Royal Palm Hotel
TrustIndex
0
Ranking
#9
in Travel & Vacation
NPS Score
0
Recommended: Unlikely
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Share Your Experience1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I booked a stay at Royal Palm Hotel through Booking.com (Ref: 4809268312), but upon arrival, we were forced to cancel due to the disgusting conditions—which I have photo evidence of. We never even stayed the night, yet we have not been refunded! Instead, we’ve been given excuse after excuse, with both Royal Palm Hotel and Booking.com refusing to take responsibility. First, the hotel promised a refund, then Booking.com falsely claimed there were “no extra costs to be refunded.” This is *****, plain and simple. Not only were we left stranded with zero assistance from hotel staff or management, but we also had to pay an additional R3,800 out of pocket to stay elsewhere that night. If you’re thinking of booking at Royal Palm Hotel or using Booking.com, DON’T. They will happily take your money and leave you high and dry when things go wrong. Shocking service, blatant dishonesty, and zero accountability! #**** #***** #DisgustingService #AvoidAtAllCosts
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I booked a stay at Royal Palm Hotel through Booking.com (Ref: 4809268312), but upon arrival, we were forced to cancel due to the disgusting conditions—which I have photo evidence of. We never even stayed the night, yet we have not been refunded! Instead, we’ve been given excuse after excuse, with both Royal Palm Hotel and Booking.com refusing to take responsibility. First, the hotel promised a refund, then Booking.com falsely claimed there were “no extra costs to be refunded.” This is *****, plain and simple. Not only were we left stranded with zero assistance from hotel staff or management, but we also had to pay an additional R3,800 out of pocket to stay elsewhere that night. If you’re thinking of booking at Royal Palm Hotel or using Booking.com, DON’T. They will happily take your money and leave you high and dry when things go wrong. Shocking service, blatant dishonesty, and zero accountability! #**** #***** #DisgustingService #AvoidAtAllCosts
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Always receive professional, hospitable and efficient service from staff. Hygiene and comfort are always key with this beautiful hotel. Spacious rooms that offer you your own little space to unwind during stays. Additionally located right across Gateway, so that's an added bonus for convenience.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Always receive professional, hospitable and efficient service from staff. Hygiene and comfort are always key with this beautiful hotel. Spacious rooms that offer you your own little space to unwind during stays. Additionally located right across Gateway, so that's an added bonus for convenience.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I had the worst stay at the Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga, Durban. The room was infested with ****roaches, and to make matters worse, they got into our bags and traveled back with us to Johannesburg. The infestation didn’t stop there—they even made their way into my brand-new car! When I brought this up during checkout, the manager was shockingly rude and completely dismissive of our complaints. No apology, no accountability, just a bad attitude. This experience has been nothing short of a nightmare. A hotel that can’t ensure basic hygiene and treats its guests poorly should not be in operation. Avoid this place at all costs!
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I had the worst stay at the Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga, Durban. The room was infested with ****roaches, and to make matters worse, they got into our bags and traveled back with us to Johannesburg. The infestation didn’t stop there—they even made their way into my brand-new car! When I brought this up during checkout, the manager was shockingly rude and completely dismissive of our complaints. No apology, no accountability, just a bad attitude. This experience has been nothing short of a nightmare. A hotel that can’t ensure basic hygiene and treats its guests poorly should not be in operation. Avoid this place at all costs!
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Recently stayed at this hotel. From the beginning, the reception staff were friendly and the rooms were clean. The rooms were also refreshed well the next day. The rates I paid and the service I received was beyond my expectations. Unfortunately I did not get the chance of tasting their meals as it is not halaal but there are many halaal restaurants, walking distance from the hotel.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Recently stayed at this hotel. From the beginning, the reception staff were friendly and the rooms were clean. The rooms were also refreshed well the next day. The rates I paid and the service I received was beyond my expectations. Unfortunately I did not get the chance of tasting their meals as it is not halaal but there are many halaal restaurants, walking distance from the hotel.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
To whom it may concern, we had booked a penthouse suite and a double room at the Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga, Kwazulu Natal via the Agoda website for the 25/11/23. All the beds were extremely hard and therefore we could not sleep and these poor quality beds in all the rooms caused us bad back pains. One of the rooms toilet handle was broken and toilet was leaking, this was a horrifying situation especially for a reputable hotel like the Royal Palm. Furthermore the tap in one of the bathrooms in the penthouse suite was not working therefore 4 people resorted to using one bathroom sink. We had tried to call reception multiple times to report the issues and there was no answer. After finally getting through to reception after 2 hours and complaining about the poor quality beds to the night duty receptionist, Danny, there was no attempt whatsoever to resolve the situation. Danny was unresponsive and uninterested toward the issue at hand. The card to access the door after the lift, was not working, and we had to go to reception 3 times at 1:30 am to get it sorted out. After a sleepless night on the poor quality beds, one of the occupants of room 215 who has diabetes and claustrophobia experienced a traumatic incident when the lift was stuck at 9am for a full 5 minutes on the -1 floor where the doors refused to open and after pressing the alarm multiple times, shouting in panic and hyperventilating in which there was no response from hotel staff, she had