A father and his young son and daughter were found dead with bullet wounds to their heads in a hotel room in Ekurhuleni on Monday, Gauteng police said.

The father checked into the Isando Garden Court hotel on Saturday for three days, Senior Superintendent Noxolo Kweza said.

His neighbours heard noises from his room on Sunday night and went to knock at his door, but got no response. On Monday at around 8.15am hotel cleaners tried to enter the room and found it locked.

The cleaners went around the building and entered the room through a balcony. They found the children, aged two and three, had been shot in the heads. Their father was lying dead next to them with a revolver nearby.

Police were called and discovered that the children's mother had reported them missing at the Booysens police station over the weekend.