The Royal Hotel The Royal Hotel by Coastlands Hotels & Resorts

Hotel

I Invited family to join us for a meal at the Coffee Shop Cafe. By far one of the WORST dining experiences I have ever encountered. I strongly suggest the senior management of Coastlands Hotels and Resorts experience this poor excuse for a restaurant. There were very few items available from the menu. We ordered drinks… 40mins later were told that some of the drinks that we had ordered were unavailable. Our meals all came with an entire 8 chips… some with coleslaw… some without. One of our meals didn't arrive… when it did everyone had finished eating. To top it off when we received the bill… the meal that never arrived was charged for twice. The manager then insisted on arguing with us that we had received the meal twice. We physically had to go count the meals… and count the people that came for dinner to prove that they had charged us for an extra meal. Two years ago I went to this very same restaurant and had the most incredible meal and dining experience. I called the day before the above incident to ask if everything was still in order with the restaurant, specifically about their curry as I remember it being so good. I was assured that everything was exactly the same… including the curry and menu. I actually have witnesses to this as other people over heard my phone call. This was not the case AT ALL. Shocking is all I can say. What was supposed to be a fun evening out for dinner and a show at the play house but was completely ruined by this appalling experience.

The place is very clean and good service.

Very nice staff helpful also safe nothing of mine went missing.

Nice and friendly staff. Welcoming is good. Full breakfast eat as much as you can.

Good decor; great service and friendly staff.

The place is very clean nd good service.

Clean, quiet & stunning place to stay. Staff friendly & helpful at all times.

Great place to be friendly stuff,, safe parking and alot.

Great service, friendly stuff… I actually love it here.

The great stuff and great service this place have it’s out of this world maigot I love it.

What an awesome lunch, very impressed on good value for money! Definitely will go back.

Very helpful people. The rooms are clean and the beds comfortable. Food was very good. Having their own car parking area made it easy.

Beautiful views and rooms and lovely staff.

The Royal hotel hosts the classical hotel vibe that is creepy but beautiful. The antiques, the pictures with stories. It's beautiful.

It is good place for family, they just need to improve on data. The data is now freely and unlimited provided by most guest houses and all hotels as part of the services provided.

Great place. I attended a conference. The hall was packed. People had come more than expected. Parking is safe. Hospitable Durban.

Really a good place to meet. Prices are very reasonable. A great deal of work has gone into the upkeep of this iconic establishment.

A grand old lady going to seed. The lifts are scary noisy. Not enough parking. Breakfast has a good selection but everything is stone cold. Tried three mornings and always cold food. No filter coffee available at breakfast! Coffee shop in lobby told us that they stayed open to eleven thirty but by ten they closed. Send you to main coffee shop to pay higher prices and then go back to the lobby to make the take away coffee ☹️ warm beer only in pub due to stock take. Very sad to see what used to be an icon slip to this level.

If you are for old fashioned building and for memories, this is the right place for you. It still have that old memories of the past. But coming to the rooms, haaaibo they are not art of the state. They don't have Wi-Fi in the rooms which was a turn off for me as I was on business trip and wanted to catch up my work. Again, the parking is terribly far since you have to go to the highest level to park — level 12. That's really bad. That is a killer to a business person. But the hospitality in restaurant was better… one lady was serving with passion as if she is the shareholder of the company. She made my breakfasts excellent on how she attends to the clients. She deserve a good reward.

Joined in for the mothers day buffet, not very much of a variety, there were just two vegetarian main dishes, which were delicious. The seating and overall floor plan was a bit constrained. Walking through one door with food whilst others are exiting wasn't easy. Seating was a bit cramped. Entertainment was good.

Had such a beautiful view of Mother nature in the morning. Very efficient staff, clean rooms and housekeeping does an excellent job.

Old hotel that is conveniently located near the CBD and not too far from the beaches. Friendly and helpful staff. Parking area is in dire need for a refurbishment and a new coat of paint. Breakfast area reminds one of the Victorian era! Need to refurbish and modernize to make it more pleasant. The reception area requires even more attention photographs of previous country and provincial leaders are displayed and all the clocks do not work… poor front office marketing and and eye sore!

Didn't stay at the hotel, but can highly recommend the spa. Had a full massage, scrub, facial; all wonderful, quiet peaceful experiences. The ladies are very good and professional.

Heard such bad things because of location. But nothing could stand against this amazing city centre gem. Impeccable service that feels personalized. Staff are helpful when you need them. It's like walking into another dimension of colonial south Africa, a reimagined interpretation of European opulence with African charm. I can't say enough, I wish I could stay here forever.

Checked in at the Royal Hotel on Friday and out on Saturday in Room 1541. I liked the view and the rooms are very spacious and beautiful however your furniture need furniture need some worl! The fridge had a big ice which was dripping water. Breakfast was not so good. The beef sausages and bacon had no taste and tasted like they were washed in water. One of the waitresses argued wt my friend over eggs I didnt even wan to order. Professionalism should be maintained at all times. Your reception area is very beautiful and I expect next time when I come again there will be some renivations done in the rooms. Lack of ventilation in your rooms can suffocate a person.

We recently decided to take our kids to the popular Royal Coffee Shop for a nostalgic trip down memory lane to get them to share in one of mum and dad's favourite places back in the day. How saddened we were to have found the standard has dropped so drastically. Service was awful — so slow and they seemed unhappy and mostly confused. Scones arrived before coffee and one was stale and not even warmed. We overheard another patron complain that she arrived at 1pm, waited for 20mins to be served and was still waiting for her order. Cake selection was dismissal. Asked a waiter "what cake is this" — she had to ask someone else. Toasted sandwich arrived far from crispy with a tablespoon of coleslaw and one giant raisin in it that my daughter asked what it was — the only enjoyable thing on the plate were the chips. My freezo had chunks of ice still in it. We noticed that the Coastlands Group has taken over. The Royal Hotel was once upon a time an iconic landmark in the city of Durban. Please restore it to its former glory. Professional staff, service excellence, quality food, pristine interior — all these were things that made a visit to the Royal an experience.

Disgusting… Kitchen staff especially the manager… Extremely rude and unhelpful. Rooms service very bad. I called in for room service as I was extremely ill. I requested for my breakfast to be brought to my room. The reception told me she will find out and come back to me. 10 min later she called me to say I must pay R165 and the one I already paid for in the dining room will be forfeited. I just find that this type of service is totally unacceptable and inhuman. I got sick which was beyond my control. So they didn't care about my walk being and I had to stay without breakfast.

Checked in on the 20/12/17 on my 20th wedding anniversay as we wanted to relive our amazing experience which we had at the Royal twenty years ago. Hubby and I were saddened at the state of this once prestigious and gleaming hotel which we had always admired. Our room had a gorgeous view of the bay and that was the only thing to enjoy. The drapes in the room looked as if they were not cleaned in years and to camouflage the filthy drapes the inner net was placed on the outside of the thicker drapes (it's supposed to be the other way around, net in the inside). The bathroom was shocking, stained toilet bowl, cracked wash basin, bad patch up of cracked tiles on the bathroom floor and thick black mould in the shower area which could have been easily cleaned. Breakfast was no comfort as hubby and I picked beef sausages from the buffet which were sour and smelled bad. Had to bring this to the chef's attention, we did get an apology but the damage for us had already been done. Sadly we will never go back to the Royal Hotel. In my personal opinion the Royal Hotel should actually lose 2 more stars.

It was a nice stay. Room's have the basics but that all you need. The higher you stay the better the sights.

Its a great place, as far as the accommodation itself is concerned, staff at reception could improve, you get a different experience per staff member you come into contact with, some that could've put me off staying here had I not paid for my room already. Room service is good in the mornings, so so in the evenings, as in the quality of the food itself differs, even if you order the same thing. Good overall but could be better.

It's very attractive. I was in a room facing the harbor. It's a great experience. The inside is cool and mostly clean. I couldn't sleep well the first night, the window was loose and making unbearable noise, instead of shifting us into another room, they balanced the window with a toilet paper. The windows were dirty and the ceiling in the toilet also. But I can recommend to other people elsewhere.

