****! Book at your peril.

I recently made via Booking.com from 28 June to 1 July, 2023 and checked in around 17:30pm and ended up checking out early as a result of appalling state of the room and facilities. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the gate to find what looked like an abandoned construction site - that was the first red flag! However, I soldiered on and descended to the parking lot to be dropped off by my Uber and went to your front desk/reception. I was then checked in and taken to room number 2 which looks nothing like the pictures advertised. It is extremely small with barely room to move around. The walls have lots of cracks, perforated bubbles from severe water damage, rust and mold in some areas (I have video footage and pictures taken upon discovery). Cobwebs are visible all over the room. Besides that, the first thing I noticed was spiders scurrying on the floor and a pungent smell upon entry. Then due to a complete lack of sound proofing I could hear the TV in the next room and everything the couple next door said and did, including their ***ual escapades and what sounded like erotic movies in the background. I went outside to have a cigarette with the sliding doors open in order to try get fresh air in that smelly room and informed the lady at front desk. She wanted to disturb the couple next door to ask them to keep things down but it's not their fault! They weren't purposely being loud, unlike the Afrikaners in the room opposite mine. They were having what sounded like a domestic dispute with a lot of verbal diarrhoea being shouted for the better part of an hour. Imagine my disappointment when I went back in to try sleep when I saw stained white pillowcases and discovered one of the sources of the smell within the room. It was the pillows for sure and possibly the bed - I was too tired to do anything further so I sprayed my perfume on there to try mask the pungent smell emanating from there and threw towels on top to try mask it. Hardly any vacancies were available elsewhere in Durban due to the pending Durban July event. If they were available, they were similarly poor in standards (judging from the pictures viewed) or decent to luxurious with exorbitant pricing thanks to demand and the Durban July event. To make matters worse I opened one of your drawers only to see a bunch of large ****roaches scurry out. Again, completely unacceptable! This shows gross negligence on Essenwood House's management and cleaning staff. The sliding door at the entrance had a broken locking mechanism which looked like it had been pried open during a break-in; I didn't feel safe leaving any of my stuff in that room. Therefore, what you see (online) is not what you get! If you need to lodge a complaint, management is non-existent at this place. Just a couple of hopeless front desk "receptionists" who like me, will refer you to an owner who refuses to own up to the **** that they are running. You'll be given an email which does not receives emails due to either false details or a typo in the email provided because to this day I am yet to get a response from the "owner." They will not refund you, hence, the ****! Don't believe me? Look them up on Trip Advisor. They have mostly negative reviews pop up first which goes to show the lack of quality assurance is deliberate! No safes available for valuables and my door lock appeared to have been broken into before - it was bent on one side and loose on the other plus it did not lock! Hygiene and health hazards, is all I can say about the rooms!