Gooderson Tropicana Hotel

South Africa , KwaZulu Natal - Durban
DURBAN, 85 Marine Parade, 0
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75 reviews shown

8/10

Excellent

25 Aug 2023

Iris

Good location; Friendly staff; Comfy Rooms

This hotel is located just across the street from the beach, which was great. My room was not sea facing, but I still had a bit of a sea view from the side. The street does get busy with a lot of car traffic & people so you have to be aware of your surroundings & your belongings, esp. when walking around. Because the area is busy, it does get quite a bit noisy, even at late night & early morning hours.

The front desk is very helpful & accommodating. When I had an early morning tour the next day, they provided me a nice breakfast box before 5:30am since it was too early for the breakfast buffet that was included in my room rate. As for the breakfast buffet, it was excellent. There’s also an onsite restaurant & café, plus room service so that was very convenient, esp. when I came back late from my tour. My room was spacious, nice, & the bed was comfy…all that I really needed for a couple of nights in Durban. Overall, the hotel is in a good location, the room was quite comfortable, and the staff is nice & friendly.

Self

8/10

Excellent

21 Jun 2023

Anslie

Staff were very friendly. I arrived early off a safari truck and within a short time I had a room which was upgraded to an ocean view. No problem providing breakfast boxes both days I did long tours.

Leisure Self

6/10

Pleasant

17 May 2023

Dorcas

Good location, its near the beach. But you can hear noise from the night club at night. Also it feels very old, smelly carpet just needs a bit of modernization.

Business_and_leisure Self

4/10

Poor

20 Apr 2023

Dennis

Centrally located on the beach front.
The hotel needs and upgrade of furniture and fittinng.

Leisure Self

2/10

Poor

02 Mar 2023

Constantinos

Sorry but this place is run down
And corridors are very dirty
Room ok but still very old condition
Doors need replacement and new better locks

2/10

Poor

22 Dec 2022

Fhumulani

Horrible experience. Never again.

It was horrible. We were told to check in at 14:00 but at 15:00 the room was still not ready. The door lock had a problem, unlocking it was a problem. Generator was not working. At some point the stove, Tv and microwave stopped working. There was a weird smell in the room. The housekeepers were rude .

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

02 Dec 2021

Silvia

Goodersons family staycation♥️😜

The staff at the reception who welcomed myself and kids are wonderful it only took me less than 5 minutes to check in, the place is Covid complying, tehy check quests temperature on arrival and when you in and out the hotel, and sanitization, there's always security at the hotel that's visible. The place is clean, rooms are being cleaned daily, bed sheets are changed, 👌.

Friends_and_family Family

6/10

Pleasant

06 Apr 2021

Thapelo

I would say the standard is dropping, I couldn't get water in the room like they used to offer water in jugs before. Had to take the Kettle and get water from basin in the bathroom to make tea/coffee. They should fix on that. I don't know the reason why they stopped doing laundry

Self

4/10

Poor

06 Jan 2020

Verified traveler

Property needs updating

Breakfast buffet was excellent. The parking in the building next door was awful and unsafe. Building needs updating and is looking tired and worn.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

13 Jul 2019

Verified traveler

Such potential

Hotel and hotel staff does well, the hotel has a beautiful setting on the beach. Certainly has alot of positives going for it. Just a pity that there are so many beggars on the surrounds of the hotel and i didnt feel save even when 1 meter away from the Hotel. The area is certainly a party place but not for all only certain people will fit in. It certainly sounded nice. Wish it was save on the surrounds to enjoy the full package

10/10

Exceptional

09 Jun 2019

Verified traveler

Everything was perfect very neat ,tidy and the stuff was friendly

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

22 Apr 2019

Verified traveler

Good experience

It was good to be here. All stuff members were friendly. The service is good. The rooms are clean, comfortable and if felt safe to stay in this hotel. Everything is within few KMs... The Location is good.

Friends

10/10

Exceptional

08 Apr 2019

Phumzile

Break fast was lekker

Amazing the hotel its near by everthing
The breakfast was wow super lekker
But your carpets stinks

Friends

6/10

Pleasant

27 Mar 2019

Phetogo

They need to clean the carpet

Family

4/10

Poor

13 Oct 2018

Willard

But the beach is nice

Pretty sure the bed bugs are out of control. Nice staff, but everything needs updating.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

04 Oct 2018

Zikhona

Amazing

Family

8/10

Excellent

29 Sep 2018

Verified traveler

The hotel is okay, food, very nice. Their parking is disappointing though, the building doesn’t feel safe and it was so noisy

Family

8/10

Excellent

24 Sep 2018

Verified traveler

The hotel and staff, very nice, but the parking, not nice at all

Family

8/10

Excellent

13 Aug 2018

Billy Mathias

My Stay at Gooderson Tropicana Hotel

The reception was not good at the beginning but later on they improved their customer care

2/10

Poor

04 Jan 2018

Roumina

Terrible experience

The booking via Hotels.com was a total disaster with no ability to follow up. The nights booked were only 2, but amount for 4 was taken off of my account. The images on the Web site are totally misleading. The location is nothing less than scary with hoovers
and narcotics right outside the hotel. After hours going out of the hotel is absolutely dangerous. I left the hotel half way through the initial planned stay with no refund offered.

