Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani — Hotel in North Beach

This month, May, people from around the world will be descending on Durban for the African Travel Indaba. A tourism tradeshow showcasing travel in Africa. There is never a bad time to be in Durban, the warmest place to be for its climate, welcoming people and of course, one of my passions, the bunnychow.||I was there earlier this year marking thirty-one years since my first visit. For me it is the home of sport in South Africa. With friends and family, we watched the Sharks play rugby at Kings Park and the Durban Super Giants play cricket at Kingsmead. Two stunning stadiums with fantastic crowds generating a great atmosphere.||Kings Park home of the Sharks|Staying at the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani Hotel we had magnificent views of Durban. From our room we looked down onto the Golden Mile promenade, the beaches and the warm Indian Ocean. Joggers, walkers, cyclists and skateboarders intermingled on the promenade with Zulu rickshaws. The beaches were busy with families enjoying the hot weather. Sandcastles and soccer matches are popular on the searing sand. The warm Indian ocean is a mecca for surfers, body borders, swimmers, kayakers and paddle boarders. And now cruise ships are a common site making their way to the relatively new Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal bringing in more tourists to the holiday hot spot.||Rooms with a view from the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani|On a hot humid morning I ventured up to the hotel roof garden and pool. I am not great with heights but from here you look down on the city and the two stadiums mentioned. You can see the neighbouring town and beaches of Umhlanga beyond the third of the city’s major stadiums, Moses Mabhida Stadium. I am told that when the conditions are perfect on a clear day, looking inland you can see the Drakensberg Mountains on the horizon. I must check that out when back on a clear. blue winter’s day.||The rooftop pool with the Moses Mabhida Stadium below|Being the founder of World Bunnychow Day I plan time to eat the humble curry served in a hollowed-out loaf, that originates from Durban. On this trip we walked from the hotel and ate at two restaurants. I must point out that we did this on two separate days. Firstly it was Happy Chappy where I tried a mutton shank bunnychow and have to say that it was seriously good with the most tender meat falling from the bone. Secondly it was House of Flavours where I opted for the mutton bunnychow and again it was excellent. I added to my order a salt lassie, which made me smile, as it was served in an old-fashioned dimpled English pint beer mug.||I may not be in Durban for this year’s travel Indaba and assume my invite was lost in the post or more likely the vast ethernet of the modern-day internet. But I will be back and for now I just hope that all the visitors enjoy the warmest place to be, and it goes without saying a bunnychow. I will be celebrating the humble bunnychow, with its roots firmly in Durban, on World Bunnychow Day, June 26th and thinking all things Durban, KwaZulu Natal,...

From what should of been a pleasant evening a stay away frm home and a wonderful morning became a Nightmare after arriving there was a error with my booking room / bed and specific requirments after been moved 2 rooms called fr dinner there was a mess with my reservations called reception spoke to manager said she will explain lingela and put me on waiting then when i call lingela zanele didnt know abt a list and put me on hold 9 minutes and 40sec gentleman there came to the call had to re explain after hearing everything he says must i keep ur place or u wanna go someeer else ... i asked why wud i go thru all this effort if i wanted to go somewer else eventually he said he will call ... which hours passed and bnothing eventually he who put me threw to zanele who doesnt know nothing reexplaing my frudtration fr the 5th time he calls me down afta a hot shower afta all this tym comsuming dissagreements i was seated just afta the first sides someone messed my dress and back with dirty water that splashed in2 my plate that just turned our evening into a mess uncomfortablw feeling dirty and irratible i flagd a manager who showed me a index finger in vircular movement when he came no apoligy he listened amd said do u wanna move? Really ? The lady that messed me wiped my back and that grimey water off but the dress was still wet and toiled instead of following up i waited fr a Mangaer (leadership)? No apology! He instead screaming let me pay while i didnt fully partake in everything because of that ofsetting situation after reporting to a manager my time fr my stay was consumed with endless quarels and i called a Pk or then gave me fb to say a Manager will be in Touch not happy with her response she went on to apoligise but what she discussed verses her communications were 2 diffrent things terrible unhappy and felt robbed nt just fr my meal but fr everything the stay tooo ... i called guest concerns office number and spoke to a Odwa who said her Manager was not availble and A Samantha Croft will be in touch to my concern no comms then i followed up were is this person she went on2 say the Manager will be in Touch just then i Gt a Mcg frm the same Manager thats words on the call is not was on whatsapp wasnt wat she said i notified Odwa and was told ..the very same Manager wants Details to give a Refund fr Just my meal... as if nothing else was wrong very upset i told them i donr come by myself i didnt come by myself i will not come ... i was asked fr banking details to refund just food that was Monday Midday till Today Nothing has Come through i was Told By Manager due to holiday theres a Delay... Delay By a week Holiday was Thursday clearly there is Major integrity issue and bigger issues aside from a waste of stay that was consumed with endless calls and terrible disgust fr customer service and been put on hold fr 9 minutes with people who have no sense of communication skills...am still waiting fr some accountable Person to...

We booked online for a weekend trip at the Elangeni hotel and was offered an upgrade to our room so we booked it.. We asked for an earlier check in and were told that they would confirm that with us but they never did so we arrived at the hotel at around 1:20 for a 2:00pm check in. There were only 3 staff members on desk duty and the queue to check in was over 30 people long and growing. Eventually after about 30 minutes we got to the front desk and we enquired about the parking facility. Zonke/Zodwa told us that she would check on this but never got back to us.She gave us our room key and off we went only to go to the elevator and find out that it doesn’t go to our floor as there were no more floors!! We had to ask a cleaning lady to assist us and she told us that we had to infact go next door to the Maharani hotel so we had to get our luggage and walk to the next hotel. I was quite irritated as Zonke/Zodwa should have had knowledge of this upon us checking in! I believe that due to the room upgrade , we were now booked at the Maharani but this not communicated to us. Once again, we enquired about parking and was told that the Elangeni & Maharani hotel parking may be full but that we could use the over flow parking at the back of the hotel at no cost!! The rooms was spacious, clean and neat. The view from our room was amazing!! We left the hotel, upon returning, the parking was full so we used the overflow parking. Breakfast was a good selection of food. The pork products are kept separate from the other food as they are halaal certified. The table servers at breakfast were not friendly and inviting but the front desk restaurant staff and cooks were. In our early morning checkout, we asked for a breakfast pack to go which was okay but could do with some refinement as it was not the best to eat. We were also charged for using the over flow parking after we were told that it was free and we communicated this to the lady but she just ignored us and charged us anyways. The hotel is beautiful but the staff needs to pay attention to the finer details as we want to relax and enjoy our stay and not be bothered by small issues. Overall experience was good and I would return as the hotel and views...