Mandy Latimore recently stayed at the Riverside Hotel in Durban and found D it offered great value. She shares her experience
During a recent, extended visit to Durban, I was lucky enough to stay at The Riverside Hotel for 12 nights, which is situated on the North side of the Umgeni River. This fully accessible hotel features 169 spacious guest rooms with a kitchenette, a mini fridge and microwave, work desk and an air-conditioner.
Two of these rooms are accessible with a roll- in shower, wet room with shower seat and grab rails. They are situated on the ground floor just off the lobby. There are other rooms that offer a combination of double or triple accommodations with baths and showers; family rooms and suites.
There are two elevators that offer access to all the floors with ease. There is free Wi-Fi and a generator to ensure that there are no interruptions to the power supply for the entire complex.
The selection of TV channels within the rooms is quite limited; however, for those who are sports fanatics, there are many TV screens within the patio and bar area offering various sporting events. The staff are happy to change one of the stations to a specific request if there are limited people within this area. I was able to watch the F1 Grand Prix on a rain-soaked Sunday afternoon in the bar!
The restaurant, pool and bar are all on the lower ground area and have ramped access. On Friday evenings, there are live music on the patio, which was an unexpected bonus.
There is room service with a good selection of dishes, a laundry service, hair salon and mini gym. There is also an in-room spa service offered by Neno Spa that has a contract with the hotel.
The conference facility is situated in the grounds opposite the main entrance and has five venues for conferences, business meetings and functions. There is also a business centre.
The hotel offers a shuttle service in standard vehicles. There is plenty of open parking for those who are driving their own vehicles. They also have two accessible parking bays outside the conference facility and one to the east side of the main hotel building. These have lockable posts and are monitored by the security staff to ensure that they are available to persons with mobility devices.
The staff are all extremely friendly and helpful, especially Benjamin who assisted us with our sports gear, whenever we needed him.
This hotel is close to the main arterial routes into and out of Durban. It offers very good value for money! It’s a definite favourite of mine for both business and leisure travel. We were offered very competitive rates for our players from around South Africa who were in Durban for the National Disabled Bowls competition.
So, should you be deciding to stay within the greater Durban area, have a look at their website as they are always offering great specials www.theriversidehotel.co.za.
Happy Travels!
