Eos by SkyCity — Hotel in Adelaide

I am writing this review 4 months after we had two functions at the Eos Ballroom. The first in early August was a Charity Gala Dinner of a professional organization towards fund raising for cancer in kids in a developing country.|I was closely associated with the organizing of this event as the immediate past president .For this event we had 320 paying guests. The second was the wedding reception of our son for 250 guests in late September 2024.||While the EOS by SkyCity is likely the newest 5 star venue in a hotel in Adelaide that is able to host a significant number of guests, up to 350 ( The Sofitel Adelaide ballroom maximum capacity being 150), the ballroom has an elongated shape with some imposing columns which make it less easy to set up allowing good views of the Bridal table, especially if set up in front of large floor-to-ceiling windows.||The Venue lends itself well to events such as Gala Dinners, with access to up to 3 large drop-down screens.|The colour palate is gray and black with good lighting. The additional costs for lighting, Chandeliers, drapes, sound and AV by the in-house independent providers, has premium pricing attached. Seeking external quotes is always useful in negotiations.||This all sounds reasonable. But the reason I have decided to write a review is because the marketing of the venue and the promised quality of the product does not quite match the reality. This was the case for both, very different functions.||I will start by congratulating the Ballroom teams that manage the event on the day. For both events we had Raj and Gene leading an amazingly efficient and service driven group of Waiting and Bar staff. They were on the ball in terms of delivering a good product on the evening.||While the venue promises a very wide and varied menu selection to suite many palates and dietary needs, the delivery is sub-par. In the context of the Gala Charity dinner, we signed a contract that was meant to be South Asian island cuisine, but fell well short of expectations : The marketing team ensured that they had in-house expertise but I understand the person they brought in from an associated outlet was not a chef and the quality of the buffet-to-table truly reflected this. To add insult to injury, when certain tables asked for more rice the waiting staff declined due to instruction from " management". As many would agree, many restaurants would provide unlimited rice or bread at the table so it was insulting when the event management team quoted " no contractual obligation to do so ". It was just Rice : $2.50 a kilo at any Asian Grocery !||The Wedding reception encountered different problems. The pre- event tasting was exceptional. The dinner servings on the day of the reception, especially one that many of our guests selected ( the Barramundi ) was bland and lacking in character. The Entree and desserts were excellent. The Drinks service which we decided to manage on a tab with premium spirits, wine and cocktails, was excellent. It is worth noting that the corkage for spirits is very reasonable but not for wine.||The responsibility for these issues sits squarely with the marketing and event managers. Their communication must improve and a dash of goodwill extended to the client would go a long way, instead of defensive language and resorting to quoting the fine print of the contract. It certainly leaves a ting of bitterness in what is meant to be a happy and joyful occasion.||The venue of the Grand Ball room has some shortcomings in that the bridal party are assigned a boardroom for their use but the only toilet facilities are adjacent to the Ballroom entry. This means that the bridal party has no privacy in accessing toilets if guests are arriving. It would make good sense that the Wedding Reception package included one or two guest rooms of the hotel rather than a boardroom.||Parking is discounted in the Adelaide Festival centre Car park with ticket validation at the bar next to the ballroom. This is undercover but if there was in-climate weather then one would still be exposed.||The post event communication was cordial and fruitful with acknowledgement of some of these shortcomings. It is hoped that this review is taken with the spirit in which it was written so as to help prospective clients be informed and the venue attempts to address...

My wife and I visited from W.A, stayed overnight last Saturday on the "The Play Experience" package.

The basics of a 5 start accommodation itself is there. However, there are the finer points, which seem lacking relative to other hotels I have stayed in.

There are a couple of issues which is perhaps due to the hotel being new. Confusing entry points - we are not familiar with the area and find it difficult to navigate even getting to reception as its actually in the basement. Some areas off level 1 are also still boarded up. We had to walk all over to find entry point to get to the carpark. Parking - very confusing parking charges, this is outside of the hotel's control but the parking facility has night parking which is 5pm to 5am, early bird 6am-6pm and a whole bunch others. Concierge on the other hand cost $50. This is a very confusing arrangement as I parked my car in between night parking and early bird so I expect the cost to be both of these + the 1 hour difference between 5am to 6am. Instead I ended up getting charged at 2 days full rate I think. Missing light switch - The light in the spare blanket cupboard can't be switched off, its probably supposed to be automatic but maybe some faulty mechanism. wooden card - the card sometimes does not read on lift and into rooms. Missing toiletries - In equivalent 5 star hotels I'd expect disposable toothbrushes and shaving kit (men). Complimentary? - The complimentary snack is a nice touch. However, it is quite confusing to try and figure out what is complimentary and not. when we signed in the receptionist said, everything except for drinks is complimentary. However, there is then the complimentary tea, coffee, bottled water, milk. The lotions and bath salts are not-complimentary. Eventually we figure out that the price list noted which ones are complimentary.

