It was a blogpost by Tony Ward that attracted my attention to the High Tea at MannaBay, a little-known boutique hotel high up in Oranjezicht.  The High Tea we were served yesterday in no way compared to what is reflected on the MannaBay website, nor is the effort it took to make the booking for the High Tea reflective of its claimed five star rating.

I have a date with my longest-standing school friend Jenny, spoiling her on her birthday, and she does the same for me.  From what I saw on Tony’s blog and on their website, MannaBay seemed a nice spoiling surprise for Jenny’s birthday treat.  I called late afternoon about ten days ago, wanting to book the High Tea, and the phone was answered by a waiter.  The communication with him was poor, and his answers vague, so he passed me on to the Assistant Manager Nolu Dube.  She told me that one would have to pay for the High Tea in full in advance, which I queried.  The telephonic interaction was very poor, and seemed out of sync with the five star rating claim, and I couldn’t understand that she could not just accept my telephonic booking! She told me her GM was out, but soon thereafter Justine Ryan called, rather aggressively, saying that a non-refundable deposit of 50 % of the total has to be paid upfront.  I asked her to send the invoice, but received nothing.  I followed up, and discovered that she had written down the e-mail address incorrectly, despite it being spelt for her a number of times.  I did receive the e-mail eventually, and wanted the invoice faxed, so that it could be paid.  The invoice did not arrive, despite  an over-assertive confirmation that it had been sent!  Jenny had to change our date, so I wrote to Justine, informing her of our new date.  There was no further communication about payment, so I stopped begging for the invoice. Continue reading →