Queensland, Australia: hotel sul mare

Location: on the southern end of Surfer's Paradise, the quieter end, just behind the Q1. General notes: it is NOT a hotel. It's a serviced apartment. Put it into context & you'll be fine. The location is convenient. There's free resident parking. The staff are polite & professional. Club Wyndham is a time share operation, which they will try to gently push for. Thank you Felipe! There is a cafeteria onsite which serves breakfasts & meals on a schedule. The parking is free which is a remarkable bonus. There's free WiFi. 3 lifts service all floors and are generally efficient given the 17-18 floors. As of 2026 May, there are major renovation works being carried out, which shows they care, but do expect construction noise during your stay until it's complete. They should be more upfront about it to avoid upsetting the easily outraged customer, I felt. SO BEWARE!! Do check with them before you book Rooms: as a rented apartment block, more akin to Airbnb with a reception, do expect that each unit will vary in furniture & fittings, so be wary of the bad reviews as in general not all units are the same. From an objective perspective, the unit was well appointed & functional to a moderately good level. Just don't expect 4 star hotel level finishings. But it's good enough on the whole. There's air conditioning that works well, a large screen TV, kitchenette with cutlery & tableware, and a dishwasher, fridge & microwave. There's a washing machine & dryer as well, for the clothing. The sofas are comfortable & clean. There's a balcony which, if ocean facing, are ideal for the sunsets and smokes. Read: great views! The TV provides the usual terrestrial channels as well as a Club Wyndham cable like channel tv with a reasonably wide selection of video movies. There is a nice complimentary selection of tea bags, coffee & chocolate powder provided. Rooms: the single beds are rather narrow & small, but adequate. Not the best I've experienced, but good enough. The mattresses are very comfortable, soft & plush, not hard. The pillows are also very comfortable. The only thing missing in the room was the inadequate provision for clothes hangers & racks. Baffling to not provide clothes hangers in the wardrobe cupboard. Inexplicable. There's a small TV screen provided in the bedrooms too & an individual air-conditioning control console for the bedroom itself. Bathrooms: generally clean and adequate. All the usual soaps & moisturizers provided. No toiletries are included though. So do bring along your own toothbrushes & shavers. There are plugs for the electric shavers. The complete set of fluffy towels are provided. The shower is not a rain shower but just a shower head. Hot water takes a short while to heat up & The showering Is generally a good experience. Based on my limited experience, it's a good place for a short stay, with the free parking tipping the balance in its favor for most, though for long stays I'm not sure how efficient they will be in providing for extra towels, toilet paper, cleaning services, etc. Though on the surface, they do appear to be up to the task. Again, I would ask about this if you're staying for more than 3 days. Do also check about the renovation noise during the day! Addendum: There's a great Indian restaurant (Delhi Darbar) & a very popular Italian restaurant just downstairs. Also a good Japanese restaurant (Osaka) just opposite.

Ottimo ubicazione, bel appartamento e grandi strutture. Ci siamo davvero goditi del nostro soggiorno e saremmo felici di tornare. Molto consigliato!

