The reviews are largely right, it is run down and it is an environment that takes a toll on buildings (humitidy). But this is not Cozumel! This is Port-au-Prince. Here, a fine meal, the comfort of a good bar, friendly (super nice) staff and associates..... This means everything in a place where many who work there have next to nothing. Or nothing.

We were there and in minutes were enjoying a very cold beer and thinking how lucky we were to be in the magnificent historic hotel that had survived the quake and we were listening to inspired live music that made you feel great to be part of it.

You need a strong wifi or fax machine..... Likely not here and perhaps not anywhere from time to time - these are not easy things. But to have a safe, comfortable place to stay or eat and feel like Henningway might have been at the table beside you - you have arrived.

It is delightful to sip a drink or have a sandwich on the hotel's veranda, and visit the gardens, which had many voodoo dolls & macabre curiosities posted here and there. But the service was unprofessional and the dining staff seemed overwhelmed. The rear annex has a wonderful gallery with rocking chairs, and with its panoramic view of the city and gulf, it is an ideal perch for quiet conversation, for writing or even contemplation. The Oloffson sits in a shady close-in neighborhood and one can hear the gentle sounds of the neighborhood beyond the garden walls. The rear garden is very offensive with trash strewn across the slope in full view of guests staying in the annex, and the property generally suffers from poor upkeep. As such it is not worth the $100 nightly room charge, and it is truly sad to see this storied hotel, which has hosted a number of luminaries from the past, in such serious decline.

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.