for a room where plates, bowls and cutlery are provided. They provide for you to make your own food, but where are you supposed to store it? Likewise, there was no cupboard space, and only a microwave for cooking. I have stayed numerous times previously in the much cheaper Protea Cape Castle a few hundred metres away, and their rooms have full sized fridges, and hobs. Also, the plug was missing from the kitchen sink. We asked for another one but it never arrived.
The bathrooms were large and spotlessly clean. We especially liked the huge walk in shower. There was no bath. In the first room we had, a bottle of mineral water was left for us on our arrival. This was not replenished during our stay. In the second room we had, the bottle of water was replaced erratically. Some days there was water left, other days none. Normally it was a 1.5 litre bottle, but on one day just one 500ml bottle was left. We therefore were not sure whether we were supposed to receive the water or not.
A few days after arriving, the first room we were given started to smell really bad of blocked drains. We complained at reception before going out for the day but nothing was done. When we returned in the evening, the room smelt terrible so we went straight to reception where the staff had no record of our complaint. We were given the only other available room available, but this smelt slightly of cigarette smoke. We had to go out and buy air freshener, but this didnt remove the smell. We ended up buying polish and dusters as it was the furniture which smelt. Once we had polished it, the smell went. Perhaps I could suggest that Protea Hotels invest in a can of Pledge for the future?
In summary, given the high cost of the rooms in this hotel, I had expected more from the Victoria Junction but we had too many issues to make me return. I visit Cape Town every january for 2 weeks and this was the first time I had stayed at this hotel. Next time, I will be going back to the Cape Castle.