8/10

Excellent

17 Jun 2017

Ganesh

nice hotel...close to the beach

this hotel was a very good hotel, perfectly situated at Durban beach. easy for me to do my morning runs. the bar was good, but less people, should do more to attract people. breakfast is fair, should have more chicken variety everyday as some guest like myself dont take beef and pork.

10/10

Exceptional

10 Jun 2017

Florence

Everything was excellent

Partner

8/10

Excellent

02 May 2017

Gordon

room service is bad....but hotel rooms are nice..

Family

6/10

Pleasant

09 Jan 2017

Abbey

Well, for the first timer, the hotel was not that bad. I won't mind to visit the same hotel whenever I happen to visit the Durban beach front. I also won't hesitate to recommend the hotel to family and friends.

6/10

Pleasant

01 Jan 2017

Mbanguba

Cost effective but...

It is struggling to cope with huge influx of visitors during festive season.

10/10

Exceptional

31 Dec 2016

ENOCH

very clean

great family vacation

Family

8/10

Excellent

28 Dec 2016

Rhoda

Clean hotel but very full of visitors

It was good but the air conditioner in our room was not up to standard and the laundry room next to our room (518) had no light it was dark, so ironing there was a bit of a struggle

Family

6/10

Pleasant

23 Dec 2016

Matshidiso

I just wanted to leave the place asap, the bathrooms are in bad condition, the place needs renovations.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

07 Nov 2016

snoekie

Convinient, secure, locality

I enjoyed it!

10/10

Exceptional

01 Nov 2016

Carol

Clean hotel

We had a good stay

Family

10/10

Exceptional

10 Oct 2016

Marcel

awesome

awesome

10/10

Exceptional

27 Sep 2016

Yanga

It was amazing

Partner

2/10

Poor

13 Jul 2016

Cynthia

Bad service

I did not enjoy my stay because there was no hot water for 2 days and I came for a visit with kids. I called the reception so many times and could not help me, they just said somebody is looking into the problem.

I tried to use the Internet at the business lounge, the person who was helping out did not know the password for the computer.

I did not enjoy my stay at this hotel.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

05 Apr 2016

Colin

Maintenance needs attention

Had to move rooms after first night as air-con was faulty. After much performing they moved us to a better room with a working air-con. The breakfast was good except only 1 coffee pot for the whole dining room.

Family

2/10

Poor

04 Apr 2016

Vanessa

Worst Holiday ever

This is my forth visit to Tropicana Hotel and for the first time everything went wrong. The room was stuffy, smelled so badly that we had to be moved. The third room we were taken too was ok to sleep in. The shower did not work, the water was cold, the lift was not working well. My family had to walk up and down 7 flights of stairs. Very disappointing, I have sent an e-mail to the Hotel and still have had no feedback. We left the next morning, supposed to stay for 3 nights. No refund has yet been made.

Family

8/10

Excellent

03 Apr 2016

Verified traveler

TROPICANA ? YES OR NO.

Highly enjoyable - Neat enough but carpets could be cleaner. Tropicana should be looking at relieving its clients of the inconvenience of parking at the building next door.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

31 Mar 2016

Verified traveler

Gorgeous

Excellent

Family

10/10

Exceptional

30 Mar 2016

Maria

Super dupa experience

It was convinient considering the fact that we could walk to most of the places , the fact that most of the places accomodates kids was also another added advantage.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

30 Mar 2016

Lindiwe

Cleanliness of room / hotel.

The hotel reception is being renovated so it was a bit chaotic. Also only one lift works and it's very small.
The passages in the floor had a horrible smell. work when you call reception for an iron you have to wait more than an hour to get the iron and give a deposit of R1000. Otherwise the locating is perfect it's close to a lot of uShaka Marine and the beach is at your door step.
Breakfast was excellent and they have very friendly staff.

Family

8/10

Excellent

30 Mar 2016

Millesandy

Great stay

it was great breakfast was great

Family

4/10

Poor

21 Mar 2016

Anton

Average 3 star

...