Great service, food and hospitality. Very neat and well kept. Impressed.

Very nice and quiet place. Rooms are clean and staff members are friendly. Gotta have a wide variety on the menu though.

The beste too spent you time in Durban, staff friendly, rooms clean & food was excellent. Stay for n week & no complaints. Thanks guys keep up the good services.

The place is nice and quiet. The location is best for first time travellers as it is 15 minutes away from the beach, 3 minutes away to a museum… and the service is awesome.

The staff at reception was not so welcoming, grumpy faces, toilet blockage/smelly sewage I just don't understand that funny smell coming from the toilet, while having breakfast at the dining area the very same smell hit us at the table we left the food there n couldn't eat anymore
To top it all we came back to our room to find our room wide opened expecting there might be cleaners inside only to find no one, our luggage is lying there, phones, laptops etc 2hours passed the door still opened no one coming to clean our room… so what if our plan was to go out the whole day? where we gonna find our room still opened, not cleaned n lost our belongings? Concerned&angry AF!

Located in the city centre. Very close to the Natal Playhouse. Walking distance to the beach. Rooms are fantastic.

I was here for dinning only and I had great meal at a reasonable price but went there around same time and I wasn't lucky this time as it was a less busy night.

Great value for money, good service, Golden oldie… this is now on my top list of best hotels in Durban.

They don't have parking, poor reception, like they won't even greet you. Poor service, they won't clean your room until you go and complain. All they want is your money hard cash. They don't have an Speed point. Stay there at your own risk.

Clean and neat rooms, hotel is very old so unfortunately there is no free Wi-Fi and no modern airconditioning. Elevators take very long to get you where you need to go. The food at the hotel is average I would rather go somewhere else to eat.

My husband and I enjoyed our stay here, our room was cozy and we enjoyed dinner with the soft piano playing in the background and the service was amazing!

We visited the spa at royal hotel… you can pay for treatments using your Edgar's card… enjoyed there massages… the staff is polite n friendly… We went for the winter break special… 4 treatnents for R450

Value for money. What you pay is what you get. I liked the freedom, the stuff gave us our space. And they were kind to look after our bags after checking out.

Good service at affordable rates. Rooms are spacious and well kitted out.

At the very last minute I had to find a Classic and Authentic venue for a wedding pre-shoot for my Wife and I, and I received some of the best customer service from Namitha and Portia, than I have ever experienced in my Life from the Hotel industry. They went out of their way to accommodate us and we were escorted through the building by a very friendly gentleman. We had a an awesome shoot and the photos came out elegant and beautiful, thanks to Royal hotel for granting us permission and to Portia who ensured our shoot went well.

Haven't been there recently but it was always an amazing experience when we dined there for special occasions. I have incredibly fond memories of the glitz and glamour and the posh presentation.

It's nice any clean place.

I am very disappointed with the service of Royal hotel. We booked a room for my brother in law for his honeymoon night the payment was made so was the reservation, all on time. Due to the fact that it been a traditional wedding, we notified the hotel that the couple will book in very late. On arrival the newly Wed couple was told their room was given to somebody else because they had not checked it on time. I can not understand how that is possible after the payment was made just to secure the room. We arrived at the hotel with proof to sort the matter which took us one hour, with confrontation they eventually found the couple a room in another hotel. We was told everything is sorted we just had to give our details and the couple will be shown into their room. Only to arrive there and find out we had to wait another hour, because the proper arrangements was not made. After some time the couple were escorted into they room. So much of hours has been wasted.

Was ok Hotel. I know they need some maintance work inside and outside. Only Great thing there was*unfortuneatly* was the happy front service staff and the GREAT THAI MASSAGE upstairs! Need to fix THE POOL! Such a Beuatifull view but not exploiting that area… ;-)

I stayed at the royal on the occasion of Indaba and great Central Park that in 5 minutes by walk you cross x to get to the exhibition. From the Windows you can see the whole Bay and Harbor, only bad thing the restaurant royal grill, go out to eat that is better.

Had some good stays, but more 'not so good stays'.

Well I always knew it as a 5 star hotel but when I entered it the floors were dirty and the service sucked.