Hope Estate — Attraction in Pokolbin

Hope(less) Estate gets 1 star because I can't give them any less. This is why:

It is with deep regret and sadness that I am writing this review but I have tried to liaise directly with Hope Estate and have recieved a mere one line response from their Social Media guy Matthew simply stating "you will not be compensated"#$%?!

Firstly the Elton John concert was exceptional and we were very happy with the price we paid for the concert ticket $339.00 according to the ticket stub. We have no complaints what-so-ever where Elton was concerned he is sensational our disappointment and serious questions raised are around the price we paid for our supposed VIP package and what we actually received for our $899.00 once in a lifetime experience.

Anybody who has eaten in a restaurant will understand what to expect when spending this amount of money on a ticket and Hope nowhere near hit the mark on what should have been a massive $560.00 per person meal.

The antipasto was below average, everything came out of a packet and there wasn’t a slither of cheese insight. The lobster was overcooked, rubbery and only 6 halves for a table of 10. The lamb was fatty and cold sitting atop a measly teaspoon of couscous. One option only for desert was inexcusable. I won’t even start on the duck pancakes, tartlets and rice paper rolls but I can assure you that my two 10 year old’s can produce far tastier examples of all three of these. This was supposed to be a VIP experience but felt no better than a churn and burn club buffet. If we had paid $75.00 per head for this meal I would not be writing this review but we paid “$560.00” per head. The Moet should have been freely flowing and the food should have been memorable, superior and delicious. Instead no-one at our table could even bring themselves to drink a glass of the champagne they tried to serve and we were not offered any alternative. The food and beverages were inexcusable for the money.

I started to investigate how on earth could we have paid such a huge amount of money for this meal? I began to question other people sitting with us as to the amount they had paid and what they were getting for their money. The people to my right paid a total of $2000.00 direct to Hope Estate for the two of them and they had an identical concert package to us only theirs had a whopping 3 nights accommodation at the Crowne Plaza included!! Hard to hear and even harder to believe right? They showed me their receipts and tickets, I was mortified. WTF!! Even there concert tickets were $339.00 each. Everything besides the accommodation was the same as ours.

Where are my 3 nights at Crowne Plaza please Hope Estate?

I then proceeded to ask more and more patrons what they had paid and what their experience had been like only to discover people had paid anything from as little as $399.00 up to a maximum of $599.00. They all had the same meal, same tickets and same experience as us, it was becoming blatantly obvious that we had been ripped off or a gross error had been made, I really hoped it was the latter as we love Hope Estate. However, I could not find anyone else that had paid the $899.00 per head besides us. Believe me I asked numerous people even when standing and chatting in the toilet queue.

We didn’t want to let this ruin our evening and decided to give Hope the benefit of doubt and thought maybe the price was all in the after party let’s wait and see……I can't explain this situation in full but will in brief simply say “What a disgrace” we were not even allowed entry due to one of the owners stopping people from entering and were left standing like idiots for over 30mins. Really, this is the VIP treatment we had paid for? We did not even step foot inside the after party but our friends that did left because it was not worth the effort!!!

After speaking with at least 8 people at the event and personally witnessing their tickets on the night there is no explanation that Hope Estate could come up with that could justify the amount we paid. I would never recommend their VIP...

We booked Signature Dinner Packages 5 months ahead at $389 each: Platinum concert tickets, VIP parking, 4 course meal and 3 hr drinks pkg.

With "Platinum" as the marketing description our seats turned out to be B-reserve. Does Platinum = B-res in your books? A-Res seats were being sold for $150 in the week leading to the concert

Advised arrival was 3.00pm. We arrived at 2.30pm and the VIP parking was full. At the foot entry at that point there were just 4 other people in the VIP queue. Who was parked in the VIP parks?

They let us into the grounds at the same time as General Admission but the Attendant at the next checkpoint apologised that he couldn't let us into the VIP area as he hadn't been given a names list yet or wrist bands. We waited and watched GA attendees grabbing wine and food and setting up for their enjoyable afternoon. Ironic that the GA attendees were settling in, while the premium price customers were standing in a growing queue (50 or so metres deep). Eventually we are updated that they are not ready for us and we won't be let in for “some time".

