We were two families - with one child each. We arrived at the reception at 3 pm. They received us with welcome drinks and smiles. At reception we waited for about 30 minutes - standing, so eventually we suggested that we would go and have high tea until they sort out the problem. We were not informed what the problem is, we assumed that the room was not ready. We had the keys to the rooms at 4:30pm. Check in time is at 2. The rooms were beautiful as expected. Later that evening we had dinner at the grill restaurant. The service was very friendly but slow. The food was excellent with the exception of the mushroom sause which had no mushrooms in it. The next day we went to the valley of the waves. It was crowded, they ran out of umbrellas so we had to sit in the hot sun until we managed to squeeze under one of the few square shades provided, which fit may be 20 people. we felt like sardines in a can. You would ask - why did you stay there and not by the pool at the palace - the kids of course wanted to go on the slides.
in the evening we went to the Plume restaurant. The write up on the restaurant was that it is a must. We had reservation for 8pm. We were there on time. We got our starters at about 9:45pm and the main course at 10;40pm. They placed the wine in the corner of the restaurant but were never around to pour, so we had to get up and pour it our selves. In overall friendly but bad service with a smile! The other problem was at breakfast - every morning there were long queues to get a table. The food was exceptional, absolutely outstanding. The hotel is magnificent. Must admit we did spend some time by the pool where the service was fantastic.I would not go there again. The money spent was not worth it.

There is a lot of hype in hearing about "The Palace" when visiting SA. The welcome is incredible. The fountains, huge doors and the impressive lobby. It is really breathtaking! However that's where it stops. Staff are all unhappy and extremely slow to say the least. I was that distressed as to why staff were so lethargic that I had to ask. "Sir we have to work from the 16th of December every day until the 16th of January with no break". How can staff give service if they are in that frame of mind? We were sent to the wrong room, our luggage was sent elsewhere and our dinner reservation failed despite being "confirmed". Staff are standing around in suits looking important next to the Christmas tree yet we couldn't even get a water to our room after 4 phone calls! Around the pool the next morning we couldn't get water because there was a "stock" problem. This is a dated property resting on it's structure. Customer service simply doesn't exist but the staff don't care. Welcome to Africa.

Myself and my wife decided to get away from the rat race for a long weekend, we were not disappointed by the 3 nights we spent at the Palace of the Lost City. We golfed both courses, ate in some magnificent restaurants, had a little flutter on the tables and generally just relaxed. The hotels amenities are second to none, the staff only a glance away - this was pure luxury at its best.