Joe Mthembu and three friends paid Notel International R19,000 deposit for their New Year accommodation. When they arrived to find it was double booked, Joe had a heart attack and died. Click for more.

News24 reports:

A driving licence examiner died of a heart attack over the festive season when he arrived in Cape Town and found his hotel had been double-booked, eNews Channel Africa reported on Tuesday.

Joe Mthembu, 46, and three friends, had paid the Notel International Hotel in Camps Bay a R19 000 deposit for accommodation for themselves and their families over New Year.

When they arrived at Cape Town International Airport from Johannesburg they learnt that their rooms had been double-booked.

Mthembu had a heart attack after trying for about eight hours to make alternative arrangements.

The hotel’s director John Venter told eNCA the matter was his former accountant’s fault.

“It basically boils down to that because it’s not my responsibility to do bookings,” he said in a telephone interview.

The former accountant said he had warned Venter months before about the problem.

Venter said the group’s deposit would be refunded.

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This is a very sad story and a warning to everyone out there. The last thing you need when going on holiday is stress. Try and do as much research as possible. We did a search on Notel International’s Camps Bay operations and the first two reviews we found were these: