Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels
3 Mullett Street, St Lucia 3936 South Africa
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#43 of 76 hotels in St Lucia
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Elephant Lake Hotel, St Lucia, KwaZulu Natal is located on the magnificent shores of the St Lucia Estuary, one of the largest estuaries in Africa. The St Lucia Estuary is home to more than 800 hippopotami and an estimated 1200 Nile crocodiles not to mention the abundance of birdlife. It is no wonder that the area was proclaimed as a world heritage in 1999 by Unesco and is the first world heritage site in South Africa. The Elephant Lake Hotel is ideal for leisure travellers wanting to explore the magnificent surroundings as well as families and corporate travellers, looking for a conference venue out of town. The hotel offers 56 spacious rooms, which include 25 rooms on the ground floor with private patios leading out into the gardens, pool and kids play area. With 31 rooms on the first floor, 26 of the rooms have private balconies facing the estuary, with a further five rooms that offer courtyard views. Hippo Steakhouse, located onsite, is situated to scenically overlook the hotel gardens and the St Lucia Estuary. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is known for its variety of authentic African dishes. Our conference room can accommodate up to 100 guests and is perfect for corporate conference delegates who want to enjoy a balance between business and leisure with all the attractions the area has to offer. Near-by attractions include hippo and crocodile tours on the St Lucia Estuary, Isimangaliso Wetland Park, Cape Vidal and Mission Rocks, Veyane Cultural Zulu Village, snorkelling, deep sea fishing, turtle hatching tours and much more.
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Property amenities
Free parking
Pool
Outdoor pool
Bar / lounge
Airport transportation
Meeting rooms
Concierge
Laundry service
Restaurant
Breakfast buffet
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Room features
Air conditioning
Private balcony
Safe
Flatscreen TV
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Family rooms
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
HOTEL STYLE
Family
Location
80Somewhat walkable
Grade: 80 out of 100
14Restaurantswithin 0.5 km
4Attractionswithin 0.5 km
3 Mullett Street, St Lucia 3936 South Africa
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The overall experience was good and the central location of the hotel was great for us because we could walk everywhere. However, there was no Wifi in the rooms which was a great disappointment. The rooms were neat and clean and I would definitely go back there.
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Date of stay: May 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
This hotel has so much potential but it is completely run down. None of the air conditioners work in the dining room, the reception or even the bar area. St Lucia is a hot and humid place, air conditioners are essential. All the rooms have air conditioners that work but drip into the shower making it wet and moldy. The rooms are dingy. For some reason, someone painted all the furniture brown! And now the paint is peeling off. Carpets everywhere are dirty and I was told that the machine broke. Linen, falling apart. The bathroom towel looked like it had been eaten by mice. They have no toilet brushes! I was told that it was unhygienic! Breakfast was very sparse and a long line forms to toast some bread. They only have 1 little toaster like you have at home.
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Date of stay: January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
+1
Dingy, expensive and Not suitable for families with Kids-Terrible This place is the biggest disappointment , rooms are tacky , old linen, filthy grubby bathroom, Torn pillow cases, torn ironing board with the timber showing. We were charged full price for an additional linked room for a 6 year old and 9 year old. The kids never slept in the spare room at all. They point blank refused to have our kids share a room with us like the garden court. Altogether we paid R5160 for 2 nights which is more than twice the price we pay at a garden court family room . At breakfast , my kids ate nothing and on both occasions we were forbidden from packing even what was in their plates for the kids. When asked if they were going to throw away what’s in their plates since the kids haven’t touched it, the answer was “ YES” on two occasions and they unfortunateky can’t allow us to even take a toast for my 6 year old. I understand that the tourism Industry took a knock during covid but this is daylight robbery. The towels are disgustingly tired, carpets need cleaning , iron does not heat up sufficiently to iron even a tshirt , tatty torn ironing board. Yes this is 3 star, but the price is premium if you are travelling with your kids. Full price for kids in a whole room At such a high price for a dingy place like this( see attached pics) Completely not accommodating, complete waste on money. Avoid at all cost!!!! Consider the R5160 that was paid for 2 nights and look at the pics attached. Then go into Tao go suns website see the price for a family room for 2 adults and 2 children. It’s mostly half at most of their hotels. The only good thing was the gentleman at checkin, warm and friendly. All of the above issues lie with management. Disgusting !!!!…
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Date of stay: December 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
+1
This was our second stay at the hotel and we loved it. We love the feel of a hotel and not a house and this place fit perfect. Its not a 5 star hotel so it would be unreasonable to expect everything to be 5 star. The hotel is very clean and the best part is the friendly staff. Lovely breakfast and close to everything. Basically the hotel is in the middle of the town. Will definitely be back again.
