FLIGHTS

Cruise news: 4 sleeper cabins are sold out on OP025, the 15 Feb 2013 MSC Opera cruise from Durban to nowhere.

The Purple shall rule! A week ago Jane wrote to let us know about the rotten time her family had at Spear Chukka, a self-catering guest house in Yzerfontein: "My husband, children and myself went to Yzerfontein this past week end and didn't have a very pleasant experience at the house we stayed at for two nights. We paid R1000 per night and expected accommodation in keeping with the standard that we have come to expect within that price range. The house was filthy to say the least. Sticky dust everywhere, disgusting pillows and scatter cussions in the lounge that aren't fit for my dog to sleep on. Half left renovations/maintenance. The place stank like cigarette smoke and when I walked into the bedrooms, even though the bedding seemed clean, it smelt from possibly old inners. Ie. Pillows and duvet stank like old man greasy hair sweat. My daughter and I were bitten all over by something. Hopefully fleas and not bedbugs! I would like to lodge a complaint and have the matter looked into so that some other poor unsuspecting family doesn't get swindled by the nice photos on the website and romanced by the spa bath and sauna. On the whole the place has potential but is kept in a shocking state. I am a cleanliness freak and have had a very bad experience in the past with bringing bedbugs home from holiday accommodation, that I might add seemed to be in better condition than what we just experienced. I had my life turned upside down that I almost went mental. I will be furious if this happens to me again! Getting rid of something like bedbugs is not a joke! All you need is one to come home in your luggage and you have had it! I am almost put off ever going away on holiday again. Its not worth the risk! I am not the type of person to complain, but I just felt like venting this time. Many thanks for taking the time to read my complaint. I hope that something can be done."

We wrote to Speak Chukka to hear their side of the story & they replied that "Wow, that is shocking and surprising. The rate is due to the fact that the guests in this unit have their own private sauna, spa bath, large enclosed private patio and full kitchen. The unit should therefore not be directly comparable with some other accommodation which does not have these facilities. We thoroughly clean all units and change all linen after every single stay. I suspect the problem here may be the sea air which does tent to cause a stale smell on the linen and in the cupboards if left for a while. This house was not occupied for almost one month prior to Mr & Mrs Doe's stay and I suspect that the sea air took its toll. We will now change fresh linen prior to a stay even if it was already changed, but unused. We have zero history of any bugs or insects and do not allow pets of any kind. At times in summer there can be quite a bad mosquito problem due to the nearby vlei / pan. For this reason we supply mosquito nets and plug-in mosquito repellent bottles. We do request that guests do not smoke in the units and we unfortunately have to display prominent signs throughout the premises. A smokey smell may also come in from the patio braai area if the doors are left open and a wind is blowing. We will investigate and air it out. I cannot think of any 'half left renovations/maintenance' and would appreciate more details on this topic if possible. This is one of our better units although it is not used as frequently and I suppose it is possible for dust to collect. We normally have happy guests. In order to back this up, I would like to offer Mr & Mrs Doe a free return visit which I will communicate to them tomorrow."

At this point Jane asked us not to publish anything, but then a week later she contracted lice. "I know that you thought that you had seen the last of me but there have been some new developments. My daughter and I have contracted lice. I know for a fact that our heads were clear just before we left on holiday as we all had haircuts. We could only have caught it at Spear Chukka.  Please see attached link 'hellopeter' from a persons complaint in February. I think that you should go ahead with printing in the newsletter, as they obviously haven't learnt their lesson. It has cost me a fortune to de-louse and make sure that everything in my home is sterile! They only defended themselves, not even an apology!"

Views expressed here aren't necessarily those of SouthAfrica.TO's. If you would like to get your opinions published, please email them to cheapflights@southafrica.to

The Bottom Line: With attention focussed on Europe's problems, some may have missed the fact that lending activity came to a standstill in China in the first 2 weeks of May, and China has also seen a slowdown in deposits. This monetary contraction may be the canary in the coalmine.