Sugarbird Manor, Stellenbosch – funny now, but wasn’t then

THEY SAY that there’s no such thing as bad publicity or bad PR, that all publicity is ultimately good publicity. In which case the owner of the Sugarbird Manor guesthouse in Stellenbosch’s Devon Valley won’t mind this blog all that much. After all, she didn’t seem very concerned when I spoke to her directly so this will probably only bemuse her further. But then again, maybe her logic was that if you just wait long enough your problems will go away! Anyway, here follows an exchange of correspondence after my darling and I stayed at the place earlier this year and, having mulled things over for a day, felt we should give some feedback to the management.

GUEST/ME: We were warmly welcomed… the staff were all courteous and friendly. And breakfast the next morning comprised a plate of food that was pleasant enough – although it would have been nicer if there’d been an outside table for us to sit at, as in the picture on your website. Regrettably the room we stayed in was sub-standard: the basin drain was blocked and the plug was missing; the hot and cold ‘labels’ were missing from the shower taps; a notice requested women to make use of the sanitary bin, but there wasn’t one; a plug-point was falling out of the wall…

HOST/HER: I am sorry that we didn’t exceed your expectations. The plumber was here yesterday… I apologise that we didn’t get it fixed prior to your arrival. I did not realise that the bin was missing or that the plug was falling out of the wall. I am not sure how to respond to your issue about eating outside. We did have a large family here during your stay and they did monopolise the outside seating during breakfast hour but we clearly could have set up the table outside your room so that you could have eaten outside.

GUEST/ME: We weren’t expecting you to exceed our expectations, just to match them… When you have a problem in one of your rooms it should be remedied before you admit guests into it or advise them of the problem in advance of their stay, before you charge them, giving them the option to cancel the reservation or offering the room to them at a lower rate. To say that you didn’t realise… doesn’t make me feel any better. A paying guest is led to believe that whatever has been paid for in full before arrival will be in good working order when they arrive. Regarding breakfast… What we had looked forward to was what we’d seen on your website: breakfast on the terrace overlooking your pool, garden and the beautiful Devon Valley. A table outside our room – next to another guest’s front door and looking out onto a row of glass doors and a pond/water feature that was half empty/out of order – would not have been an acceptable alternative. I am sorry that you don’t seem to appreciate our point of view and that you apparently regard our expectations as unreasonable.

HOST/HER: It seems like you are pretty pissed off and nothing I say will make you feel better. Are you looking for a refund? I am very confused by the anger of all this so whatever you want I will make it happen.
 
At which point I decided to laugh it off and haven’t heard from Sugarbird in this regard again… They have some nice wines though, sold under the Botanica label – a Chenin Blanc and a Pinot Noir, organic and biodynamic they say, and not cheap.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Want to have your say?