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Date of stay: November 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: Ask for a room upstairs with pool view so and look out for hippos. Speak to the staff if you are...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
A work-stay away has never quite felt homey,until my stay at Elephant lake hotel. The well equipped room, friendly staff and all-round incredible atmosphere and views from my room made packing my bags to leave, difficult.
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Date of stay: September 2021Trip type: Travelled on business
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
+1
What a phenomenal experience, the Elephant Lake Hotel has some of the most breathtaking views I've ever seen, there are actual hippo's that roam around the hotel, the staff are extraordinary, my room was spacious and neat and don't get me started on the food, can't wait to visit again.
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Date of stay: September 2021Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip: Make sure you go for more than 2 days like I did, there is so much to experience and do
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
+1
My experience was great. My husband and I stayed here for 5 nights. The hotel is lovely. Very very clean , neat , well kept , the breakfast tasty. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The area is very safe. Walking distance to restaurants. Also close to all activities. The Hotel ground and pool is well kept , clean and always neat. I loved the Hotel. The only small problem is that there are no bar fridges in the rooms which makes it very difficult if you staying more than 2 nights. There is also great value for money when staying at the hotel.
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Date of stay: January 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
+1
First visit to St Lucia. Arrived before the check in time, was told to return after 2, this meant standing in a queue when we returned. Only one person at reception meant a slow check-in. The rooms suited our purpose with linked family rooms between the kids and Us. The Wi-Fi didn’t work in the Rooms, much to the kids disappointment and frustration. A little more attention by management would make this hotel a brilliant stay. TV signal wasn’t great, with limited channels. Kids Remote was faulty. Kids shower only had a trickle of water. No drinking water in the room. It was HOT, requesting ICE was an issue because it wasn’t always available. Perhaps the Lockdown had an impact on the service. Breakfast was definitely delicious and portions were good. Dinner was also great, but the menu is a bit limited for choice. Pool was clean and a great relief. It would be nice to have an information directory in the room. Visits from the Hippos was really cool. But the monkeys become a pest! (Raiding the rooms) …
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Date of stay: January 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
We stayed here for 3 nights at the end of our tour of KZN. The rooms are fairly basic, and the water and electricity both went off on several occasions. The food was plentiful and tasty but it was a fairly limited menu. Drinks were OK but they didnt stock gin or tonic (we asked and they got it in for the third night) and all of the drinks could have been better chilled. It is in the centre of town near to everything and two hippos did indeed walk through the grounds on the first night.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
The welcome at the hotel starts with a disclaimer at both reception and the bar showing the hotel cannot be held responsible for anything that happens to you or your property whilst you stay - whatever the cause! Room has a safe - but no key. Door locks to room are very basic. Our room itself okay and clean but hot water runs out if the hotel is busy and guests are getting ready for an evening meal. The bar had no gin or vodka on our arrival which was not addressed until a complaint was lodged with a duty manager. The staff member behind the bar had a torn, grubby looking uniform and was unable to find a bottle opener for a bottle of beer. The reception staff and waiting staff were smart and helpful. There was a choice of meals at both breakfast and evening and were of a good quality but options were often not available due to running out of ingredients and also the same menu for 2 out of the 3 nights we stayed. This stay was booked as part of a tour otherwise previous poor reviews would have been heeded.…
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Date of stay: January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from deonsteyn, General Manager at Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels
Responded 31 Jan 2020
Thank you for your review. You are welcome to direct an email direct to the General Manager in order to get a better understanding of your review. The disclaimer is a standard disclaimer and safes are either operated electronically or by key available from front desk. Your comments re that bar attendant and product is noted. The Hippo Steakhouse has a A la Carte menu that may be considered should the set menu for the evening not be desired.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
PRICE RANGE
US$81 - US$99 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
South AfricaKwaZulu-NatalSt Lucia
NUMBER OF ROOMS
56
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Frequently Asked Questions about Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels
Which popular attractions are close to Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Nearby attractions include Amala Massage & Gifts (0.4 km), Cape Vidal Lighthouse (0.4 km), and Kosi Bay (0.2 km).
What are some of the property amenities at Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include a pool, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge.
What food & drink options are available at Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Guests can enjoy an on-site restaurant and a lounge during their stay.
Is parking available at Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Yes, free parking is available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Conveniently located restaurants include Reef and Dune, Braza, and KAUAI St Lucia.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Yes, guests have access to a pool during their stay.
Does Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels have airport transportation?
Yes, Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels offers airport transportation for guests. We recommend calling ahead to confirm details.
Is Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels located near the city centre?
Yes, it is 0.5 km away from the centre of St Lucia.
Are there any historical sites close to Elephant Lake Hotel by BON Hotels?
Many travellers enjoy visiting Veyane Cultural Village (4.6 km).