The Devon Valley Hotel

Save your money and go to Lord Charles or any other hotel in Stellenbosch. This place sucks and when I explained my dissatisfaction to management they wrote to me: "We take not of your email, and your threats." meaning they couldn't care less to rectify any issues... Here is my story and context if you have the time to read: My partner and I stayed at Devon Valley for a close friends wedding. While a beautiful property, booking a stay was difficult in that their main point of contact, Melissa Van Staden was extremely unresponsive via email. Imagine how difficult this is when you're booking from a different country. They made us pay upfront and charged extra for using a credit card, which is something you can avoid with other hotels by simply booking online but whatever - we did it. The unresponsiveness should have been our warning sign to go else where because a slew of problems arose when we arrived: Incorrect Billing: We were charged for an additional night that we did not stay!!!! This seemed like a simple mistake because I had asked if it was possible to add another night, and while they confirmed adjusting the reservation was possible, we never confirmed we would be staying an extra night. We had pre-paid for our three nights, and upon checkout (3/11/25), they billed us for an extra night despite me confirming we actually would be checking in on 3/9 prior to arrival. Calvin, the manager, whom I dealt with at the property refunded me 50%. However I requested an immediate refund for this erroneous charge via email and they refused claiming I was in the wrong for asking for an extra night. Unresponsive Staff and Damaged Property: Despite four separate requests for a clothing steamer, none was provided though they kept saying they would deliver one to our room. Eventually, I was given a defective iron after running to the front desk four times. Because it was broken, it damaged my partner's formal pants. This forced him to change his outfit for the wedding we were attending. This represents both poor service and property damage. I totally understand they aren't obligated to have steamers, but at a top hotel I would at least expect better service! Misrepresented Accommodations: I specifically paid a premium for a vineyard view room. However, upon arrival, I discovered that my room had no such view (see photos) due to ill maintained and overgrown foliage. This is blatant false advertising and failure to deliver the specific room category I paid for. When I took this up with Calvin, the hotel manager, instead of listening to a customers dissatisfaction, he screamed that "this is the best view in South Africa, and has won awards". Like ok? Can you see the vineyards in this picture? Because I can't... Overall I'm truly appalled at the lack of hospitality from a hospitality group... when I reiterated my concerns over email they responded saying that all my "allegations were denied" and that their "excellent reputation is well documented and [they] have no doubt we acted with a high duty of care." It felt like I was emailing with a child who kept yelling at me "no you're wrong!" I've stayed at amazing hotels in some iconic cities (and left reviews for them too!), and some not so great ones too, but this takes the cake for worst experience and worst customer service. They'd rather keep $200 and risk their reputation than fix some small errors on their part.

We so enjoyed our stay at Devon Valley. Just a 5 minute drive from the town, set in a beautiful location among the vineyards. The room was comfortable, a great restaurant and bar along with a fabulous terrace where you can sit with a glass of something and enjoy the views. But what made this hotel was the staff. From the moment we arrived we were provided with just the best hospitality and with so many smiles. We chose this hotel as our daughter came here in 2019 and had the best time, it seems nothing has changed.

We loved everything about the hotel. The view is stunning, Service is excellent and rooms are nicely furnished as well. Very clean and neat.

BEAUTIFUL hotel, in a lovely setting and scenery from rooms. The vineyard room was perfect, peaceful. Awesome breakfast and attentive staff from check in to check out . I would highly recommend this hotel if you want a peaceful break with views.

I went to the hotel to get availability and pricing for 35 guests. My family are coming from Austria and attending a wedding at a venue nearby. The co ordinator was unavailable and I had to give my details to another staff member to call me with the information. It's been a week and as yet nobody has been in touch. Obviously just not interested in accommodating 35 overseas guests. Most disappointing 😕