Dunkeld Country & Equestrian Estate

Great scenic location, booked Superior Villa. Sadly, management appears to take little accountability for long outstanding maintenance issues that repeat in reviews. Restaurant staff service and food a bit hit-and-miss. If management took more interest this could be an amazing place which will reflect in the reviews and earn the 4 star rating they believe they are.

We visited Dullstroom in November 2023 and spent a weekend here. What an awesome experience! Most beautiful and scenic views. Very enjoyable stay. We are looking forward to stay here again soon! Thank you for a memorable weekend.

This must be the worst Timeshare Resort in South Africa and this filth sadly goes from the HC units to the newer equestrian estate. Please stay well clear of it as what you see is pretty elegant but the reality is vastly different. We were booked for 4 nights through RCI 8- 11 December.Arrived at 2pm and left the next morning before 10 am after trying to find a clean and serviceable unit. RCI needs to make a site visit as this is not the type of resort they recommend or partner with. This started at 6am phoning the emergency number after finding reception has limited hours- opens at 8 am. THIS WHAT WAS WRONG WITH UNIT 13. Fridge faulty barely works and cools down.Mould and foreign bodies in water compartment. Deep freeze tray- one large one missing. Broken shelves in cupboards No key or lock on main bedroom door.What we did find next morning was a bolt in the corner on the floor that was a make shift to close door.Staff said had asked maintenance for a year to fix it.Could not lock the unit. We are seasoned South Africans not Europeans who have never seen insects before Spiders in beds which if you bitten your holiday is over Cobwebs in most corners of rooms- Top and Bottom resulting in a mini ecosystem Stains of dead mosquitoes and bugs on ceilings and walls- must be over 20 Never seen a can of doom or some vim- to clean unit Window blinds bathrooms absolutely filthy and marked with dead mosquitos- open the blinds and a thriving ecosystem of insects behind it. Window latches broken on numerous windows. The most filthy bathroom windows and burglar bars- last cleaned a year ago Paint on curtains and bedroom cupboards Stained and dirty carpets. Dust not cleaned above bathroom tiles - tiles them selves floor and wall dirty. Broken doors into bedrooms with laminate comming off frames. Lounge obviously had a leak and two large panels stained and not repainted Facia boards missing from roof. Would call main bedroom bed a 3/4 not even double. The list goes on .................. We first spoke to Albert on emergency line at around 6h15 and we clearly woke him up.He arrived 20 mins later being based off site.I would hate to be in a fire and emergency with this system. Took him another 20 mins to fetch Mpfo the General Manager who has worked there 17 years.He was very apologetic and one can see seasoned at trying to appease unhappy customers. 20 mins of phoning their reservations and says we can move to Equestrian Estate.Went with him and Alfred and they opened two 3 bed units. Walk in and paint peeling in entrance,door rubber falling off,filthy carpets with dead beetles all over,windows interior not cleaned ,broken front patio tiles,curtains come off rails.......Enuf. Asked him to get it cleaned up and asked staff why everything was so dirty in a unit that was cleaned and awaiting guests- shrugged their shoulders and eich ...the management. Knew we were on hiding to nothing and phoned RCI at 8h30 and explained situation

A great place to go and relax. Very relaxing to sit outside and look at the game grazing in the distance. The management of the place needs serious attention. Housekeeping is not always up to standard. When there are serious issues with water (example for more that 6 hours) and the issue is on the Estate, management does not communicate effectively with the guests. Please attend to the effective management of the place.

Beautiful scenery, amazing cottage and nice staff! Would highly recommend!

Unfortunately not the best stay we’ve had. The management was sub par (could get hold of them on the telephone lines and waited outside the spa for a while before our treatments). The worst of it all was our lunch at the 1883 restaurant where I had a mouldy burger bun. Yuck. Burger came back with a non-mouldy, but stale, bun. No apologies from management or the chef. Room at the Equestrian Estate was not the cleanest and looked a bit shabby with broken blinds and a poorly flushing toilet.

Extremely rude receptionist and staff - in an arrogantly silent way. We were there overnight and had 2 rooms booked, for my family and guide. Booking was placed earlier on in the year, they were informed that we needed a cot bed for our young child and yet did not provide one. The lodge by the lake is ancient and pretty horrible. Definitely not the 4 stars the hotel boasts of. Also to note, the better room should always be assigned to the paying guests, and not the guide. We swapped rooms and opted to stay by the hotel we’re room was modern and had a larger bed to fit 3 people as they would not provide a small bed For a child. Said room by the reception area was adjacent to the bar and had blaring music till 10pm. Our walls were vibrating. I mean this is a hotel not a nightclub in a party zone. The receptionist and Angela in ththe restaurant were both very rude, even going so far as to rolling their eyes when we spoke to them. It’s a shame, as the estate is lovely. If only you’d modernize the lodges and educate your staff, it would be amazing.

Dunkeld Equestrian Estate has everything going for it. It’s has all the amenities to offer , horse riding , hiking, mountain biking, walking trails and fishing. We went to fish and it was dissapointing. They certainly have a good amount of water which could be amazing if they had a proper stocking program but sadly it was not up to scratch. There was also litter in many of the dams. A charge of R500.00 was charged to fish in the so called ‘Trophy dam’!! As well as this the beauty and peacefulness was disturbed by people sitting drinking and playing music from their cars! The cabin we stayed in was tatty and needed maintenance , curtain rails falling down and no curtains in the one bedroom. As well as this it needed proper cleaning , cobwebs everywhere. Management needs to focus on the maintenance and keeping the party goers away. Sadly we won’t be back

Chalet No.1 Window hinges broken therefore windows unable to close properly and the wind blowing through the cracks all night long. Windows so badly maintained that they could not close and also has the wind blowing all night long. Repairs in number of walls (bathrooms and bathrooms) that were polyfilled but not painted up – and even then not polyfilled (repaired properly) Curtain railings broken and then not repaired – so the railing fell off the hooks when the curtain was drawn closed. Water Damage on the wall and not even properly covered to try and least have some form of respectability. Front door lock damaged, so instead of fixing it, someone put double sided tape to stop the banging when the wind blew (it didn’t help) but the wind was howling through the gaps in the evening. The horrendous state of the roof with the paint peeling off (all over the entire roof – not just in patched)   Furthermore – in the past, and in every other THC resort we have stayed in in the last 15 years, there have always been small shampoo/soap/shower gel in each bathroom to be used and small glasses for after brushing your teeth.   In this Chalet there was nothing.  Now that is not a problem in principle but then at least forewarn the guest that they will need to bring their own toiletries. This was not the case and extremely inconvenient.   And lastly – the 1883 restaurant.  We booked for 6 and arrived on time.  Once seated it took 15min for the drinks to be ordered and eventually when they were received they were serviced up in VERY hot glasses.  What the use of cold drinks in steaming hot glasses.  When this was addressed there was new drinks served in bottles but no new glasses.  The meals were eventually ordered and 2 of the 3 meals were received incorrectly.  One was rectified and the other not.  The total debacle took 2 hours and 25mins to unfold.  And before anyone states otherwise it was not that busy that evening.   When I asked for the bill, I eventually walked to the counter and asked where the bill was, 15mins after I had initially requested it.  When I did get the slip it was completely wrong.  Wrong meals, missing drinks and the individual that was both serving us and tallying up the bill seemed to be completely non compos mentis.