The Cycad Lodge & Chalets

Thank you for the opportunity to stay at your awesome property. my night was restful and breakfast was delicious. excellent service overall. I am looking forward to my next stay.

Had two rooms, televisions not working in both rooms (very fuzzy and unwatchable). Both bedrooms also had heavy duvets with no flat under sheet. You don’t expect a winter duvet in Summer! Lots of mosquitos in the rooms so take a spray. Positives: reception staff very friendly.

I visited Nelspruit for 2 nights. My natural choice was the Cycad. The service was excellent, rooms were neat and clean. The gardens were stunning and well maintained. Staff were friendly. Met the owner. Hands on approach to managing the resort. If you want peace, quiet and quality, the Cycad is the place to stay in Nelspruit.

I had booked stay for myself and colleagues 2 weeks prior to traveling to Mpumalanga. We were delayed in arriving due to flights, we drove 3 hours from OR Tambo to get to Cycad at 01:30 am, to my surprise my booking was not captured and therefore the guy manning reception (Freddy) said there's nothing he can do for me. He tried to call the managers and the lady over the phone said its too late foe her to come to the establishment at that time, so Freddy decided to throw myself and colleague outside, locked the door and switched off the lights. Mind you, we're both females in a totally different province from which we reside. We had to sleep in the car in front of the hotel locked and dark foyer. A colleague of ours brought us a blanket so that we do not get frost bite as it is winter and the night was very chilli. When admin came in the office I went and check with them, they told me that a lady who was working with nightsbridge, our agency had quit the previous friday so they will have to go through her PC to check what had happened so theres nothing that they can do at the moment. Didnt even offer us a hot meal or a place to freshen up. So like 2 hours later, they call me offering apologies said they see the booking and it was just an oversight on their part. They will accommodate me later on the day. That was all I got from them and some measly flowers, No apology whatsoever from the Manager or owner of the lodge. A guy named Mohamed called enquiring about my colleagues booking and when I told him about my matter he said he will investigate and come back to me, to date I haven't received a call back or correspondence. The incident took place between the 16-18 August 2023. My colleague on the other hand, that we slept with in the car. They had received and acknowledged her booking, then because the booking was changed a number of times, the lodge decided to cancel her booking to accommodate their regular and preferred clients. I don't know if we missed the under writing but it was clear that they preferred the islamic religion and catered for all their needs and beliefs.

I was squashed in a small room (26). My auordinates rooms were far better than mine. Parking gate had mulfuntion. Your rules regarding prohibiting of alcohol consumption doesn't make sense. It serves a specific religious group than the majority. I didn't expect such prohibition in an establishment such as a lodge since it's open to anyone who would seek accomodation that side so not allowing alcohol consump within the premise didn't sit well with me. We waited for our dinner for over two hours which was way too long. The lady at reception at our arrival day was friendly and helpful and so is the white lady who was supervising the waiters during breakfast the following day. Two friendly ladies. Thank you.

The service standard is dropping. I have coming to this place for the 6 years but recently the service and food are not satisfying. Normally at the reception I would get the menu for dinner but on my previous visit, there was no menu. During breakfast, the breakfast menu I would normally have to choose from was not given to me to choose, I was just shown the menu. I ordered an Omlette and when I asked if there will be macon and sausages included as it used to be the case, I was told that I could not have the macon, and was also told that "if you don't talk, I would not know what else you want", that was very unfriendly. I am considering going to other places when I visit Mbombela. I was so not happy at all during my breakfast time.

Not a great experience. Why? 1- no alternative power when there is loadshedding 2- Complex is very noisy. You can hear the guests on either side of you 3- Food is not very good 4- service is poor. I was denied an omelette at breakfast on the basis that there was a large group and omelettes take time. At the time I was the only person in the queue!

We have been in this lodge 3 or 4 time before, but our last stay it was complete disaster from start to finish. Not only did they subject us to loud and intrusive maintenance on the air conditioner during our stay, but the unit still didn't work, leaving us sweltering in the heat all night. To top it all off, they charged us a fee for a mini bar freezer that we requested but never even worked, and they have yet to provide any sort of refund. Considering all of these my wife was pregnant and all we requested it was these two things because she was unable to stay in the room and needed cold water during the night. And yes we were aware about the load-shedding meaning that we wouldn’t be able to used the air conditioner for couple of hours. Avoid this place at all costs.

Booked a trip online and credit card details were taken, only to later receive an email a few days later to say the booking was cancelled due to the place being fully booked. Sort out your online!!! Last minute scrambling forced my parents to say at another location.