Family

8/10

Excellent

15 Jan 2016

Alan

OK for Durban

Hotel fine, staff helpful but some more competent than others. Breakfast good. If you like Durban most of bars, a lot of stalls and activities nearby

6/10

Pleasant

15 Jan 2016

PRAGASEN

Good value for money

The Hotel is old, and has not been updated or maintained to the best of its ability.
Staff are friendly and helpful.
Buffet breakfast is excellent

Family

2/10

Poor

11 Jan 2016

Verified traveler

very disappointing - the bathroom door would not close. Four booked in but was only given two bath towels, had to phone housekeeping for towels everyday. shower water was always cold.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

08 Jan 2016

dimakatso

excellent service

It was the best ,the breakfast was delicious and friendly staff

Family

8/10

Excellent

05 Jan 2016

thandinkosi christopher

Great stay

It waswonderful

Partner

8/10

Excellent

05 Jan 2016

Osborne

The network for the tv is bad

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

05 Jan 2016

Verified traveler

We stayed at Tropicana for two nights. Generally the stay was of reasonable comfort. The hotel is near the beach and the view of the beach was just beautiful from our rooms. The only thing that made the stay a bit uncomfortable was the inability to access something to drink during the night. For the period of our stay, there was a jug and two glasses with no fresh water. At night we could not get fresh cold water and could not buy something to drink as the kitchen/bar was closed. We left the hotel in the early hours of the morning to go and buy something to drink at shops nearby the hotel. It would really assist if the hotel can at least invest in bar fridges.

Family

4/10

Poor

04 Jan 2016

Erin

Like peace and quiet? Avoid.

I stayed here for four nights between Christmas and New Year's and was extremely disappointed. The noise level was like nothing I've ever encountered at a hotel anywhere in the world. Not only was there near-constant loud music coming from the beach across the street to contend with but also the carrying-on of fellow guests, none of whom seemed particularly concerned with the havoc their children were wreaking in the halls. Now, I don't hate children, but I would like to walk down the stairs without having to step over them. Hotel staff literally shrugged their shoulders when I asked them to address this. My room on the third floor needed some serious deep cleaning (particularly of the carpets). The only positives I can give are: the breakfasts were quite good and the housekeeping staff delightful.

4/10

Poor

04 Jan 2016

Pranitha

disappointed

air con leaked into the room carpet was wet.
shower was not working properly.
picts on internet is very different to the actual hotel

Family

6/10

Pleasant

04 Jan 2016

Pretty

It was ok to be there and thanks for hospitality.

It was nice. We booked the family room which is double room, we were expecting a little bit of a privacy since we were with kids but there's no petition, it is just one room. It took almost the whole day for our room to be cleaned the next day because of the short of staff. By the time the cleaner came the toilet paper was already finished and it was very uncomfortable. The breakfast was very nice though.

Family

8/10

Excellent

23 Dec 2015

khathutshelo

the stay was good,the staff at hotel were friendly.
the electrical plug went off for 2 days we could not watch TV and do ironing hence we did reported the matter.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

23 Dec 2015

Gloria

Awesome

We enjoyed it

Family

4/10

Poor

16 Dec 2015

Mthoko

Poor Quality Service

What a disappointing stay. First i had a problem with check in, they couldnt verify that i had paid for my stay online. Then i realized there was no parking nearby, and to my disappointment they made us pay for parking! How ridiculous is that! But wait, the parking is on another building with dodgy passages and scary nightclubs. We could have been robbed just walking there, not to mention the trail of dried blood on the floor leading to one of the night clubs! It was a scary situation.

Finally after checking in the room was below average and the bathroom sucked in every respect, the twin plugs for shaving were not working, when we asked for twin plugs from reception they didnt have any. So we had to make do without our phones and tablets!

Finally, thinking let me just relax and have a cold drink, the hotel didnt have an ice machine, calling the bar did not help either, they just said they didnt have any ice! What kind of poor service is this!!?

Trying to get out of the hotel didnt do me any good anyway, the lifts were not working!

Id rather stay at a hostel in a township than staying here! At least ill know what im getting into!

6/10

Pleasant

16 Dec 2015

Thuthani

You can do better

My family and I had a refreshing stay. Unlike during my previous stay, I was disappointed with the lackadaisical manner of restaurant staff at breakfast.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

04 Jun 2015

Daniel

Is not what the Pictures show...

Only 1 Reception at Check-in so waited over 30mins... TV Not tuned in room and all Fuzzy...Windows Broken and couldn't shut properly. Very Noisy area, drunk people in street out of window singing until 4am.

