Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa

The rooms at Fairlawns are large with comfy beds and fantastic bathrooms, couldn’t fault them . Breakfast excellent, didn’t use the spa so can’t comment on this Dinner very good although I feel there is room for improvement on this, the sorbet palate cleanser should be left out as this is not good, and maybe a couple of simpler dishes ie grilled chicken or salmon could be added Staff are lovely Was worried about staying here as some of the comments are awful, but I can honestly say this is a great hotel and I have stayed in lots Read less

My wife and I stayed here for two nights three weeks ago It was our first night in Africa before a 22 day safari trip Sadly the FBH was shocking in almost every way We had travelled 15 hours from England and arrived around 10.00am We were shown to our lovely room but it was very hot in the room so we tried to turn the heat down via the air con We could not do so so asked staff to help , they did so and told us the air con was now working fine We went back to reception and asked if anyone could take us the the Cradle of Life museum , how far away is was , etc We were told it was 30 mins away by car, had a wonderful resturant ( we were getting hungry by then ) and we booked a trip We boarded a van with our guide , an hour and a half later we arrived at the exhibition . We took our guided tour and went to the resturant for lunch , the restaurant was closed ! We arrived back with our driver at 2.10pm , he had told us we needed to be back with him by 2.30pm to make sure we could visit the caves where 2.0m year old skulls were found . We were very excited Our driver said that it was now too late to visit the caves so we sat in the van for almost two hours to get back to the hotel! We went back to our room which was like an iceberg , the air con had not been fixed Over the next five hours we could not use our room as it was too cold and we could not turn up the room temperature.The hotel staff kept telling us the air con was fixed , we kept telling them it was fixed We had a cold shower and as we could not sit in our room we went to the bar Five or six people were drinking in the bar . We waited 15 mins + to be served , then had to go to reception to ask for a bar person Eventually , someone arrived We had dinner in the hotel , it was average food and went back to our room . The air con was still not working so we had to report it again and vacate our room despite being ready for some sleep About 90 mins later the air con was fixed So, we could not use our lovely room for about 6/8 hours and the staff would not accept , for many hours , that they had not fixed the problem The next day we had a good breakfast and toured Joberg We arrived back for a late lunch We sat on the lovely terrace for 20+ mins waiting for a menu or to offered a drink Still no waiters came , we had to go to speak to them to achieve service The lunch was good but very very slow in being cooked and served We had booked a massage each for 4.30pm We went to the Spa to enjoy the pool , steam room and jacuzzi It was a nightmare ! Loads of staff were wandering around, but the pool area was disgustingly dirty with empty drink glasses bottles half eaten food and wee towels everywhere Despite big signs saying use mobiles quietly and respect the no loud noise policy , six or so guests were having a loud party . The steam room could not be used as the party goers had tipped booze in there and it stank The staff milling about did NOTHING to make sure the hotels own rules were well observed by the other “ guests” nor did they make any attempt to clear up the very messy pool area , it was the worst Spa experience of my 66 years staying in over 50 countries around the world My wife took her spa treatment but did not enjoy due to the party noise continuing I declined my massage to go back , annoyed , to my room I tried to run a bath ( lovely big tub) but there was not enough water to have a hot bath! We went out for dinner (Trumps resturant which was brilliant - see my 100% positive review on that establishment) We were leaving early next day (6.30am) for our first safari I ordered a bell hop to collect our bags by 6.00am By 6.15am no one had arrived , I called reception and they told me they had forgotten! So Our stat at Fairlawns was simply awful in every respect We have now stayed in four other lodges on our amazing safari break All places we have stayed have been well organised , great staff , loads of hot water , attentive service when required ( not often) We have had hot water in camps many miles from civilisation Comparing Fairlawns to the other four “ hotels” just demonstrates how so very badly organised and ineffective Fairlawns were in providing any single aspect or the service they should have been able to provide - totally SHOCKING Our agents found the hotel for us , I have reported our horrible stay to the agents I suggest you stear clear of this hotel Read less