I stayed at Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach from 24 to 27 July. On the evening of 25 July, while applying body lotion as part of my normal daily routine, I noticed several small marks on my shoulder and upper inner thigh/groin area that appeared to be possible insect bites. I apply body lotion every day and am certain these marks were not present on the evening of 24 July after check-in. It was winter on the Gold Coast, and on 25 July I spent most of the day inside a shopping centre, wearing long sleeves and long trousers outdoors. I cannot say with certainty where the marks came from, but later that evening I also saw insects in the room and immediately reported the matter to the hotel. I did not want to remain in that room. I repeatedly tried to contact Trip.com because, based on previous experience, they have helped arrange alternative accommodation when hotel problems occur. Unfortunately, I could not reach Trip.com that night. The hotel told me it was fully booked and offered only two options: move to a room without air conditioning or remain in the same room after it had been cleaned. As it was late, I was overseas, and I had no practical alternative, I reluctantly accepted the temporary arrangement. That same evening, the hotel told me that I would be upgraded to another room the following day and that breakfasts on 26 and 27 July would be complimentary. Before accepting, I asked what would happen if the marks became worse. The staff did not make any promise regarding my physical condition or responsibility. They simply explained that the cleaning, room upgrade and breakfasts were “extra” goodwill gestures. I accepted based on that explanation and because I had no realistic alternative that night. The staff who initially handled my complaint were polite, professional and genuinely tried to help. My main disappointment was the hotel’s internal communication. For clarity, I paid for breakfast on 25 July myself. The hotel promised complimentary breakfasts only for 26 and 27 July, and I did not even have breakfast on 26 July. Despite this, I had to explain the same arrangement three times: 1. When collecting the key for the upgraded room on 26 July, the front desk initially said breakfast was not included. 2. On the morning of 27 July, the restaurant reception again said I needed to pay. 3. At check-out on 27 July, the front desk attempted to charge me for three breakfasts. The charges were eventually removed, but only after I explained the situation again. My criticism is not directed at individual employees, as everyone I dealt with was polite and willing to help. The real issue was the lack of communication between the department handling my complaint, the front desk and the restaurant. The location is excellent and the staff attitude was generally good, but discovering possible insect bites and insects in the room was already stressful. Having to repeat the same issue three times because the hotel’s own goodwill arrangement had not been communicated internally made the experience even more disappointing. I hope the hotel improves its room hygiene, complaint-handling procedures and communication between departments.

Hotel in buona posizione rispetto alle spiagge e al centro. Struttura un po' datata e poco mantenuta (vedi foto). Anche l'interno delle camere dai mobili, alla scrivania, al tavolino, le sedie e il mobile porta tv sono decisamente ”usati” cioè da sostituire. La TV funziona solo con canali locali, quando altri hotel dello stesso livello ti danno la possibilità di collegarti con la rete per usare pay tv/streaming, e YouTube o musica se non ti interessa vedere la tv. Il bagno ha ancora i rubinetti con acqua calda e fredda separati. La doccia ha un unico soffione con getto unico e senza saliscendi per cui se vuoi sciacquare i piedi fai la doccia lo stesso. Insomma i servizi non sono da 4*. Inoltre ho chiesto una camera tranquilla ad un piano alto e mi hanno assegnato una camera al 3° su 8° piani totali. Quindi denota scarsa propensione al cliente, sia all' ascolto che quello che scrive sulla prenotazione e questo è un punto che i manager dell' hotel devono risolvere. Altra cosa che ho notato una sorta di selezione dei clienti in base ai giorni di permanenza e dove hanno prenotato. Se per caso hai prenotato su una delle diverse piattaforme digitali di prenotazioni alberghiere e magari anche hai già pagato, ecco allora ti trattano come cliente di serie B tanto non hai alternative e ti danno le camere meno belle, tanto sei di passaggio. Anche questo aspetto dovrebbe essere risolto da chi pretende e vuole gestire una struttura a 4 stelle in una delle località turistiche più conosciute del sud del Queensland (Gold coast) se vuole veramente rendere felici i propri clienti e non solo negli slogan aziendali (customer focus/driven).

Localizzazione Il centro surfer è il Paradiso, una posizione eccellente, vicino alla spiaggia e alla luce della notte, ma se siete dopo un sonno tranquillo di notte, non è per voi. Sala Le camere sono grandi ma piuttosto buie.C'è solo una luce in basso all'ingresso, una lampada a pavimento e 2 luci a letto. (Vedere foto) Parcheggio Il parcheggio 4h Street è disponibile durante il giorno. Vorrebbero includere i pantaloncini

