Rijk's Wine Estate & Guesthouse

We love staying at Rijk’s

Love the location, the experience and the people

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Beautiful views with true farm feel. Friendly and welcoming staff. Clean room and facilities.

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We were extremely disappointed with our stay, initially because of the condition of the room, but ultimately because of the way the issue was handled by staff. The water in the bathroom was dark brown — so brown that it looked more like the wine produced on the farm than usable tap water. The attached photos clearly show the condition of the water. This was obviously not a new problem. The bath and basin were heavily stained brown, indicating that the issue has existed for a considerable time. When I raised the matter with reception, the initial response was dismissive. I was told that “the farm manager has inspected the water and although it looks brown, it is perfectly clean.” Regardless of whether it was technically safe, the condition of the water was completely unacceptable for guest accommodation. Because it was already after dark and we did not want the inconvenience of finding alternative accommodation, we accepted the staff’s offer of a 50% refund and stayed the night. However, we did not use any of the water in the room. The following morning, reception again assured me that the refund would be processed through Booking.com on the Monday. No refund was ever received. About a week later, Booking.com informed me that Rijk’s Guesthouse had rejected my complaint, and instead I received only R244.88 (approximately US$14) in Booking.com credit. For context, the room rate was R2,408 (approximately US$144) for the night. The poor condition of the facilities was disappointing enough, but the failure to honour what was promised left us feeling misled and badly treated as guests.