Canberra Accommodation Centre — Hotel in District of Canberra Central

Well.... I was just going to post my one-star review with no comment, and leave it at that. However, I note that the owner has responded to their overwhelmingly well-deserved low rating with an astoundingly obnoxious and facetious litany of nonsense.

So I am editing here in direct response to their comment.

"Throwing a key"? Why would I - let alone anyone - do this? This simply never occurred, and it is incredible that you would fabricate such a thing.

"Serenading" by housekeeping? I think not. In your requests section on your online booking form, I always requested a late checkout in advance. This was accommodated with no problem for more than a year. All seemed to be fine, up until a change of staff recently. That said, housekeeping would often knock at any hours they chose... even well before ordinary checkout time, let alone any late checkout time. This was a disrespectful and disorganised approach, which yes, did disrupt my sleep. How utterly contemptuous of you to ridicule customers for wishing to sleep soundly and peacefully, as if this were some kind of impost on you, rather than exactly what they paid you for.

That said, aside from two completely innocuous requests to access the communal laundry room, I never once even had a face to face interaction with any of your housekeeping staff. So, to what "volume" did you take issue? The volume it took to respond to abrasive knocking on my door while I was changing, by calling out the simple words "I have a late checkout"? Should I have whispered and risked them barging in on me naked? Ironically, the one who has a justified objection to intrusive "volume" is myself, not you.

"Great Checkout Escapade"? Again, an outrageous characterisation. As mentioned, I always requested a late checkout in advance, and there was no issue with this for more than a year. ONE time, there appeared to be a misunderstanding when a new receptionist arrived and stated there was no late checkout. This is after I had (as always) requested one in advance. It was 11pm or later by the time I arrived, exhausted from a long day, only to be informed at that point that the arrangement which had been standing for more than a year, suddenly was reneged. Considering this was a completely new staff member, I honestly thought he was simply unaware of the longstanding arrangement. I would not have even booked to stay with you had I known this was going to be a real issue. In any case, I left at my usual time. After this, I noted that any checkout times were physically written on my room key card. It was therefore apparent that checkout times were tightening, and from that point I always honoured the written time.

To call this an "Escapade" is not only slanderous, but indicative that you have never actually been on an escapade. I was a quiet, tidy, regular customer. Contrastingly, I note many of your customers enjoy yelling drunkenly in the hallways at 1am. Yet the situation described above is the case you consider "dramatic"? Absolutely astounding, and truly indicative of your contempt for customer care.

In sum, I am happy to say that I have upgraded to Ovolo Nishi during my stays in Canberra. They were wonderful this week. Staff were a dream, and happily, late checkout is a non-issue for them. Their premises is not only stylish but also spotless - unlike Canberra Accommodation Centre, whose bathroom vents feature thick layers of ingrained dust which have accumulated from months if not years of lack of cleaning... don't even get me started on the severely damaged sink in my last room... which looked like someone had vomited acid into it.

I had overlooked all the red flags at your establishment for two reasons - the low cost, and also the fact that back in my uni days, I had been a resident of the same place... since Canberra Accommodation Centre used to be Fenner Hall, a residential college of ANU. There was a certain sense of nostalgia I attached to the place. Well, no longer. You've truly desecrated what was once a hub of positive connections and good energy. What an...

Worst experience ever, the staff are totally unprofessional. It's funny that most of the 5-star reviewers are in fact the staff! (Cody for example). All they care about is money and they will do everything they can to avoid refunding your security deposit. Literally (everything they can). If you are a long-term resident, do not expect any cooperation or respectful treatment from them, They will always make you feel that you are at the bottom of their priorities.. They will treat you rudely and unappreciatively. In long-stay floors, bathrooms are always dirty and inhuman. The kitchen closes in your face since half past nine in the night, and beware that one of the employees finds you at that moment or expect foolish looks and hurtful words. They will always make you feel that you are taking much more than you pay for services. When you wash your clothes (which will cost you eight dollars) you will find a paper reminding you that they may increase the price at any moment. another paper reminds you that you will pay a fine as a penalty for forgetting your key inside your room of course, after one of the employees is humble enough to accept to brings you the master key after you have waited for a long time. As for the kitchen, you will find many warnings not to leave the utensils dirty, otherwise the number of hours of entry into it will be reduced, while they do not provide any soap in the first place to wash them. In addition to all of that, any employee may give you information that is different from the other and it is clear that they have shortcomings in respectful dealing with customers and in understanding the laws of the place. When you ask the same question to any of them, expect several opinions, and each one insists that his opinion is the right one and that he knows the rules of the place. I really regret every moment I spent there and every time I was patient with this humiliating treatment.. Although at first I encouraged many of my friends to live there, but all of them decided to leave after experiencing the lack of professionalism, mismanagement and lack of care.. It is striking that none of them was able to get his deposit back because they are so skilled at making excuses so that this doesn't happen. Not to forget the obscene phrases which you could hear when you insist to get your rights and be treated politely. My last advice, do NOT ever book here and do not be fooled or misguided by those fake comments...

Stayed here for a year for uni. Location wise. Good. You have access to the tram and the city centre is 2 stops away. If you’re a light sleeper, people rent the venue room on the ground floor commonly. Your weekend nights will be filled with people yelling, cars honking and loud music.

The bathrooms are meh. Covered in layers of peeling paint, dust clogged vents I don’t know if works (less than 30 cm from your head) and rusted bolts. You will have to step up into the showering and I’m a shorter person and I can easily touch the roof, not for my taller peeps. You’ll be showering in the dark if you draw the curtain for the showers, or risking falling over on the wet tiles after if you prefer the light when leaving.

The ground floor share kitchens. Hit or miss if you’ll find a working stove or oven. Half the power points don’t work. If the fridge breaks they’ll leave your food in there for you to move even if you’re at work or uni. They will not move it to the spare fridges or replace anything that spoils from this

The washing machines will make your clothes dirtier rather than cleaner- will come out covered in lint and hair that isn’t yours. The dryer you’ll have to pay for twice for dry clothes They tried to tell me to call the third party that puts the machine in the building to have them look at it, when the building is the one who has the contract with them?

Staff are lovely and friendly Don’t seem able to do much and I’ll guess that’s just what whoever owns the building has them do. Ie- I live on floor 6, women’s floor, Nicholas is my pen name. They say the fire exit is locked. There has been three times people who don’t live here manage to get up here drunk or whatever. I even tested it with another resident, it just needs a couple of tugs if it doesn’t open the first time, so not secure

When I signed the paper work in the beginning of the year I put the date I was moving out. When I went to move out I reminded them the week before. They said they will still charge the extra week because I didn’t give two weeks notice

My rating is mostly again- the location is good and convenient for me. Moving because they are upping the...