This is not a hotel for business or holiday travelers, but a marvel for the gemologists among hotel guests. If you don't have the antennas for historic hotels, stay away, go to the Karibe Hotel. Otherwise: this hotel's voodoo spell is inescapable. Would love to go there again and again ...

We stayed there just for one night.
The first room we were shown was the room next to the Jean Claude Van Damme room and we quickly decided not to sleep in there. It had been freshly painted, but there were a lot of holes stuffed with fresh newspapers and by experience I know that this is a sign rats or mice use to come in.
Then they showed us a suite at the end of the terrace. It looked ok at first sight and there was only one hole stuffed with paper.
But when we looked more closely, the edges of the mattresses were torn, the mattresses were all but new, the drawer of the bedside table was bottomless, one door of the wardrobe stood next to it, the TV didn't work, the telephone didn't work either, some window panes had been replaced by wooden planks and didn't really close tightly; the curtains seemed to fall into pieces just by touching them in order to close them, we had problems locking the door properly. The first drawer of the dresser contained a forgotten t-shirt and the lower drawer was scattered with mice or rat droppings!!!

There was no bath mat and I slipped on the floor hurting, falling down and hurt my hip. There was no warm water to take a shower. The air conditioning was very loud, a real nuisance at night.
As we didn't sleep in a 200 U$-room, I can't tell anything about the state they are in.

We had dinner there the same night, because we didn't want to go out anymore.
This was ok, though my hamburger was about 5 cm thick, a bit too much meat to my taste.
The cushions of our seats at table were full of stains and completely faded by the sun.

After dinner we had a rum cocktail at the bar, but there was so much rum in it, I didn't manage finishing mine.

Breakfast was self-service. It was ok, but compared to the other hotels we stayed at, this was the worst breakfast we had in Haiti.

After breakfast I had a look at the other rooms because I wanted to see in which state they were in. While having a glimpse through the window of the The Mike Jagger room (= facing the swimming pool), I could see that the ceiling had completely collapsed and that this room was probably not used anymore. I don't think this was because of the earthquake in January 2010. The wood lying on the floor and across the bed was black and completely rotten.
The room next to was also totally broken down, some pieces of the ceiling had come down too. There were still sheets on the bed but everything was just full of mould. A disgusting sight!!!

We already once stayed here more than 25 years ago. At the time the hotel already needed repairing and maintenance, but while staying there we had the impression that nothing had been done since.
Maintenance is not only painting and repainting everything (the floor, the furniture, the walls, the pillars, EVERYTHING) over and over again ... from top to bottom with a shiny painting.
Some pillars of the main building were so rotten that it's only a matter of time before parts of the mansion will start collapsing.

This hotel is such a special mansion, it used to have such a charm and it still has charm, but it needs urgently repairing. It's so unique with its gingerbread-style and there is no other hotel like this in Port-au-Prince.
It's such a pity that the "owner" doesn't seem to be interested or has no financial means to restore it properly and leaves it just declining.
The lush vegetation has gone. The rotten palm tree at the entrance has not even been removed; only a stump of it is left.
The traditional RAM show on Thursday nights was not taking place. We were told it would start again at the end of the year. This was one of the reasons we came there.

While staying there, I couldn't feel at all the spirit described on the homepage of the hotel. The spirit simply has gone. You didn't feel at all that Graham Greene, Mike Jagger, etc. ever had stayed here.

Here is my 2 cents.
There are few tourists in Haiti, what there is a lot of, are aid workers, NGO personnel and other people here on business. And as such, the Oloffson might not be what they are looking for. They want a hot bath, tv and a small taste of the comforts of home.
The Oloffson might not be just that.
But for us, who went as tourists. The Oloffson was miles beyond the tempered expectations this site had given me. It is a hotel so dripping in history and atmosphere that it puts any other historic hotel I have stayed at to shame.
The rooms are basic yes, but ours was immaculately clean. The Tv and phone did not work at all, but the bed was comfortable, and the room nice and quiet. Overpriced if you consider only the room? sure... But the hotel is so worth every penny.

I also don't understand the comments about the hotel being run down. I thought it seemed so taken care of. Yes, it's old, it still looks old.. But the paint was fresh, and everything was, as mentioned before spotless. It seems taken care of in a very honest way. Nothing is polished, nothing has been upgraded. It seems to be just the way it always has been. I cannot put into words how great of a job I think they have done at preserving it, without making it into some sterile disneyland.

The pool also was perfectly fine, and whoever wrote that it seemed like it contained cholera must have kept their eyes closed throughout the rest of the city. To have such a wonderful place in the middle of such devastation is amazing.

In short.
The Oloffson is almost worth the trip to Haiti in itself. An amazing hotel I will never forget staying at. If you are craving satellite tv and a swim-up pool bar after months around rural Haiti, you should maybe check out the Karibe or other places in petionville. But for anyone even slightly intrigued or interested in the Oloffson and its history; this really is the only choice. Truly a unique hotel unlike any other, I cannot rave enough about this place. Amazing.

Ps: one negative thing, that applied to all hotels we contacted in PaP. For the Oloffson 4 emails, and 7 phone calls did not provide us with an answer from the hotel when we were trying to book. The numbers are all out of service or the wrong numbers. Ultimately the much more accessible per email hotel Florita in Jacmel helped us with the bookings. I think voyages lumiere in petionville could also help. This really is too bad and almost made us cancel our entire trip. But like I said, we had the same problem with all the other hotels in PaP including the large Karibe and every other hotel above the florita on the tripadvisor page. It did not seem however like reservations were essential, the hotel was only half full.

Go for the ambiance, the history, the art, the mean rhum punch, the band RAM, and the architecture. Yes, it needs some repairs. But I know I am in a third world country, and I do not have big expectations. I went to hear the band (they play most Thur nights) and eat the best food in PaP. I enjoyed my stay. Although I would have appreciated some help carrying my many bags up the stairs!