The Albany Hotel

The first impression at the front desk may fool you, but that's where the good part ends. The room had an old TV with SABC and eTV, dust on the chandelier, no chair, and no complimentary water in the fridge. The hallway carpets were old and dirty, and the tiling in room 49 was unstable. The bathroom design was hideous, with two sets of not very clean towels and no towel for the water that drips out of the unenclosed shower. The fan was too loud, and there were only two hangers in the closet. You have to pay for ironing service because there's no ironing set in the facility.

In December, I booked and paid a deposit for a stay at Albany hotel from the 13th to the 16th of March. I had told them we were a family of four and wanted one room, but later they said I needed to call to confirm. The booking had actually been made as two separate rooms. My children are 10 and 14. I agreed to the two rooms only on the condition they'd be next to each other, but when we arrived on Friday afternoon they were apart. We were on the 9th floor, in room 99, while my daughters were in room 92. I was angry, but we'd already paid, so I accepted it. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, people kept knocking on doors looking for someone, partying and smoking weed on our floor. On Saturday a drunk man stopped my 14 year old daughter in the hallway, put his arms around her, and started kissing her neck. She's a kid. Why were people allowed to party in the hotel? I'll never book there again. 😡😡

After a long drive, I couldn't sleep because people were talking and playing loud music well after midnight on Sunday. The noise was extreme, and the whole stay was a bad experience. I wouldn't recommend the hotel to anyone. I had recommended it to two customers who stayed at the same time and ran into the same problems. The entrance area smelled of vomit, and there was vomit on the floor by the lifts. When I got out of the lift on my floor, a drunk man was lying in the passage. The parking was far from the entrance, and after leaving my car there I didn't feel safe walking back to the hotel.

Cockroaches were moving around in my room, and the windows wouldn't close all the way, so outside noise kept coming in. I had a horrible stay. Albany management needs to do better and make sure pest control is done.