"The Play Experience Package" is an accommodation package + 4 x $25 promotional chips. We stayed with this package and what we find extremely strange about the package are as follow: The "promotional chip" can't be cashed out. When you win a bet, the casino replace the "promotional chip" to a normal chip of same value. eg. if you bet on roulette black and white and you won on the $25 promotional chip, all the Casino did was to replace the promotional chip with the same $25 (nothing paid out on the fact that we won the round). If we were to stay under a normal hotel weekday stay and bought ourselves $100 chips, we would have spent the same amount as "The Play Experience Package" but with the advantage of being able to use the $100 freely and would win cash if we won a bet. This package is extremely strange as we pay more money to be disadvantaged. The reception advised when we checked in (around 4:30pm) to contact them regarding restaurant reservations. By the time we settled down and ready to dine around 7pm. We asked the Casino Bouncer on direction towards "Madam Hanoi" (no signage) and he pointed us to the restaurant. We walked all the way across the casino to find its closed. We then walked around the building and noticed all of the restaurants that we could supposedly book are also closed. The receptionist told us breakfast will be served up to 10:30am. Took us a while to find the restaurant - again more signage would be handy. We were seated and the menu said that guest staying can choose from one main and 2 sides, which we did. Understand that its COVID times and so there is no buffet offered. When we checked out, the receptionist said we had to pay for breakfast. Now we are baffled here, as we thought that the "Play experience" package must have some advantage to it, seeing that the gaming side is not it. There isn't even a free breakfast and so really we paid extra $100 not sure on what benefit. I'd have guessed that guess are given priority on Spa packages. When we were there everything was fully booked out. overall accommodation itself is comfortable but...

My partner and I where absolutely thrilled with our stay! We stayed here for our two year anniversary.

When I pulled up my car door was opened for me (being someone who doesn’t like being treated better than someone else this felt very strange as I felt bad for the employees 😂) they helped me with my luggage and parked my car for me.

I was not notified at all about the $200 deposit being required for the booking as I booked through booking.com The email I received also didn’t state anything about a room deposit but they where kind enough to accept my $200 cash deposit which I am very grateful for as I had not much to spare due to my dogs impromptu vet visit that morning and my mother in laws funeral the next day…because I paid cash it was meant to be a $500 deposit but because I was not notified they where happy to accept everything I had which was $200 and I also offered to leave my credit card with them overnight.

I would also like to note that their website and booking.com and the messages I received from the hotel all state that the valet parking would be $50 but I was charged over $55 for it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I went up to the room and after about 30 seconds of entering the room there was a knock on my door and my luggage was brought in for me which again felt very strange for me. I investigated the room and found complimentary Macaroons with a lovely hand written note congratulating myself and my partner on our two years.

I had an amazing shower (2hr long concert is the real reality of it 😂) I cannot put into words how fantastic it was!

We went to the pool/spa quite late (around 7:30) and thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of the spa paired with the tranquility of the night and spending it alone out there together.

We then returned to our room for a bath and settled in with some Uber eats and cuddles in front of the tv for the night.

In the morning I called the concierge who came up and collected our luggage and pulled the car around the front for me just in time for us to get to the funeral (our own fault that we where close to being late, we where enjoying how comfy and big the bed was…felt like we where laying on clouds!

I will add that I would definitely make sure the pillows are comfortable for yourself before you go ti sleep, I ended up sleeping on my arm the whole night because the pillow was quite tall and firm (you can ask for different pillows through the tablet), I didn’t want ti bother them because by the time I laid my head down it was 11:30 at night and I don’t like making a fuss.

I Absolutely cannot put into words how amazing it truly was and I would LOVE to come back again soon! I highly highly HIGHLY recommend staying here! Plus the room is self is mostly sound proof (apart from the entry door, we could hear some drunk ladies walking ti their rooms at around 2:30 in the morning.

This hotel really offers exceptional service and I can honestly say without a doubt we will 100% be returning ☺️

The staff where super friendly and absolutely fantastic! Nothing was too much for them and they left myself and my partner feeling very happy with our stay, you can truely tell they love their customers which is something that unfortunately is not the case for most...