Andaluz Boutique Hotel

Flew into Durban for graduation, but a mix-up with our original hotel left us stranded. Fortunately we found the Andaluz, a charming building but one that definitely shows its age. Now let's start with the good! Shared a room with my mum and was pleasantly surprised to find we had plenty of space. Two big beds, a beautiful bathroom that obviously took up a lot of their budget, and a little living room complete with TV (limited to five channels though; two only showing football). There was also a creaky old balcony with a nice view of the neighbourhood. Cute tea and coffee set up, with a mini-fridge... As for the rest, they say the devil is in the details, and that is where the Andaluz was lacking. The ceiling is water-damaged, there were stains on some of the towels and the duvet (being optimistic, I think it was paint or ink). Also some kind of dent in the floor that almost tripped us up twice. Strong air-con but Wi-fi was spotty and kept dropping... The entrance to the building looks like it should be the back. Lots of boxes and construction bits stacked everywhere as if it's someone's garage (thankfully the lobby is lovely). Staff were nice enough, but not the most attentive or switched on. We were disappointed to hear they didn't serve dinner and if there were breakfast options nobody told us. When we went out at 07:00 the next day we found reception closed, nobody home. Any hotel worth its salt should always have somebody at the front desk, especially early morning. We just wanted to leave our room key but if we'd been wanting to check out that could've been stressful... All in all, better than expected considering the desperate last minute scramble.