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4.0
#9 of 13 hotels in Camps Bay
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
With the majestic Twelve Apostle mountain range as a back drop and the Atlantic Ocean less than a minutes walk away, The Bay Hotel boasts an unrivalled location in the heart of glitzy Camps Bay. After a busy day seeing Cape Town’s world-class sights, exhale and relax with a sunset cocktail, a treatment in the on-site spa or some time lounging around one of four sea-facing pools. Or if all that sounds too demanding, retreat to one of the 78 bright, modern rooms or suites to gaze out at the beach and do absolutely nothing at all. Whether you’re travelling on business, planning the perfect wedding or just seeking some rest and relaxation, our friendly, professional staff will make sure you get the most from your Camps Bay stay.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Classic
Business
Languages Spoken
English, Afrikaans
Location
69 Victoria Road, Camps Bay 8001 South Africa
The Bay Hotel
1,768 reviews
Getting there
Great for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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The Bay Hotel boasts a prime location with stunning views and easy access to Camps Bay Beach, a highlight for many guests. While the rooms are generally praised for their spaciousness and comfort, opinions on the hotel's atmosphere are varied, with the pool area's loud music and outdated style receiving criticism.
Some guests have experienced disturbances due to noise, and the value for the price has been questioned, considering the inconsistent amenities and service. Despite this, the hotel maintains high standards of cleanliness in the rooms.
Location
Picturesque
Atmosphere
Tired
Rooms
Spacious
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Noise level
Noisy
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Inconsistent
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We stayed for a week in February and were delighted with the location in the centre of Camps Bay right opposite the beautiful beach. We found the staff to be very friendly and helpful in all areas of the hotel. Our room was ok if a little tired. The bathroom needs an overhaul and could be a little less cramped. Both BA and Virgin rate this as a 4.5 star hotel and we didn’t feel it met that standard and therefore should have been more competitively priced. We had a pool view and a small balcony leading out to the pool. The pool area was quite large but the pool was quite small and did not look very clean neither of us ventured in because of this. Service around the pool was a little slow but as we were touring around most days rather than using the pool it didn’t affect our stay too much. The breakfast is fabulous with a huge variety to choose from. Camils bar has a lovely view across the beach and some great cocktails. The location is fantastic for the hop on hop off bus which stops right outside. We used this service for several trips and were very impressed. The hotel is surrounded by excellent restaurants and bars to watch the beautiful sunsets.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip 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.
Firstly, it was my honeymoon weekend and we booked for breakfast at 9am and we arrived at the venue only to be standing around for 15 minutes at the sign stating: "wait to be seated", after waiting I went to the front desk where we were told to go to Sandy B. So we didn't know where that was but managed to find out way. The table we got assigned to was still full of the previous customer's plates etc. After that we ordered and then find out that some things are charged extra and others not, so the menu was not explained to us. The complementary croissants were puny in comparison to literally every other table present as well as the "glass" of juice we received were minute comparatively, and this was for both mornings of our stay. The service was so bad that we only at at 10:30 for a 9am breakfast. An older couple sat down 30 minutes after us, got their food, ate and left 20 minutes before we even got our food. I told the front desk person who was very apologetic but was not inclined to make it up to us for the poor experience we had. We stayed at room 432, which was an incredible suite with a stunning view, however the balconies, outside furniture and jacuzzi were absolutely filthy! I asked for house keeping (as well as putting up the sign) to tend to the room that morning after the breakfast, and my wife and I headed out for 2 hours, came back with nothing being done despite the management saying: "We will get right to that". I cleaned the jacuzzi myself, and when I put on the jets, the most fowl smell was made too! Housekeeping only got to our room at 7pm! The second morning, the service was better but still poor. How can a 5 star hotel not have any Ceylon tea or simple mango juice or enough salt and pepper for tables. I noticed other guests having to clean their own tables before sitting down for breakfast because they were forgotten about. Honestly, I feel it was no where near my money's worth to stay there and I can see the potential of the hotel, but behind the luxurious façade, is a mismanaged and poor service orientated hotel. I want the bay hotel to prove themselves to me that they are a first class hotel like the rating suggests.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: March 2021
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
Response from Reinard Gerber, General Manager at The Bay Hotel
Responded 20 Apr 2021
Dear KevinForrester Greetings from The Bay Hotel and thank you for the taking the time to write to us. We are saddened to hear that your experience did not meet up to your expectation, we do take your comments on board as we continually strive to improve. Warm Regards
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Overall, we had a pretty disappointing stay at The Bay Hotel. We were really excited to stay here due to it's notoriety and prime position on the beach front. Although our stay was nice enough, for the amount they charge we expected a far higher standard and will definitely stay elsewhere next time we're in Cape Town.
Positives - location is fantastic, the pool area is nice and service around the pool is attentive. Breakfast is also good quality.
Negatives - rooms are really tired, especially the bathroom. Bathrooms are cramped and our shower flooded the floor every time we used it. We had a premier pool room so it wasn't the most basic and for the amount of money charged, our experience didn't represent good value. Wish we'd stayed at the nicer boutique hotel next door.
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Date of stay: February 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.
