"There were several things we liked about Cape Kanapitsa Hotel, which makes our experience with our room particularly disappointing.
We arrived as a family of four – my husband and I and our two children, 17 and 19 – and received a very warm welcome. We were also told that one of our rooms had been upgraded to a Deluxe room, which sounded like a lovely surprise. Our children were given room 411, which was as expected, and they were very happy with it.
Unfortunately, our so-called Deluxe room (314) was a completely different experience. It is located on floor -1, directly opposite the hotel laundry room. The moment we entered the room there was a very noticeable damp, musty basement smell.
That first evening my husband asked reception if we could change rooms. We were told the hotel was fully booked but to check again the following day after guests had checked out. We did this several times during the next few days – in total we raised the issue on four occasions – but were never offered another room. We actually avoided unpacking properly for the first three days because we kept hoping we would be moved.
On one of the occasions when we asked to move, the suggestion from reception was that we could swap rooms with our children. We found this a very strange solution. If we were uncomfortable staying in the room because of the strong damp smell, we obviously weren’t going to solve the problem by asking our 17- and 19-year-old children to sleep there instead.
More concerningly, we discovered what appeared to be black mould in several places in the shower (see photos). The bathroom has no apparent ventilation, which, together with the strong damp smell, made the situation particularly unpleasant. My husband, who has allergies, also experienced noticeably more congestion and sneezing while staying in the room.
The location of room 314 also means that the bathroom/toilet is immediately adjacent to the area where hotel staff sit while working with the laundry. We could clearly hear staff talking and watching things on their phones, which made the bathroom feel extremely lacking in privacy.
At checkout I raised the issue again and specifically said that I did not think the hotel should continue renting out room 314 in this condition. I was told that they had examined the room several times and was given an explanation along the lines of the room “sometimes smells and sometimes doesn’t.”
For us, that response was particularly concerning, as it suggested that the hotel was already aware that there had been an issue with the smell. Despite repeatedly raising it throughout our stay, we never received a concrete explanation, solution or alternative room.
We completely understand that hotels can be fully booked and that changing rooms is not always possible. What we do not find acceptable is renting out a room with such a strong damp smell and visible signs of what appears to be mould – particularly when presented as a Deluxe room. Moving our children into it instead would obviously not have addressed the problem.
There were good things about Cape Kanapitsa: the initial welcome was lovely, our children’s room was perfectly fine, and we enjoyed other parts of our stay. But room 314 needs to be properly investigated and the damp/mould issue addressed before it is rented to another guest.
We stayed in that room for our entire holiday despite repeatedly raising the issue. Based on our experience, room 314 in its current condition should simply not be offered to guests."
