Guest User
April 26, 2022
My wife and I stayed at the Royal Hotel overnight, during March, 2022. We used an elevator to get to our room, and noticed a large dead cockroach lying at the entrance to one of the three elevators. The entrance carpet of our room was damp, and the other carpets and easy chairs were shabby. The curtains were not ironed, and the windows were smudgy. The bathroom basin had a good share of mould around the top of the basin. The room fridge was totally empty, and after our trip to get to the hotel, we were thirsty, but there was no water bottles in the fridge. We complained at the front desk,and afterwards one of the staff brought us two small bottles of water and charged us Twenty-Five Rand per small bottle. There was a kettle in the room, with tea/coffee making facilities. The bedside lamps were strange, and were not matching at all. The shower and toilet were in good working condition. We took the elevator at about 09h30 the next morning to check out, and the cockroach of the night before, was still in front of one of the elevators. We decided to order coffee and scones at the coffee shop. The picture on their website displays a cake stand, filled with a variety of delicious cakes. The cake stand was empty. It seems that the regular business lounges were closed. The tragedy of this experience is that The Durban Royal Hotel has always been, over many years, one of the most famous and popular hotels in Durban, that was regularly used by businessmen and international travellers to Durban. It appears that there was a great lack of care or concern for guests at this hotel during our stay. This hotel is located in the central gardens square of Durban, and could be unsafe to walk around outside the hotel? Numerous tramps and beggars hang around. Sadly, we will not be staying there again.