2/10

Poor

17 Feb 2015

bad service,

Receptionist wasnt very helpfu, I also had to book again on arrival, because they only received your confirmation email the next morning, and I would like a refund from Hotels.com, I will never use your service again nor recommend it to my family and friends, I'm also going to put my complaint on Helo Peter, due to the terrible service I received at the hotel, Tropicana hotel should be rated as 1 star, I've had beter service at Sun1

Family

10/10

Exceptional

13 Feb 2015

Tracey

Pleasant stay

The stay was great only negative is that the parking was not in the same building and not pleasant walking from the parking to the hotel at night

Family

4/10

Poor

19 Jan 2015

Lindiwe

Service

I likes the hotel because it was next to the sea but I was not happy with the service. first when we arrive we were told to get our bags in car but the next day I saw other people where helped with their laggadge. second I order food from the resturant and the lady told me she will call me to come and fetch them, I was not offered room service. Lastly the room was not smelling nice, I dont know if its capert or blankets. The smell was terrible we were sleeping with our window open.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

11 Jan 2015

rene

Good

Enjoyable

Family

4/10

Poor

11 Jan 2015

Verified traveler

Terrible

Got to the hotel and they could not pick up the reference number that was given by hotel bookings. Com... Had grief trying to get the room, had a problem getting the breakfast sorted. Very unprofessional

Family

8/10

Excellent

11 Jan 2015

Thamsamqa Benjanmin

thamzo

it was indeed a very nice stay even the parking was secure. I would refer friends definately to Tropicana

Family

8/10

Excellent

20 Dec 2014

STEPHEN

SHORT BREAK

THE HOTEL WAS NICE AND STAFF FRIENDLY

Family

8/10

Excellent

02 Oct 2014

Rosina Ndala

friendly staff

it was fun

2/10

Poor

21 Jul 2014

Verified traveler

Poorly managed.

Awful experience!!! Lied about Wi Fi: never available. Unable to maintain a clean hotel: they had to first collect the used towels, wash those then bring same back in the afternoon. No iron.I called on two consecutive days the reception to get an iron. The promise to bring the iron was never kept until I left. Noisy Very Noisy. people just walking from the street into the hotel without going to the reception. They came to knock to my door many times. even as early as 5h00 AM looking for their friends. The reception unaware.

10/10

Exceptional

03 Jun 2014

Verified traveler

great location

Everything was very good besides the water to have a shower was warm. be it in the morning or evening. Do something about the geysers.

Partner

4/10

Poor

15 May 2014

joseph

greatlocation

it was horrible since rooms where not smelling nice and we where bathing with cold water no electricity in the morning and no apology from management sorry to respond late due to internet problem

Partner

2/10

Poor

06 May 2014

smotan

my wife I a travel agent for a large company and does a lot of business and leisure bookings she will definitely not send her clients and she will tell them not to book or go near that hotel, its disgusting ,from the time we arrived we had nothing but ,problems, first they could not find my booking , and said I must pay again, I refused, until I showed them the email from hotls .com. I was told its first class treatment and so comfortable, but over the 30years of staying in hotels , this was the worst ever experience, my wife was so disgusted with me that I could take them to such a dump. and the rude staff , unreal ,then I had to pay for my childrens breakfast, the first morning until te day of departure , my wife spoke to the manager on duty .JOHN he said no we must go in and they will not pay , he doesn't know why we had to pay , the service is just pathetic, no fridge, the bedding smells, the room stinks we actually requested to be moved , but the room they moved us to was just as bad, r2380.00 pathetic.i personally think they should refund me my money , worse stay ever in Durban. and we will definitely put this on hello peter. my wife is goint to have a meeting with the sales rep,. and discuss this , further, mr motan

6/10

Pleasant

01 May 2014

J N Mazibuko

My online booking was not captured by the Tropicana system and this could have caused problems for me if the hotel was full. Breakfast was the same stuff for my duration of stay. Rates were not favourable even though booking was done by Hotel Express. Hotel advised me to better make a phone call than online booking

8/10

Excellent

28 Apr 2014

Verified traveler

fantastic breakfeast

i was more than satisfy

Family

8/10

Excellent

22 Apr 2014

M Bruyns

Very pleasant stay indeed.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

30 Mar 2014

Lungi

Great Location

It was ok for the price.

2/10

Poor

07 Jan 2014

Mad id

not good

The rooms looked old and dull they need some attention.

Family

8/10

Excellent

16 Dec 2013

mathebza

Spacious Room, Good Value for Money

We enjoyed our stay at the the Tropicana hotel, will definitely consider it next time we come to Durban. We booked the hotel because we wanted to stay next to the beach, so the location was perfect. The room was clean and spacious and the staff was friendly. I was initially worried about parking but the hotel was able to assist. It was overall a good value for money.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

16 Oct 2013

NSABIYUMVA Liévin

It was great,but guests need a refregerator and internet in the rooms.I was disappointed about that.