2hrs after pulling into the carpark they are letting us in, but then it all stops. We are told that those who are attending the Signature Dinner have to move to another door .... 60 or 70 very unhappy people walk around the growingly crowded grounds to the new entry ... to be told by some very cranky staff that there is no way we are going in that door.... Eventually we are instructed to go back to where we started. On returning the poor Attendant confessed he had no idea what to do with us ... waited a bit and then made a decision to let us up .... As we walked through the door.. very late.. there were empty trays of champagne flutes, no table numbers and a mass of people descending from multiple doors .... it must have taken another 1/2 hour or more to sort through wrist-bands, tables etc ..... the champagne flutes never did get filled and poor staff were trying to play catch up all night.

Food just didn't come and with no idea how food or drinks were supposed to work, people piled to the bar. Apparently a VIP Package doesn't = drinks being brought to the table .... despite the trays of champagne flutes suggesting it had been in the plan to greet all with a cup of bubbles. Eventually another stressed staff member appears with a small tray of a bite of salmon on a biscuit. We all got 1, some even dared to take 2. Those in the bar queue missed out .. 15 minutes later a tray of oysters natural. I snared 3 of those given 2 people on our table didn't eat seafood. 10 minutes or so further in 1 bread roll (the little white ones you buy at Coles and throw in the oven .. $2 a pack of 8) . Finally some nice cold seafood arrives and we enjoy prawns, crab and bugs. - but nowhere to put the shell and no bowls of water, lemon etc ... the bowls, lemon and water are brought to the table about 5 minutes after the seafood has been finished and everyone has stashed cracked shell anywhere they could find and wiped hands on table cloths etc. The couple on the table that don't eat seafood asked if they could get more bread ... "sorry we have run out" .....

Right about now we can hear Birds of Tokyo start their set ........ we haven't even been served our main ..... eventually, the beef was great ... but accompanied by the tiniest single potato (smaller than a squashed ping pong ball), a couple of tough pieces of fungi and sauce to provide moisture for the first 3 bites .... and then a poor young staff member walked around the tables to apologise that everything had started late, but "they hoped we were having a great night" ...to compensate for the late start they were going to extend the drinks package for 1/2 hour .. the bands are already playing .. how can we stay inside for longer??

We abandoned the yet to be served dessert and headed out to catch the Oils deliver an almightily amazing performance.

NEVER buy a VIP package at...

Absolute zero stars for this venue. I attended the Bocelli concert on Saturday 29th October at the Hope Estate - the performance itself was fabulous. That’s where my positive comments end.

From the start, this venue was making things extremely difficult for attendees. They initially didn’t allow us to bring in chairs, they charged my 4 month old son a FULL PRICED TICKET and yet wouldn’t let me bring in a pram for him and they wouldn’t let us bring in any food and drinks.

I emailed them to ask if I could bring a pram for him to sleep in and received a rude response from their administration assistant ‘Emma Sullivan’ commenting that “I wouldn’t really say that a concert is a suitable environment for babies or anyone under 10. There will be loud music and the venue gets dark after the sun goes down.” Thanks… I wasn’t aware it gets dark at night and that concerts are loud - I had noise cancelling headphones for bub obviously and he was fast asleep before the concert begun. The event was also advertised for all ages. Not sure why they would happily sell me a ticket for my son, but expect me not to bring him and make it difficult at the same time. As long as they can make money I guess.

When we arrived at the concert, I was infuriated to see people with prams in the venue. I had followed the rules and not brought my son’s pram which made things exceptionally difficult for me and I had to keep him in the carrier all night whilst standing. I’m sure they will blame the security team for this but it’s absolutely ridiculous that people could bring in chairs but not a pram. Again, either make it an adults only event or make it child friendly. I would not have attended if children weren’t allowed.

As I said, the organisation was HORRIBLE. They had confiscated countless food items and not allowed us to bring in food but had not catered or provided enough food options for the sheer amount of people. The lines were so long that most people in line missed half the concert. I got in the line an hour before the concert began, yet still missed most of the first half!! Also, when I was near the food truck after waiting 1.5 hours in line, I overheard someone say that the eftpos machine was not working and that it was cash only. This was despite the venue being advertised as a cashless event. I understand that there are network issues at times, however, this could have been resolved if they had allowed people to bring in their own food and recommended people bring cash as backup. They didn’t even let my sister in law bring in snacks for her 1 year old for goodness sake.

The worst thing is that despite so many negative reviews - the Hope Estate does absolutely nothing to resolve these issues that occur time and time again. I am not a local but I spoke to countless locals who said this is what ANY event at the Hope Estate is like and they don’t care enough to change.

I will be sure to NEVER attend an event here again and spread the word to family...