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maryna642

I LOVE THIS HOTEL

Review of Royal Hotel
5.0 of 5 bubblesReviewed 09 Jan 2021
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.
Date of stay: November 2020
Trip type: Travelled on business
5.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
5.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
5.0 of 5 bubblesService
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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.
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7 - 12 of 291 reviews
Reviewed 22 December 2020 via mobile

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!!!

Date of stay: December 2020
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Thank Kreyo21
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.
Reviewed 11 November 2020 via mobile

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!

Date of stay: November 2020
Trip type: Travelled with family
1  Thank Yachal_D
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.
Reviewed 12 April 2020

Great Location , Excellent Rooms,
Excellent Staff,
but poor breakfast, do not book with breakfast and there a lot of place to take your breakfast
near to catalona square, metro station ,shopping areas.

Date of stay: February 2020
Thank Remon A
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.
Reviewed 2 March 2020

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.

Room tip: The better rooms are the ones on the higher floors.
Date of stay: March 2020
    • Sleep Quality
    • Rooms
    • Service
Thank Wendy V
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.
Reviewed 12 February 2020

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!!!!

Room tip: Most economical with the best service ever
Date of stay: January 2020
    • Value
    • Rooms
    • Service
Thank Maude K
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.
Elzette S, Public Relations Manager at Royal Hotel, responded to this reviewResponded 19 February 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
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