With beautiful views of Durban harbour from our Deluxe and Executive Rooms, this iconic hotel, known as the “Grand Lady” offers a total of 206 rooms, 2 restaurants, a coffee shoppe and large conference and banqueting facilities. Our Deluxe rooms and Executive suites which offer breathtaking views are ideal for the discerning corporate traveler and holiday makers alike. Our well maintained and serviced bedrooms are equipped with King Sized beds, Tv’s, laptop safes, individually controlled air-conditioning, Tea & Coffee making facilities and amenities that will ensure you have a comfortable stay. Wi-fi is also provided.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to TGCSA - Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.
HOTEL STYLE
Historic Hotel
Centrally Located
Location
267 Anton Lembede Street, Durban 4001 South Africa
The Royal Hotel and Convention Centre
291 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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.
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Date of stay: March 2022
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:The rooms on the highest floors give nice views of the harbour.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I booked this hotel via Booking.com as part of my intended break for the Lion's Tour. First off, this hotel cancelled my original booking for unknown reasons, within 24 hours, so I had to re-book. Despite the booking being fully refundable if cancelled up to a week in advance, this was the only one of three hotels I booked at the time, to actually take a 50% deposit. When I cancelled in March, more than 3 months ahead ot the booking, I received no refund. I had to keep chasing them, and to be fair to the front of house manager, they confirmed that it was refundable. When I chased again in June 2021, they advised me that they had refunded the money, and sent me "proof" of the refund on 12th May. I have had no refund to my card and have now had to raise this with the card issuer, to investigate. Booking.com just keep advising that I contact the hotel, they aren't interested at all. Lessons learned, do not book any hotel that takes a deposit on a fully refundable booking, and be wary of Booking.com, as they are happy to take their fee but not so keen to help.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I visited The Royal Hotel in January 2020. Checked in on the 3rd and out on the 6th. Just as we parked, the hotel bellman came with their cart and escorted us to our room. The rooms are as advertised on the website, the view of the Sea was refreshing.
The rooms are well ventilated and the air conditioner come handy for those chilly raining evenings. The room service did an excellent job keeping the rooms clean and fresh. The English / buffet breakfast catered for all dietary requirements. This Hotel is perfect for the entire family and it is wheelchair friendly too. Excellent hostess by far!!!!
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
Room Tip:Most economical with the best service ever
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Elzette S, Public Relations Manager at The Royal Hotel and Convention Centre
Responded 19 Feb 2020
Dear Maude, thank you for choosing The Royal Hotel as your desired destination. Thank you for taking the time to give us comprehensive feedback. We are thrilled that you enjoyed the food, rooms, service and great stay with us. Thank you for the great TripAdvisor rating. We value your feedback. We look forward to sharing more wonderful moments with you in the near future.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Travelled for work, was booked into The Royal Hotel by corporate travel agent, based on their website and photographs. Not only is this hotel in one of the unsafest areas of Durban CBD, it is opposite the harbour, with heavy industrial noise all hours of the night. Parking costs additional and located in a very dodgy public parcade. Hotel concierge was exceptionally rude, did not want to accept the pre-paid booking voucher and only after I contacted the travel agent did they check me in. Room was disgusting, dirty carpets, walls, smear marks of lipstick and black stains on furniture, walls, curtains. Bed linen was dirty. Bathroom very dirty. The air-conditioning was not working and with no windows that can open, there is no ventilation in the rooms. Broken windows and very dirty furniture. After complaining, I was moved to another room, equally dirty. No back up power supply during load shedding, not even a candle or emergency lamp in the rooms, sat in complete darkness the evening for 2 hours. Shower did not have hot water. Upon my departure early the next morning (just wanted to leave asap), I was faced with having to step over broken beer bottles and glass shards in the hallway that was not cleaned up, just had wet floor board placed around it. See photographs of the place. Upon asking the concierge if they validate the parking ticket, she just said I have to pay at the parcade. An additional R60 for 1 night parking. Seems like a very badly managed establishment. Will definitely never be back.