to physically open the doors with her hands. After all these complaints were lodged with the weekend reception manager Vinall Sasdal, his only response was that he would speak to maintenance. He then proceeded to tell us that if we had any issues with the hotel, we should report it to Agoda since we booked via the Agoda website . I found that to be a very poor response coming from a hotel manager. He handled the situation very poorly, and did not offer any assistance or solutions to the situation. He merely brushed it off and continued to resume with his day. We were extremely shocked and frustrated and after pressing him to get into contact with his superior, James, we were absolutely appalled. James was extremely unprofessional and very rude. He has no way to talk to guests and brought up his personal life as an excuse to why the situation could not be resolved. He then went on to say that we are welcome to report his behaviour. upon reporting the incident to him, he laughed at us and mocked us and told us that he is going to tell security to escort us off the premises if we don’t leave immediately. I was absolutely disgusted by James behaviour. We had also asked the weekend manager Vinall to ask housekeeping not to clean our rooms while we resolve the issue at hand as all our personal possessions were inside the rooms. Initially the housekeeper came in at 9am before the usual checkout time, without warning, opened the door and let herself in. We then told her that we had gotten permission for a later checkout due to the issue at hand. We also requested her and reception to bring us some towels, and we did not receive any. When we got back to our rooms after going to reception, the housekeeper had already cleaned the room and left our door opened along with our personal belongings for anyone to walk in and take whatever they wanted. We had also found that the handbag of the one of occupants of the penthouse suite was unzipped when we got back to our room. I will never visit Royal Palm Hotel again. This has been the most frustrating interaction with supposed professionals who are meant to be hands on in the customer care department. We forwarded our issues to Mark Watkins, the head of The Royal Palm and he responded very poorly by saying that he was “proud of how his team handled the situation on Sunday”. Mark did not even address the elevator incident and the fact that house keeping came into the room without our permission and a handbag was opened. I was absolutely appalled by this response, Mark had no intent of even attempting to resolve the issue. We had even emailed our complaint to The Bon Hotel which recently bought The Royal Palm, and we have not received a response from them. We intend on this complaint reaching
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
To whom it may concern, we had booked a penthouse suite and a double room at the Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga, Kwazulu Natal via the Agoda website for the 25/11/23. All the beds were extremely hard and therefore we could not sleep and these poor quality beds in all the rooms caused us bad back pains. One of the rooms toilet handle was broken and toilet was leaking, this was a horrifying situation especially for a reputable hotel like the Royal Palm. Furthermore the tap in one of the bathrooms in the penthouse suite was not working therefore 4 people resorted to using one bathroom sink. We had tried to call reception multiple times to report the issues and there was no answer. After finally getting through to reception after 2 hours and complaining about the poor quality beds to the night duty receptionist, Danny, there was no attempt whatsoever to resolve the situation. Danny was unresponsive and uninterested toward the issue at hand. The card to access the door after the lift, was not working, and we had to go to reception 3 times at 1:30 am to get it sorted out. After a sleepless night on the poor quality beds, one of the occupants of room 215 who has diabetes and claustrophobia experienced a traumatic incident when the lift was stuck at 9am for a full 5 minutes on the -1 floor where the doors refused to open and after pressing the alarm multiple times, shouting in panic and hyperventilating in which there was no response from hotel staff, she had to physically open the doors with her hands. After all these complaints were lodged with the weekend reception manager Vinall Sasdal, his only response was that he would speak to maintenance. He then proceeded to tell us that if we had any issues with the hotel, we should report it to Agoda since we booked via the Agoda website . I found that to be a very poor response coming from a hotel manager. He handled the situation very poorly, and did not offer any assistance or solutions to the situation. He merely brushed it off and continued to resume with his day. We were extremely shocked and frustrated and after pressing him to get into contact with his superior, James, we were absolutely appalled. James was extremely unprofessional and very rude. He has no way to talk to guests and brought up his personal life as an excuse to why the situation could not be resolved. He then went on to say that we are welcome to report his behaviour. upon reporting the incident to him, he laughed at us and mocked us and told us that he is going to tell security to escort us off the premises if we don’t leave immediately. I was absolutely disgusted by James behaviour. We had also asked the weekend manager Vinall to ask housekeeping not to clean our rooms while we resolve the issue at hand as all our personal possessions were inside the rooms. Initially the housekeeper came in at 9am before the usual checkout time, without warning, opened the door and let herself in. We then told her that we had gotten permission for a later checkout due to the issue at hand. We also requested her and reception to bring us some towels, and we did not receive any. When we got back to our rooms after going to reception, the housekeeper had already cleaned the room and left our door opened along with our personal belongings for anyone to walk in and take whatever they wanted. We had also found that the handbag of the one of occupants of the penthouse suite was unzipped when we got back to our room. I will never visit Royal Palm Hotel again. This has been the most frustrating interaction with supposed professionals who are meant to be hands on in the customer care department. We forwarded our issues to Mark Watkins, the head of The Royal Palm and he responded very poorly by saying that he was “proud of how his team handled the situation on Sunday”. Mark did not even address the elevator incident and the fact that house keeping came into the room without our permission and a handbag was opened. I was absolutely appalled by this response, Mark had no intent of even attempting to resolve the issue. We had even emailed our complaint to The Bon Hotel which recently bought The Royal Palm, and we have not received a response from them. We intend on this complaint reaching