The Mantra Hotel has outstanding location. It is directly in front of the Woolworths supermarket - the best option in central Cairns. It's also virtually opposite (the esplanade side)the lagoon public beachfront swimming pool. Finally it's just a 5 minute walk from Cairns Cruise Terminal, with outstanding day trips to Green Island, Fitzroy Island and the Reef. I booked a sea view room. When you enter the room, you don't see the ocean, but a building across the road. However, the view from the balcony was amazing. The balcony overlooks the main features of lagoon on the sea front. During the day it is great view - the lagoon pools and sea in the background. At night you cannot see the sea (as to be expected) but you have the amazing lagoon lights, which makes it very desirable and even romantic. Our room was at the end of block, which overlooks a shopping mall (no car noise) - looking right from the balcony is the lagoon view and looking left is a mountain view. However, from 2:00pm to 6:00pm the sun comes directly into the balcony area, which means it unusable until sun sets. Of course if you don't mind baking in the sun on the balcony, this is not really a concern. The room itself is pretty basic. The mini fridge of OK and TV has domestic channels only - no cable TV for BBC/CNN. The bathroom is of a good size. There is combined shower & bath. However, when using the shower, it can slightly flood this bathroom. A shower curtain may be desirable because the glass panel is not sufficient enough. At $225 per night this hotel was not cheap and you can better deals by coming in the off-season OR going bit further down the esplanade, and choosing another hotel. The Mantra does have its own pool and it is wonderfully heated, with normal deck chairs you would expect at 4 star hotel. However, the pool gets very little natural sunlight, because it of its location between 2 buildings. Overall, the hotel has amazing location, and it is still recommended, despite the shortcomings mentioned. My final note: When we checked in, I was impressed with the level of service provided by the receptionist. She had a very welcome attitude and a wonderful personality.

Posizione incantevole, camera e bagno puliti e curati nei minimi dettagli. Tutti i comfort sono presenti e il personale è molto professionale. Nelle vicinanze si trovano l'Esplanade, bar e Woolworths. Spesso sono disponibili parcheggi di fronte alla struttura, sulla strada.

Beautiful gorgeous apartment. We booked the beachfront view and it was absolutely perfect. Unobstructed view of the ocean + tennis courts. Pool was warm, clean and refreshing. Beautful long walk by the beach to Surfers Paradise. Bus stop a minute away to go anywhere in GC. Service by Luke, the young blonde guy at reception was a 2/5. We were given a room that didn't have a working dishwasher & dryer. Luke didn't even attempt to make any suggestions to help us. We had to return the next day to ask the older lady if we could use another dryer as we had a lot of wet clothes from being at the beach daily and at the pool. Our first day, we loaded the dishwasher and left for town only to come back to a flooded kitchen. We cleaned up without making a fuss. Service needs to be better.

This was not our first stay and in the main it was good. We stayed twice on this trip with a stint on Magnetic Island in between. Service on our departure stay was while not bad was marred by the gentleman who was abrupt and less than enthusiastic about being helpful. We arrived in the morning knowing we couldn’t get in until later and were greeted by a friendly and helpful reception attendant. Who said we would let us know by text as soon as a room was available for us. We took that to mean if we could enter our room before the scheduled check in time we would get a message. We never got a message. In fact we had ran out of ways to entertain ourselves and keep cool with just under an hour to check in time. So we went to the reception to assign the room was ready and were grumpily informed our room wasn’t ready and that is why we had not had a text. We understood this could be the case but the summary dismissal was far from reasonable customer service. No apology given we had patiently waited for over four hours already. We waited in the lobby and watched as others were given rooms. Why we had to wait while others did not was given no explanation and made no senseh to us. When check in time came and went is when I had to contain myself. One thing for us to be shunned for being early but for them to tell our room was not available at the time the business had committed to was very frustrating. It showed they had no system and were unprepared to provide reasonable customer service. We waited patiently and thankfully not for much longer and maintained our positive countenance. Thank goodness the room was,while only on the first floor, the better of rooms we had stayed in and worth the wait had it been managed better. If it weren’t for the grumpy reception we would have rated this trip more highly. Hopefully this business can get its cleaning process and attitude to customers of male staff improved the location value and room would be highly recommended as is a little work to do.

Purtroppo la piscina era in manutenzione e non abbiamo potuto usarla, ma la posizione era da 10/10. Così vicino alla passeggiata e a tutti i servizi che Cairns ha da offrire. La camera era ok, essenziale ma pulita e piacevole da tornare dopo un'intera giornata di esplorazione. Avevamo una camera familiare con accesso alla terrazza, molto bella e perfetta per far giocare i bambini.