Oaks Cairns Hotel — Hotel in Cairns City

Our previous stays (4 in the past 12 months) have been excellent, until now...

We still love this venue, its location, and most of the staff. All except for the most senior and, should be, most professional staff member - the General Manager.

Upon check-in he insulted and tried to embarrass us in front of a room full of guests (8 pax) checking-in.

We have not required a Credit Card (which we do not have, and a growing percentage of the population are also choosing not to) when checking-in on previous occasions, but always been able to work something out.

I have been living and traveling constantly abroad for the past 20 years and have stayed in 100's of hotels and rented vehicles on every continent (except Antarctica) all without needing a Credit Card.

After his attempt to assert himself, and my wife shrinking away in embarrassment, I decided to make an official complaint and offer him an opportunity to accept responsibility for his unprofessional actions and make amends.

Instead, he replied to my email with an insincere attempt at an apology, using all the correct phrases, but never once taking ownership of his behaviour. He went on to further insult me and try again to defend his actions by claiming I was at fault.

To clarify my position a little, my wife and I have a combined 40 years of experience serving and catering for the highest expectation employers and guests. So our complaint and analysis of the transaction with the Manager is not without authority or expertise.

We checked out of Oaks and booked in for a further 4 nights at another hotel and not having a Credit Card was not an issue. As it is not just about anywhere.

In summary, we would like to stay at Oaks again, but not while this unprofessional and rude person has anything to do...

Hotel location was great. Rooftop dining service was also awesome. However hotel service was below average. The room housekeeping cleanliness was not good, the beds were badly made up with the bed sheets sticking out and messy. Bathroom were not cleaned properly. When I took pictures and feedback to the reception, a male manager commented that he didn’t see anything wrong and said it’s normal and he suggested I write in to complain if I want to. He also rudely told me off that I should tidy the bathroom myself and not left things lying around. He said its disrespectful of me to leave things lying around for the housekeeping to tidy. Honestly I felt really offended and upset. As a hotel guest at Oaks, I didn’t realise for the first time a hotel manager is actually telling me off to go tidy my own room ! When we got the hotel to pre book a taxi for us to the airport way in advance, the taxi never came after waiting for half an hour, the same manager did not seems to think there is any urgency to try to get us another taxi. He simply tell us that the booking is in the system and there is nothing much he can do. Luckily we manage to get one on the street. Don’t think I want to come back to this...

There is no "FREE PARKING" there is street parking and paid public parking, only after the reservation was made an email was sent with a list of off site parking options. There is only one elevator, I was there on a week night and there was always people waiting to use it even housekeeping was using it. Rooms were decent because they are brand new, I was on level 2 with "views" obstructed by the trees across the road (ocean views prices with no views) roof top bar has a great view. Continental breakfast is just SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR who wants a choc chip muffin for breakfast. Instead of throwing a heap of cheap pastries at it, a bowl of fruit, some granola, coffee or juice and a ham cheese croissant would be plenty.

The kitchen produces quality food and open to the public so a good option if you're looking for a dinner location with a view.

Table self serve "NFC" doesn't work and the online menus doesn't have everything on it. (The service is only days old apparently so that justifies rushing and implementing an incomplete system)

Overall it's was an expensive...