Hotel Durant, a Joie de Vivre Hotel

Hotel Durant is a charming old gem in heart of the Berkeley campus area. Be mindful though that this is a very old building with thin walls and small rooms. You have to be the type to appreciate this sort of thing. Very helpful and friendly young staff plus some updated decorative touches make up for some of this hotel's worn feel.

The room had everything you need but was really small. It was, however, workable since we didn't spend a lot of time there. The bathroom was a bit of a challenge...it had a good shower but the sink faucet made it very difficult to wash your face without using a wash cloth and the toilet was situated very close to the wall...not ideal but, again, workable. The staff were all very helpful and it was really nice to have a restaurant attached. It was quiet and a short walk to the University and everything else we wanted to do.

Great location for visiting the university. Room I had didn't have AC and was HOT and a the AC for the bullding next door was on right next to the wall and kicked on at about 8am Horrible breakfast experience at Henry's the restaurant in the lobby but letting that affect my review of the hotel.

Hotel is classical and room is clean. But the structure is a little bit old, wall is so thin that the noise from your neighbors next to you or upstairs can be heard.

Great Clean Hotel With A Great View Of Berkeley and The City. Very Helpful With Anything You Needed and Free Breakfast is A Plus

Booked the hoel because it said there was a fitness centre / heath club and a swimming pool. These turned out to be 4 blocks away and you get a voucher from reception to go there. This is not clear on the web site details.

We were there for a wedding - unrelated to anything at UCB. _No Air Conditioning_, but they do have a ceiling fan and a another fan. The widow opened to a very busy street with college kids screeching down below. The hotel is even themed with a college vibe -- the lamps look like bongs, the "do not disturb" door sign is a picture of a sock (wink wink) and the shower curtain has vocabulary words on it. Not my personal favorite, but it was cute. In sum: if you have a hankering to relive your dorm-room years and you want a room that's spitting distance from UCB campus and you're not travelling in the summer, then this place is for you.

We really wanted to like the Durant. The staff was great, location very convenient to the campus and restaurants,the decor was good in a quirky kind of way (definitely not your cookie cutter room or lobby) and the old building had tons of character. But no air conditioning means that the rooms are really hot and stuffy in late spring and summer (the fact that there are multiple small fans in the room should be a dead giveaway that the rooms can get unbearably hot). The ceiling fans don't quite cut it. And we agree with other reviewers that not only are the walls thin, but the bathroom vents serve as noise conduits. I could hear the guy next to me snoring as clearly as if he were in my room. As much as we liked everything else, we had a hard time getting to and staying asleep, and we are not light sleepers. Maybe the Durant is ok when the weather is cold, but stay away in the summer.

It is really clean, friendly, and pleasant.

This charming and quiet hotel was conveniently located for a recital I attended at Zellerbach Hall on the UC campus -- only a 5-10 minute walk away! Everything was clean and neat throughout the hotel. Employees were uniformly exceptionally courteous, cheerful and helpful. Henry's restaurant and pub were open throughout the day and evening, so I enjoyed a very nice lunch after arriving and breakfast before my departure -- and a couple of cocktails before retiring to my roon after the recital. Prices of the hotel and restaurant were quite reasonable. No complaints from this guest!