Palm Gardens Guesthouse — Hotel in uMhlathuze Local Municipality

If like me, you travel a lot due to the nature of your work and you need a friendly relaxed place to spend your time away from home then HEL-ton Gardens is not for you. When I am on site I need somewhere to retreat to after a long day of working and if I can get a reasonable evening meal and start the day with a good breakfast I see no reason to complicate my life by going out in the evening looking for a restaurant. I needed to be in Richards Bay for three or four days last week and so reserved a room at what appeared to be a reasonable B&B I was told the tariff was R600 on mentioning I would need breakfast it went up R700 and then an evening meal would cost me an extra R195, we paid a R800 deposit by EFT as they were not able to process my credit card without putting it in the machine. I asked for a late check-in as I was not sure how my day would unravel what with travelling and then how my day on site would be, anyway I managed to finish day one and on arrival at the B&B I was told that I would be in room number 1 for the Monday evening and then moved to room number 3 on Tuesday as they thought I would like a balcony. The balcony room also an extra R100 and would need to pay up front before I could check-in which I was not impressed with. Then we got on to the subject of breakfast and supper, breakfast was from 6am to 7am and supper was 6pm to 7pm when I said I only wanted some bacon and toast with orange juice the manageress cut in and said it would be cheaper for me and easier for them if I went to the Wimpy on my way to work and then to keep things simple on my way back from work I could get a take away and she would allow me to use their microwave oven to reheat it when I was ready for supper. When I told her I was not sure if I would finish my assignment a day earlier and asked if I paid now would I get a refund on the night I did not stay she said no so I suggested I pay for three nights and then I could pay the extra if I needed it she replied she could not guarantee that they would have a spare room on the Thursday. The out come was I ended up paying for four nights’ accommodation in a room with no balcony for R600/night and forfeited the Thursday night payment as I was able to finish my assignment by lunch time and return home. The receptionist and the housekeeper were very pleasant and helpful but management left a lot to be desired, I needed some information after getting to my room and the second in charge needed to be woken from his afternoon nap, which was a shame as he did not know the answer and thought my assumption was right. On giving the key back I was asked if I would be back, my reply was no nor would I recommend them to anybody and told them they should watch for the crit of my stay something I have never done before this stay...

Poor customer service. We booked for two nights, during the day of arrival instead of being welcomed well. The owner demanded we pay everything before we inside the room. It was a group book, the deposit was paid already. We were waiting for other guys to come in, so that they can settle everything. The owner treated us like we are there to stay without paying. It was late at night. She was insisting that we stay outside until the bill is settled. The bill was settled when the entire team arrived. My concern is the bad treating we got. I dont recomnd this place.

Their beds are old and in bad conditions. Curtains falling off, etc. She needs to fix the place and start treating people we.. Our visit was on the...

The bathroom ceiling was covered in mold. The back area full of junk. No wifi as promised. Was given another room and told someone must have smoked to cause the ceiling damage /and or the owner wasn't aware. Am grateful for the other room bit this new room also looked like the ceiling was peeling. I was initially given a mug, no teaspoon, no milk and only regular tea as an option and no fridge, no glass to drink from. New room had a fridge. There is a fridge in the kitchen downstairs but this is probably the worst accommodation I've ever used and whilst reasonably priced I expected wifi and even phoned to check before I arrived (apparently not working due to load shedding and wasn't fixed by the...