Palms City Resort — Hotel in Darwin City

We were looking for a Darwin hotel for a couple of two night stays either side of a three day trip to Kakadu and Nitmiluk National Parks and booked the Palm City Resort after having it confirmed by email conversation with the hotel reservations department that they had the facilities and would look after our two large suitcases whilst we were away on our three day trip as part of our agreement to make the two bookings with the hotel. This is something that we had also arranged in Alice Springs without issue, so were not expecting any problems. |Well, you can understand how happy we were when we arrived at 10.30pm from Alice to be told by the night check in that they do not have the storage facilities to look after suitcases and was not that interested in the fact that I had written confirmation from hotel reservations that they did and had committed to store them for us. There wasn’t a lot of interest in helping us, except from saying “well I can phone my manager, but it will not make a difference, it is something we do not do”, which didn’t inspire me at now near 11.00PM after a long day. Fortunately the young lady on reception the following morning was much more interested in trying to find a solution to our predicament and after a couple of panic phone calls to our tour operator, a workable solution was that we stuffed the two small travel holdalls we should have taken on our trip with a lot of what we didn’t need, to lose weight out the suitcases, and the hotel looked after these holdalls whilst we had to take the suitcases.|So, a workable solution but still not an acceptable one as we had specifically chosen to stay here due to a service commitment given that they then did not honour.|As for the resort itself, let’s at least start with the positives.|Firstly all the staff we encountered, with the exception of Mr Disinterested on the first night, were friendly and helpful, the pool is small but a pleasant area to relax in and pool towels were provided in the room, and the air conditioning in both the rooms we had were very efficient, which is an important consideration when in Darwin. The location is excellent, being on the Esplanade and then a short walk from the back gate gets you into Mitchell Street in no time at all, but you cannot hear the Mitchell Street activities at all.|The gardens are very well kept and staying in one of the Garden Villas could have been very pleasant.|However on the other side of the coin, the garden Villas is a very good concept and a pleasure to stay in when done well, as they are in our favourite hotel in Playa de Mogan in Gran Canaria. Unfortunately, here it’s all a bit too cramped.|The rooms are very modern but very small and the available room space is dominated by and largely taken up by the queen bed, to the extent that it was virtually impossible to get out the window side of the bed without getting entangled in the curtains. The storage was ok if you have a weekend bag, but not so when travelling with two large suitcases, which you have to look at all the time as there was no room to store these. Also, no safe, which was a major negative point for us.|The garden villas are also crowded together affording no privacy, especially the outside balconies where if you want to sit outside when your neighbour is, you get to know each other’s business very quickly.|The Wi-fi was also next to useless for anything except downloading emails.|All in all, this wasn’t the resort stay we had hoped for and almost ruined our trip of a lifetime to the Northern territories. We got through it with the help of the young lady on reception, but I wouldn’t recommend this resort if you are travelling with anything more than...

During my four-night stay at Palms City, I had a bad experience. Although I had low expectations from hotels in Darwin, I was disappointed with the essential services provided by the hotel. My main concerns were as follows: Firstly, the hotel did not inform me about any changes in room conditions or renovation issues upon my arrival. Although I was willing to be flexible and adapt to any conditions, my room was not ready when I arrived due to ongoing renovations. The hotel then offered me a smaller bathroom, which I did not request. We were offered a refund of $220 and a free breakfast during our stay. However, the breakfast closed on Monday morning without any notice. The staff said the chef needed a day off, which is understandable, but we should have been informed about it. As customers, we have the right to choose the hotel, room, and services for ourselves, and the hotel should inform us of any changes and notices. We are requesting that they do so, and we are not alone in this request.

Secondly, the bathroom had poor drainage, and after taking a shower, the water would stay for at least 30 minutes to an hour, making it impossible to take another shower. Additionally, there was a bad smell coming from the toilet, indicating that it was not being cleaned or was overflowing. The hotel should not have taken guests if there were facility issues like this.

The small room size and bathroom issues were frustrating, and I would have preferred more space, which I had booked previously. However, we were not given the chance to choose a room when we arrived.

On the last day of our stay, during breakfast on Tuesday, I noticed that the vanilla slice was "off", which I found mould. I spoke to the chef and requested a replacement. Unfortunately, I had complaints about my experience from the very first day until the last day of my stay in this hotel. As a result, I don't think I'll be returning to this hotel. However, I feel it's important to share my experiences with others and the hotel management. I will share my feedback as much as I can. You can do better than this, so please take...

The positives - good location to access Darwin waterfront, lush and green grounds, nice pool - though wouldn’t want to be there when the hotel was full as it is very small and it wasn’t usable 1 day of our stay due to construction of what looks like a bar. The Irish girl on reception was very good, welcoming and helpful, not sure I can say the same of the other team members. There is a laundry as long as you have change which we didn’t - who carries cash nowadays. Would rather pay $1 a night more and not faff with paid machines! Negatives - saying the rooms have outdoor space is stretching it, there is a table and 2 chairs the opposite side of the walkway, so anyone can access. People using them were mainly smoking and so not nice for children and non smokers. There is no safe in the room and the lock on the door is similar to a toilet door so didn’t feel at all secure, not even a fixed bar to put on at night. I ended up taking passports and valuables everywhere with me. 2 towels, 2 waters, 2 mints, 2 cups. Why not 3 when that’s been booked and paid for and the beds made up for 3? Reception gave us extra towels, but next day housekeeping only left 2 again! They also didn’t replenish the only 2 waters which I get annoyed about in hotels, I didn’t pay a lesser room rate for night 2 so why do I get lesser amenities? The room is tiny for 3. You cannot have 3 people and 3 cases in the room without it being like a bombs hit it. We stayed, went on a 2 night tour and then stayed again and they refused to keep 2 of our bags for us - unlike other city hotels who are happy to keep them during the short tours so our guide told us. This meant running around Darwin in multiple taxi’s to find an alternative solution in an hour because places close early at weekends - unbelievably! Be mindful that most businesses don’t seem to have the hours we are used to in...