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Terrible experience and having written a detailed review on Google maps perhaps I should count my lucky stars on having dodged a bullet by not booking in . Having stayed at this establishment prior my wife booked accommodation for this weekend and paid it in full on Friday morning ,we also received an email confirmation and pin . We arrived at 15h00 ( check in is at 14h00 ) only to be told that they cannot find our booking nor can they find the confirmation number. The receptionist and then the reservation manager ( big high five to Mercy and she said the manager's name was Thando ) answers when pressed for some were " we must of been scammed " .....by Booking.com and because we are not "officially " guests " of their establishment...they cannot assist and besides they are fully booked . Hats off to the Foreign staff at Booking.com! They set the standard, firstly by quickly contacting the Hotel and confirming that the booking was done and confirmed at 11 am ...the Frontline staff and reservations manager grudgingly acknowledging that yes it was received but there was a delay or 'glitch' and our accommodation was duly given to another guest ...their answer ..." it happens " and were full ....not how can assist with alternative accommodation and the kicker is they not Booking.com received the full payment directly! Oh by the way they will provide a refund in 7 to 14 working days ....but having read the reviews and numerous complaints on Google maps I'm sure that's not going to be the case . Any way back to the great hospitality handling at Booking.com who themselves arranged alternative accommodation at the Protea Marriot Umhlanga ( and told us don't worry that it's more in cost ,they will refund us the difference due to the incompetence and total indifference of the Frontline staff at Royal Palms ( I was going to rename them Fawlty Towers, but that would be an insult to Fawlty Towers and Basil Fawlty and Manuel would provide a far better service ) . The service and hospitality at Protea Marriot Umhlanga was like night and day in comparison, they had no idea of the two hour nightmare with a grumpy tired toddler and hence parent that had just been endured ...they were just doing their job ...but the passion and attention to detail was amazing ...when the reception Clerk ( big shout out to Dirk ) mentions as we are leaving to our room that he noticed our Toddler daughter has long hair and a room with a bath and shower would be better for us ( so he changed our rooms for us ) you know you've come to the right place ....
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Terrible experience and having written a detailed review on Google maps perhaps I should count my lucky stars on having dodged a bullet by not booking in . Having stayed at this establishment prior my wife booked accommodation for this weekend and paid it in full on Friday morning ,we also received an email confirmation and pin . We arrived at 15h00 ( check in is at 14h00 ) only to be told that they cannot find our booking nor can they find the confirmation number. The receptionist and then the reservation manager ( big high five to Mercy and she said the manager's name was Thando ) answers when pressed for some were " we must of been scammed " .....by Booking.com and because we are not "officially " guests " of their establishment...they cannot assist and besides they are fully booked . Hats off to the Foreign staff at Booking.com! They set the standard, firstly by quickly contacting the Hotel and confirming that the booking was done and confirmed at 11 am ...the Frontline staff and reservations manager grudgingly acknowledging that yes it was received but there was a delay or 'glitch' and our accommodation was duly given to another guest ...their answer ..." it happens " and were full ....not how can assist with alternative accommodation and the kicker is they not Booking.com received the full payment directly! Oh by the way they will provide a refund in 7 to 14 working days ....but having read the reviews and numerous complaints on Google maps I'm sure that's not going to be the case . Any way back to the great hospitality handling at Booking.com who themselves arranged alternative accommodation at the Protea Marriot Umhlanga ( and told us don't worry that it's more in cost ,they will refund us the difference due to the incompetence and total indifference of the Frontline staff at Royal Palms ( I was going to rename them Fawlty Towers, but that would be an insult to Fawlty Towers and Basil Fawlty and Manuel would provide a far better service ) . The service and hospitality at Protea Marriot Umhlanga was like night and day in comparison, they had no idea of the two hour nightmare with a grumpy tired toddler and hence parent that had just been endured ...they were just doing their job ...but the passion and attention to detail was amazing ...when the reception Clerk ( big shout out to Dirk ) mentions as we are leaving to our room that he noticed our Toddler daughter has long hair and a room with a bath and shower would be better for us ( so he changed our rooms for us ) you know you've come to the right place ....
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I stayed here for just one night because i didn't want to drive back late. The place is clean and neat and the staff are friendly. BUT there was no hot water in my room 😕 also why am I paying r20 for a plate that I'm returning?
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I stayed here for just one night because i didn't want to drive back late. The place is clean and neat and the staff are friendly. BUT there was no hot water in my room 😕 also why am I paying r20 for a plate that I'm returning?
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Pathetic service from housekeeping, the hotel dont have toilet rolls, not enough towels, no shower caps. No bottle water. Complained a few times no one take u seriously. They keep saying tgey wil come back to u but never do.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
Pathetic service from housekeeping, the hotel dont have toilet rolls, not enough towels, no shower caps. No bottle water. Complained a few times no one take u seriously. They keep saying tgey wil come back to u but never do.
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