My second stay at the Maslow, 3 days this time. I still quite like this hotel but there are a few issues: (1) Pillows are awful (room #285) (2) The restaurant staff are good, show personality, seem competent, but once they give you a drink and take your food order, you won't see them again for another 20 minutes. I wanted another glass of wine, and basically went up to the bar myself and got it. (3) The breakfast is good, food quality - the fruit, the bread, for example - probably a 6/10. As a vegan, I found there to be not too much going on. Of course there was the "accidentally vegan" staples like baked beans, but even the tomatoes and mushrooms seemed to be cooked in butter. The bread was kind of ok, but very dry. As in most of South Africa, vegan food was an afterthought, actually probably not even a thought at all. At dinner I ordered the potato indian curry, which was the only thing that looked vegan, and marked vegetarian, but when it came I realised it was swimming in cream. (4) I was in the lift when there was a load shedding event and the whole lift blacked out. Then I guess the generator came on, but I was ready to go into a panic attack. Early that day, I did try to use the stairs at the end of my jog, but couldn't actually access any of the floors from the stairs. So, in a country where someone might, with good reason, be wary of getting into a lift, in this hotel, you are simply unable to use the stairs. (5) When I checked in, after having booked through one of the aggregator sites (that took my credit card details, with no transparency as to whether I had been charged or the credit card details were simply a guarantee), I got to my room late at night, and then received a call from the front desk saying sorry I forgot to take payment, please come down and pay. Which I did. Didn't really bother me, although I did register that it seemed like the process was a bit loose. Then this evening, on day 3, I had dinner in the restaurant. Recieved the bill, which had rows at the bottom for tip, total, name, signature, and room number. Since the staff had been awol most of the time I was in the restaurant, I didn't fancy waiting around for 15 minutes while they executed the process. So I tipped (although should not have), filled in name and room number, and off I went. Now, I've had about 800 hotel stays in my 58 years on Earth, and in that time, what I just did with the bill, has been perfectly fine. However, I got to my room, brushed my teeth, went to bed, and then the phone starts ringing. Apparently I "don't have any credit" and I need to come down and settle the restaurant bill. I said "I'm not coming down. The hotel has my credit card details. I will settle it in the morning. What is happening here is absolutely not normal. Good night." So my message to the Maslow hotel management is simply: clean up your act, this just makes you look ridiculous, and frankly I'd be a bit embarrassed.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.