theLAB - theLAB Guesthouses

September 20, 2019

theLAB - theLAB Guesthouses

I've recently discovered "theLAB" guest house in Houtbay, one of Cape Town's hidden Gems!
Lab is short for Labrador and I love their logo (a silhouette of a Labrador) which resembles our dog.
Their branches are as follows
theLAB Cape Town - Tarragona
theLAB - Franschhoek
theLAB - Rosendal
I cannot wait to explore the other two as well!

This Modern and super clean guest house was our home away from home for the weekend, you don't always have to go far to take a break or a little vacation. The team hosted us, and by "us" I'm referring to my husband and kids :-) we totally loved it and had a very relaxed weekend. The facilities made our stay so much fun and we were in awe at the high-tech facilities/features that simplify life. Our favourite was a system called "Echo" it is a smart home device, you can command it to do a few things like switching the lights on or off, operating the blinds, play music and you can tell it what song to play , operate the coffee machine, and in some cases also the shower and bath tub. Our kids couldn't stop saying "Echo" (followed by their request)

Their Green energy vision:

They have solar panels everywhere, these panels use the sun's rays as a source of energy for generating electricity or heating . They work beautifully especially on a sunny day, we have a few at our house too!
Their pool/s and Jacuzzis are heated by solar panels and I like that they also have boreholes.
They are big on saving the planet as they use glass water bottles and have a vegetable garden.
What's also cool , though I didn't try are the electrical bikes and scooters, these can be hired and you can go and explore the neigbourhood, even a day out in Town.
Houtbay has a lot to offer so one can sneak out for the day or even night to explore the neighbourhood. You can visit World of birds wildlife Sanctuary & Monkey Park, Houtbay market to eat, buy goods and socialise and if you like wine farms like I do, Constantia has some really nice wine farms and it's not far from Houtbay.

The Lab is the ideal getaway home whether you're a tourist or a local, you sure will love its warm and welcoming atmosphere. It was my husband's birthday and we had thought of a family getaway not far from home and the Lab was the perfect place, they hosted us and treated us well.
My husband loved the drinks on tap, there's a bar outside near the swimming pool where you can have sparkling water, wine, beer as well as Gin & Tonic etc all on tap!
You can also listen to music in the bar area and ask Echo to play your favourite jams.

Food & Beverages:

The venue offers breakfast with your stay and lunch & supper are optional, they have an in-house chef who braaied for us for supper, the food was beautifully prepared and tasted really good but my favourite was breakfast. They offer a variety of tasty breakfast treats such as different cereals, muffins, banana bread, fresh fruits , yoghurt and warm breakfast (bacon, egg etc)

USB charging port integrated in the menu, It was nice charging my phone while having my meal and there's free WIFI everywhere!

The views are breath taking, it really felt like I was on vacation somewhere far!
Their staff are super friendly and approachable at all times, they showed us around and explained how everything works. My kids also had loads of fun, they played on the beautiful green lawn, swam in a lovely clean blue pool, hopped into the Jacuzzi and watched movies at the location's in-house cinema. Also what I really liked is that our room had its own private Jacuzzi and came in handy to relax in warm water on a chilly evening.

Sunday Morning was spa day at their in-house spa. Hubby and I had an hour couple's massage, it was such a relaxed morning. The masseuses were great and one could tell they love what they do. We were served strawberries dipped in chocolate, sparkling wine and muffins, what a treat!

After the session, we had breakfast and had a look at the venue's conference room which has a Microsoft Board as hubby was keen on using this in future for work.

We are a family of 4, so we stayed in the Family premium room, this was perfect for us, it has a King size extra length bed and 2 single beds for our little boys (there was an extra room with two more single beds so 6 people can share this room). The room has a TV, WIFI, coffee machine, shower and a bath tub and of course also had "Echo".