My experience with The Bay Hotel started before our stay when I found it very difficult to get hold of anyone by phone or email regarding some questions and requests we had for our stay. I did eventually speak to someone, but it took several attempts via email and phone and I wasn't confident that they had noted everything. They clearly hadn't because when we arrived our room was made up for two people and not 3 as per our booking. It was remedied quickly but we shouldn't have had to deal with that.
In summary this hotel is very tired and in need of some serious investment. It is no longer the glittering star of the Camps Bay beach area and is definitely not 5 star in terms of service or attention to detail. It has been totally surpassed by other local guest houses which are generally half the price. (Ocean View House where we stayed for 2 nights at the end of our trip was exceptional).
The service is extremely slow throughout the hotel and the staff, whilst they are friendly, lack training. The room we stayed in was spacious but very noisy - air conditioning was very loud, plant machinery outside the room at the back of the hotel was constantly noisy. I don't think I have been anywhere for a very long time where there are still hot and cold taps in the shower and for the bath rather than mixers!! We waited over an hour for food in the staff restaurant one evening when there were only 2 other tables occupied. Breakfast was pretty basic for a 5 star hotel, the cooked food was better. Swimming pools are freezing - even in peak season, constant search for fresh towels as they never seemed to be replenished.
Stand out staff were Rolanda in the restaurant and James at the gate. Otherwise, no interaction really at all with anyone else. Front desk staff were poor.
Although we will be back to the Cape Town area as soon as we can - it was wonderful, we won't be returning to The Bay Hotel, particularly when there is so much choice in the area. This hotel is really poor value for money.
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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.
Atrocious service. Phone in the room was not working and reporting the problem to hotel staff did nothing - was not fixed for the entire 5 nights of our stay. Had to use our international phone charges to call front desk or room service. Speaking of room service, not a single member of the staff informed us that there was a R60 charge for room service so imagine our surprise when we receive a bill of ~R120 for two 300ml soft drinks. Every time our room was cleaned we’d wonder what would be missing that day - from the second day of our stay we stopped receiving face towels, on the third day we didn’t receive hand towels and on the last day no bath mats. The worst probably was that our toilet paper was not replenished daily. Eventually I ran down to the cloakroom to grab a spare toilet roll from there. Breakfast was not tasty. From the second day we instead opted to go down to the Firefly café down the road for their delicious breakfast.
Spa is only available from 10am - 4pm and therapists are not always available for your preferred times as they are splitting their time with another spa so be sure to book your therapies well in advance.
Definitely not a 5 star experience.
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Date of stay: October 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Avoid breakfast.
Buy a local sim card.
Parking available.
Confirm there is hot water running...
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.
Sadly this wasn't a good experience. Our room was next door to an outside external door which was being mended that day we arrived. By the time we left, it still was not sorted. We spoke to reception more than once about it and they said they couldn't help it as it was the wind that was making the door slam. My husband was up during the night more than three time trying to lock it to stop it slamming. Nothing was done and the people on reception were not helpful at al! We asked for some recommendations for day trips, we got no help at all. They didn't even have maps for us to take away. They said they had run out and the man on the desk didn't know how to print one off. We paid a lot of money to stay at this hotel and we felt we got nothing short of bad service, average accommodation and basic hotel maintenance. WE won't be returning.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip 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.
So I have thought long and hard about this review. My first thoughts were to write a scathing review but that would be a bit unfair as I had read all the negative reviews on here before booking so knew what I was getting myself into. I guess I hoped it wouldn't be as bad as some people had said but to be honest it was. This is NOT a five star hotel by any stretch of the imagination. I could go into a long lengthy review but I think its best to point out the issues:
1) It is very noisy. Music from the bars and restaurants play out till the early hours of the morning and we were often woken around 8am by banging music from the bar next door. 2) The rooms are basic and the bathrooms are in desperate need of refurbishment. The amenities are lacking in quality and were not replaced for the whole six nights I was there! 3) I complained about a couple of things when I first arrived and was completely ignored by the Manager for my whole stay. She was unwilling to help with any issues I had and did nothing to try to make it better. 4) The shower leaked and the toilet was very badly placed in the bathroom which meant you could not sit on it straight but had to move to the side - not that comfortable. 5) The paint was peeling off the walls in the bathroom and around the shower. 6) When I sent some items to the laundry there were no laundry bags in the rooms so I called down to reception to ask for one. Minutes later there was a knock at the door and a male staff member had come to collect the laundry. He took my pile of laundry from me in his hands, no bag, as it contained dirty underwear I felt it was very inappropriate and strange. 7) Pool was freezing cold. 8) Restaurant and poolside service erratic and slow most of the time.
I paid for three rooms and we stayed for six nights. I did not feel that the hotel had a personality and the service was just lacking in general. The only thing this hotel has going for it is it's location. I think I would have preferred to have stayed at the Waterfront and taken a taxi to the beach every day.
As said I can't be disappointed as I kind of knew from other reviews what to expect but it is a reality and I would not stay here again.
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Date of stay: December 2019
Value
Rooms
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.