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Date of stay: November 2021
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled on business
Room Tip:Don't stay in any of the rooms, stayed in 2 rooms on 18th floor (1838, 1845)
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Will never go back. Upon booking the room online I was asked if we were celebrating a special day which we were but this was not even acknowledged upon checking into the hotel. Not even a free dessert to help celebrate my birthday. Rooms have "centralized " aircon so we had no control off it. Air con in our room was basically none existent. I complained 3 times about the air con not cooling the room and nothing was done about it. We had to keep the window open at all times even while we slept.Being in a sea facing room we had the morning sun's ray heating up the room. We had no hot water in our room. Maintenance man checked it and said he fixed the problem but when we tried to shower that evening the water was barely warm. The first day we checked in it took us over 5 attempts to unlock our room door on 2 occasions. By the second day we were locked out of our room and had to call reception to send someone up with a master key. What was meant to be a relaxing weekend away ended in us wanting to get out as soon as possible. Absolutely disappointed!!! We expected better from a Coastland's group hotel!!!
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Date of stay: December 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
One of our business clients is very close to the Royal Hotel, at firs we did not stay at the hotel, and one lunch time we decided to have lunch at the hotel and what a pleasant surprise, the food and service was excellent. I went to the manager the afternoon and said I would like to see the rooms as I wanted to move my stay. The manager went out of his way and ever since I stay at the Royal every time. They go out of their way to accommodate their guests. We were two ladies staying there in Nov 2020,and we are well aware that it is not very safe in central although the manager had no problem sending one of the security men to accommodate us with our shopping. I travel a lot for business and stay all over SA but in Durban I will always go back to the Royal thank you to the Manager and all the staff. We visit the spa every time and keep on going back, so nice to have some relax time in-between business.
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Date of stay: November 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I found it difficult to give a review of this hotel as it’s a mixed review.
Let me start with the highlights. The hotel is still so beautiful: with its heritage, friendly staff members and views from the room. The hotel spa is equally amazing! Visiting the hotel is like going back in time!
Where we were let down. We arrived to be told that there is no air con and there has not been air con the past few days. We were not informed. However the duty manager made a plan with a fan and we decided to stay. The pool and pool floor was terrible! The pool was a dark green with bird poop everywhere. This needs serious attention!
We do understand that hotels are recovering from COVID. However breakfast was not great! Staff were amazing but the choice of food was poor especially the continental section. No cheese, hardly any pastries or fresh fruit. Coffee was terrible and was instant coffee.
If they can improve on these the hotel is still a great stay!
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Date of stay: November 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It had been 30 years since my last visit to the Royal Hotel. I spent this past weekend there and was shocked at the changes. This once glorious hotel had become shabby. Faded, stained carpets, banister railings missing on stairs, terrible TV reception, lack of staff communication (examples - I decided to hike up the 21 flights of stairs to the rooftop pool; several staff members guided me as to how to get there, and when I did it was closed and under construction. The staff didn't seem to know this. Example 2: Arriving at the dining room for breakfast, every seat was taken and it was full. I left and did not get breakfast. No one informed me that I could have taken breakfast in another room. The best part of the hotel was the harbour view from my room. Unfortunately this location is no longer what it used to be. The streets of Durban Central are absolutely filthy and I will definitely not be going there again.
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Date of stay: March 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:The better rooms are the ones on the higher floors.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Everything was fine, friendly staff and good food. We were at floor 11th. I was worried and I went to check the emergency exit, they were both LOCKED with a padlock!! In case of fire there will be no way out!! unbelievable!! It’s a pity because it was a clean place with friendly staff.
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Date of stay: August 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Terrible terrible.. we booked 3 family rooms . Not very clean bed sheets + line were stained , they told us it a chemical used to wash😏 … the wife doesn’t work in the rooms you have to be in the corridors for it to work . The tv was not working . The breakfast was awful we had terrible stay to be honest luckily it was just one night . We booked else were. I wouldn’t recommend if you want your nest stay while in Durban…
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Date of stay: December 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:I wouldn’t recommend
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Durban area.
PRICE RANGE
R 496 - R 846 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
royal hotel durban
LOCATION
South AfricaKwaZulu-NatalDurban
NUMBER OF ROOMS
207
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect average nightly room rates, including taxes and fees that are fixed, known to our partners, and due at time of booking. Please see our partners for more details.
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