THE MERCURY

Church group members from Gauteng and Mpumalanga camp outside the Sun & Surf Lodge, part of the Durban Beach Lodge group. Photo: Bongani Mbatha

A group of church members from Newcastle and Gauteng had a rough start to their holiday after being turned away from a Durban hotel.

The disgruntled holiday-makers claimed they had planned and paid months in advance for their accommodation at the Durban Beach Lodge, in Anton Lembede (Smith) Street, only to be turned away on their arrival on Monday as the place was fully booked.

The lodge has disputed their claims.

Isambulo Sikamoya church leader Mandla Khoza said on Tuesday: “We have been in constant contact with the lodge since July because we wanted everything to be in order and whenever we made payments we checked whether they had received them. Throughout we were assured that everything was OK.” .

When The Mercury visited the lodge on Tuesday, the visibly tired and frustrated visitors, including children - camped in front of the lodge - complained that they had not had a bath for nearly 24 hours and had been forced to sleep in their vehicles.

However, by Tuesday night all members of the group had been given accommodation at the lodge.

Khoza said his group had already reported the matter to the Point police station.

However, the church group’s version of events has been disputed by the lodge owner’s legal representative, Pravesh Diplall.

He said that the group had forced several changes to accommodation arrangements, including changing the number of the touring party from 30 to more than 40, changing in make-up of the group from mostly young people to a mostly mature group and demanding a change from bunk-bed furnished rooms to en suite facilities.

Diplall insisted that the lodge owner was still willing to “smoke a peace pipe” with the visitors. “Because they did not spend the night in the facility on Monday evening, we have indicated that they will get a refund of about R3700,” Diplall said.

While a request had been made by the group to spend an extra night at no cost because of Monday’s problems, Diplall insisted that this would be impossible as the hotel was fully booked. - The Mercury