Pool area, service very bad. You have to look for the waiters all the time and they take forever with the cocktails. Accommodation, tired, old, dirty carpets in rooms. Bathrooms old and outdated. They should allocate the dog rooms together as you hear barking dogs early hours of the morning. You can’t sleep in a little bit. Christmas lunch was tasty, however the trifle little dessert was very disappointing for Christmas Day and paying R625 per head. No turn down pillow service or even chocolates on your pillow. The hotel did nothing extra to make guests feel special for Christmas. The price you pay per night is ridiculous. Compliments on service to Belinda, Andrew, Brian, Nthabi and Genevieve in the Spa.
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Date of stay: December 2021Trip type: Travelled solo
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.
Lovely place with a great atmosphere especially in the bar at sunset with great music. Just wish we could get our room deposit back onto credit card - note they don’t take a “hold” on your card like most hotels - they charge it and then I have been waiting and chasing up a refund that’s not forthcoming. An annoying issue after a brilliant stay at this hotel.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: February 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
Response from Reinard Gerber, General Manager at The Bay Hotel
Responded 08 Feb 2021
Warm Greetings from The Bay Hotel. Thank you for taking the time to write to us, I am so pleased to hear that you enjoyed your recent stay with us. Our prime location surely is one of our x-factors. Hope to welcome you back in the near future. Please do not hesitate to e-mail me directly via hostmanager@thebayhotel.com to resolve the refund concern you have. Warm Regards Reinard Gerber
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An average hotel at a high price. You tend to get more in South Africa for your ‘buck’ than in UK, yet for a similar price you could stay in the London Ritz or Dorchester of which The Bay Hotel has no comparison.
Cons: We booked into a sea and mountain view room, we were kindly accommodated early by the night receptionist due to a very early flight, however ended up in a sea and pool room. You couldn’t see the sea, unless you went to the far corner of the balcony and we never book a pool view as these lack privacy and open to noise, this room had both of these things. The balcony was shaded all day and so, for us, never used. We complained at reception on day one of four, we were told the manager would be consulted and they would get back to us, we never heard again, we didn’t go back to them.
The rooms are in dire need of redecoration (or ours was) particularly the bathroom which was very poor, this we also complained about and it was ignored. The toilet was cracked, gaps in tiling at top of the shower, staining to bath, flooring, sink (which looked like a cigarette had been rested on it). A tile had been removed in bathroom to go into box section under bath taps and never replaced.
Only being tea and water drinkers we left a note for the maid for teabags only to be replaced, this request was ignored and they weren’t replaced, nor was the complimentary water for 2 days.
The breakfast area has a decking part which is in need of replacement it’s very dirty looking and also the canvas canopy over this area is dirty, however if you look to the left of you throughout breakfast there is a tall palm tree surrounded by a decking base next to the sun beds and the resident rat strolls out daily to entertain you. We appreciate all establishments selling food are prone to rats but pest control should be evident
Reception staff with exception of male night receptionist Maids for rooms
Pros: Nice location and opposite the bus stop Comfortable beds and good sleep Bar/ meal service from staff Food, we had both breakfast and an evening meal and cocktails all of which were very enjoyable. The restaurant managers are present and interested. The breakfast is extensive and has full choice for everyone, meals for the area very reasonably priced and good quality especially the sticky wings .
We probably wouldn’t stay again. The hotel looks nice and boasts many famous previous guests, the last approx 2017, but I feel it’s letting itself down now, the rich and famous wouldn’t have had room 321. A very overpriced stay.
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip 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.
Response from The Bay Hotel, General Manager at The Bay Hotel
Responded 18 Jan 2023
Dear STMB08, Thank you for taking the time to complete a review about your stay at The Bay Hotel. We are happy to hear that we could accommodated you earlier than the normal check in time. We noted your valued feedback and happy to confirm that we will be doing renovations during the winter months this year. We have also shared your comments with the housekeeping manager as this will assist them in improving their services. We hope to welcome you back at The Bay Hotel again soon! Kind Regards, The Bay Hotel
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Dear Ray
Thank you for contacting us.
The Weather in Cape Town can change daily.
Spring in Cape Town is sunny on most days with the Temperatures that average around under 20 degrees and wind speeds between 20km/h to 30km/h.
The Bay Hotel’s location is ideal to protect from most wind directions, however we do get some onshore winds from time to time.
We Are looking forward to welcome you at The Bay Hotel.
Kind Regards,
The Bay Hotel
Good Afternoon Clint W,
It's always a place to be but on specific Sunday's, we have been having live Music. We always update on Facebook etc.
Hope to see you soon.
Kind Regards,
The Bay Hotel Team
Ballito, South Africa153 contributions13 helpful votes
The citysightseeing red bus stops directly opposite the hotel. Just jump on it early in the morning, it will take you to all the major tourist attractions!
There are more places to choose from in the Camps Bay area.
PRICE RANGE
R 5,149 - R 8,872 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
bay hotel camps
LOCATION
South AfricaWestern CapeCape TownCamps Bay
NUMBER OF ROOMS
78
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect average nightly room rates, including taxes and fees that are fixed, known to our partners, and due at time of booking. Please see our partners for more details.
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