We stayed at the Balmoral hotel with a family of 2 adults and 2 young children. The hotel itself is situated along the South Beach of the Golden Mile and opposite the fun ride park. Rooms are really old with mostly antique furniture and decor. We stayed in a family suite overlooking the beachfront. The View was amazing.

The 1st room we were given was a problem as there were ants eveyrwhere including the bed. We called housekeeping - which by the way did not even answer their phone. Eventually we got hold of the frontdesk and they sent a cleaner up to spray the room. Not even 2 minutes later, the ants started to creep up the ned again. Anyway after numerous calls to the dront desk, they moved us to another family suite.

The breakfast is good with a wode selection of cereals, cold cuts, hot food, pastries etc and it is nice to sit on the terrace and watch people go by. Dinner was okay, not a huge variety and poorly displayed.

The hotel is for budget travellers although Raya Hotels class it as a 4 star hotel. In my personal opnion, I will rate it more like a 2 star hotel.
The front desk, housekeeping etc do not answer their phones. The lift is too small. All in all, the hotel is really old and in desperate need of a huge makeover in all areas.

The Balmoral hotel in Durban purports to have been awarded 4 stars but these were undoubtedly granted in the early days, shortly after the big bang, when stars were closer together and easier to come by.

This hotel has the old-world majestic air brought about by having seen it all and stood here through storms, riots and a changing city scape. The creaking wooden flooring in the corridors has undoubtedly been trodden down by far too many feet in its time. Also creaking and past its prime is the elevator, which I hypothesise may be steam powered, after pressing the button for the desired floor there is a somewhat disturbing wait while the steam pressure builds, then after what seems like an eternity the door closes on you trapping you inside this minuscule linoleum and wood laminate cubicle. Several seconds later, presumably after the stokers have put more coal on the fire, and the boilers have got up a good head of steam, the lift shudders into movement, then with a lurch and that special jolting of abandoned industrial equipment you are delivered to within 10% of your selected floor - the final 10% being left for you to step up to the level of the corridor.

Similar in functionality to the elevator, the air conditioner in the room huffs and wheezes and rattles like an old man with consumption, all the while relying solely on Brownian motion and sheer luck to move a few molecules of air around the room. A far greater cooling effect was obtained by opening the door of the (empty) mini-bar.

The bathrooms are decorated in Soviet Sanatorium Schick; black and white tile with bad grouting fixed by industrious applications of white paint. When running a bath somehow the usual clean water of Durban is transformed by the piping system into deliciously brown soup - I recommend showering as the colour of the water is more difficult to discern and you are assisted in this choice by the fact that when you turn on the taps for the bath the shower pours water on your head anyway. For some strange reason there is a complete instruction manual on the inside of the bathroom door on how to operate the door lock - this is baffling as the door lock is of very common design and this manual is presumably intended for those people who have never operated a door before. The main door with a more complex electronic lock has no such instructional guide, it does however have decorative faux gold faceplate on the corridor side in a failed attempt to keep the old-world charm alive in the modern era of door key-cards.

The Freudians amongst you may argue as to why I mention this, but the light fixtures in the public areas, rooms and bathrooms appear to be have been modelled on the breasts of a very buxom and decidedly excited woman. You can't help but notice... Really...

With all that said, the staff and in particular the doorman, are friendly and helpful and accommodating, but they just don't build hotels like this any more - and with good reason.

Avoid at all costs.
Do not book at this hotel.
If your idea of a holiday is staying at a resort with no beach access even though it supposedly has a beach front, but access is blocked one side due to construction, and in front is blocked by a derelict theme park that would probably scare the living daylights out of steven king.
Arriving early and going for a stroll next to the hotel, we had to bypass numerous vagrants pushing carts and stepping over human excrement while eying warily the people sleeping in the abandoned theme park, it just looked too unsafe and dodgy.
When questioning reception the answer was well if you must go to the beach drive elsewhere and they not responsible for what happens outside the hotel.
Extremely dangerous and disgusting area, avoid.

The hotel building itself has an old, a bit shabby but quite historic air about it and is well situated at Durban's beach parade, part of which is rather noisy with music til 10 p.m. Our room was ok except for a large puddle of water from the AC that soaked the carpeting (and our socks).
Unfortunately, the female personell at the front desk was incompetent, unprofessional and extremely unfriendly. We were asked to wait "5 mins" that actually stretched into an hour before we decided to take a tour of Durban instead of waiting in vain the whole afternoon. I could not see the source of the hold-up as the ladies spent their time chitchatting in lack of other customers and didn't care a moment to update us. Confronted with our voucher (back from the tour), they didn't know what to do (!) - we were even asked to give our credit card details for coverage, which we denied - until we explained that it meant a prepaid booking.
Paying the lavish parking fee (R40/d) with a R100 note, I got the impression the very same personell tried to make some extra money. Claiming they hadn't got any change in the cashier, they found it apt to simply keep the difference without a word. When I realized what was going on and complained, they answered it wasn't their fault nor responsibility (!) and blamed me for not giving the exact amount of money. I will not repeat their words as they were offensive and insulting and gave evidence of poor manners and a huge lack of professionalism. I finally managed to get the R100 note changed in the hotel's restaurant, the personell there was very friendly.
On a fabulous 3 week-tour through SA, the Balmoral was by far the most unpleasant experience. Stay away - there are far better options for accomodation in Durban!