Ibis Lodge

Our family did not stay at the lodge and I was told (basically shouted at) non paying guests are not allowed into the lodge. I then asked in we can change to a four sleeper and then asked if you can change to a 4 sleeper instead of the 6 sleeper we initially booked for and I was told it was already book. Before I asked to change the rooms I checked Safari online to see if the room was available as I assumed the calendar would be updated instantly because when I made my initial booking it was instantly updated. Unfortunately I lost my deposit.

First of all, the pictures provided are misleading. Probably 10 years old or so. The property is huge, so no surprise the owners are struggling to maintain it to higher standards. I will start with things that caught our attention from the very beginning: problems with parking the whole stay; open garage-slash-workshop with all sorts of junk clearly visible for guests; room absolutely filthy: floors not clean both in the room and bathroom, bathtub not scrubbed, towels not clean (never replaced during the stay), ceiling fan covered with filth, the duvets and pillows were the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen - synthetic, washed clearly not according to instructions, covered with lint and filthy; owner filled the pool with smelly chemicals on our arrival, so it was unusable for the whole stay; guests were allowed to smoke under a partially covered patio (which is illegal in SA); breakfast was OK except that the staff had no idea what "sunny-side-up" was - the only thing they knew was "half cook", also no tea only Ricoffy, fruit canned, not fresh, table cloths not replaced even the next day after I made a mess on the buffet table; the house has enormous verandas, however they are absolutely neglected - leaves lying around in piles, all of the many pot plants withered, filthy rugs and cloths hanging everywhere to dry. In general, the place is smelly and not taken care of. There are many more things that we did not like. People who are looking for quality for their money, should not consider it - don't be fooled by the pictures. Last but not the least - the first welcome comment we received from the lady manager was that 26 rugby players, BLACK rugby players, had just stayed there and left a mess behind. We were asked to let them know if anything was not clean enough or damaged... We didn't know that black guests were any better or worse than white ones...

We had a pleasant stay at the lodge. We just had a bit of a problem with two of the rooms where we had to share a bathroom, but other than that, it is a beautiful place. Definitely would go back again. They have so many rooms and the greenery is beautiful.

We excellent service during our stay. Hosts went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. I will recommend lodge to anyone going to Durban.

We had a refreshing long weekend, Warm welcome by the owner, friendly staff.The serve was excellent.Jenny (the owner)is sweet sweet sweet, she does everything to make her guests as comfortable as possible.

Ibis Lodge is a very nice place to stay.