Mantarays Ningaloo Beach Resort, Exmouth — Hotel in Exmouth

We stayed in an ocean view superior room and it was great - lovely big room with both a bath and shower in the bathroom and delightful view over the pool and beach from the balcony. Extremely comfy bed and pillows! Being the only resort ON the beach, the sunrises are magical and evening cocktails are not to be missed. Dinner in the restaurant was superb. The only issue we had with Mantaray's is the service and the ridiculous rules around hours of F&B service. We get it that it's a remote, regional, seasonal location, and good staff can be hard to get, but its obvious that training is sorely lacking. Firstly, the weird F&B rules: Breakfast is from 6.30am to 10am. Lunch and Bar is 12pm - 3pm. Bar opens again at 5.30pm, dinner from 6.30pm. So, if like us, you arrive in Exmouth from Perth mid-morning, you cannot get anything to eat while waiting for your room check in at 2pm. No bar snacks, no beer, wine or cocktails (all we wanted was a bloody mary!) to have by the beautiful pool while waiting. This is contrary to the literature in the rooms that advises bar snacks are available THROUGHOUT the day. (Heads Up Mantaray's: You cannot call yourself a RESORT when your guests have to fit in with your service rules. We get most folks are put on tours during the day, but that doesnt mean those who are NOT should not have service.) We ended up taking the hotel shuttle into town for the day (try Froths for nachos and craft beer), but would rather have lounged by the pool in true resort style after a 5am flight from Perth. Upon check in, we were told the only breakfast option was the buffet breakfast at $38.00 - no a la carte breakfast. But, we could pre-book and pay $34.00. So, back into town to IGA to buy breakfast items for our room (beautiful croissants from Ningaloo Bakery and the 2 IGAs in town are well stocked). Then, the next morning, we were told by the A.M. restaurant staff that there is a $24 continental breakfast option. Excellent! However when we tried to book that with the P.M. restaurant staff that evening for the next day, they had no idea what we were talking about and had no idea about the pre-book full buffet option of $34. Sigh. Asked to speak to the restaurant manager (Juan) who was also unaware, but found the continental breakfast option in the system. Oh happy days! However, he neither apologised nor admitted the confusion over this. Just said "thanks guys". So, we understand that the property is under new ownership (as of March) but frankly it shows. Rooms are not cheap but worth the price for the location, but the front desk, restaurant and F&B Manager really need to get on the same page. And if you're gonna call yourselves a RESORT, treat your guests with respect. Let 'em have a coffee, a cocktail and a snack ALL DAY not just when it suits your staffing levels to control cost. (Put in a vending machine if you absolutely cant have a staff member on bar & coffee through the day!!). Also, Mantaray's is a 50 min walk into town so without a car it's difficult to dine in town in the evening (hotel shuttle finishes at 3.30pm), but Whaler's at Exmouth Escape is a 15 min walk and Whalebone (great atmosphere & pizzas, craft beer, gin distillery) is a 25 min walk - both very good. Neither were recommended by the reception, we found Froth on our own and Whalebone was recommended by a tour guide. Anyway, we 'might' stay at Mantaray's again, but would come prepared with 1) a car and 2) our own F&B to have in the room and/or poolside AT OUR LEISURE. Our experience is the difference between a hotel managed by a hotel management company (used to be Novotel) and the new ownership (apparently not local, not a hotel...

We stayed in an ocean view superior room and it was great - lovely big room with both a bath and shower in the bathroom and delightful view over the pool and beach from the balcony. Extremely comfy bed and pillows! Being the only resort ON the beach, the sunrises are magical and evening cocktails are not to be missed. Dinner in the restaurant was superb. The only issue we had with Mantaray's is the service and the ridiculous rules around hours of F&B service. We get it that it's a remote, regional, seasonal location, and good staff can be hard to get, but its obvious that training is sorely lacking. Firstly, the weird F&B rules: Breakfast is from 6.30am to 10am. Lunch and Bar is 12pm - 3pm. Bar opens again at 5.30pm, dinner from 6.30pm. So, if like us, you arrive in Exmouth from Perth mid-morning, you cannot get anything to eat while waiting for your room check in at 2pm. No bar snacks, no beer, wine or cocktails (all we wanted was a bloody mary!) to have by the beautiful pool while waiting. This is contrary to the literature in the rooms that advises bar snacks are available THROUGHOUT the day. (Heads Up Mantaray's: You cannot call yourself a RESORT when your guests have to fit in with your service rules. We get most folks are put on tours during the day, but that doesnt mean those who are NOT should not have service.) We ended up taking the hotel shuttle into town for the day (try Froths for nachos and craft beer), but would rather have lounged by the pool in true resort style after a 5am flight from Perth. Upon check in, we were told the only breakfast option was the buffet breakfast at $38.00 - no a la carte breakfast. But, we could pre-book and pay $34.00. So, back into town to IGA to buy breakfast items for our room (beautiful croissants from Ningaloo Bakery and the 2 IGAs in town are well stocked). Then, the next morning, we were told by the A.M. restaurant staff that there is a $24 continental breakfast option. Excellent! However when we tried to book that with the P.M. restaurant staff that evening for the next day, they had no idea what we were talking about and had no idea about the pre-book full buffet option of $34. Sigh. Asked to speak to the restaurant manager (Juan) who was also unaware, but found the continental breakfast option in the system. Oh happy days! However, he neither apologised nor admitted the confusion over this. Just said "thanks guys". So, we understand that the property is under new ownership (as of March) but frankly it shows. Rooms are not cheap but worth the price for the location, but the front desk, restaurant and F&B Manager really need to get on the same page. And if you're gonna call yourselves a RESORT, treat your guests with respect. Let 'em have a coffee, a cocktail and a snack ALL DAY not just when it suits your staffing levels to control cost. (Put in a vending machine if you absolutely cant have a staff member on bar & coffee through the day!!). Also, Mantaray's is a 50 min walk into town so without a car it's difficult to dine in town in the evening (hotel shuttle finishes at 3.30pm), but Whaler's at Exmouth Escape is a 15 min walk and Whalebone (great atmosphere & pizzas, craft beer, gin distillery) is a 25 min walk - both very good. Neither were recommended by the reception, we found Froth on our own and Whalebone was recommended by a tour guide. Anyway, we 'might' stay at Mantaray's again, but would come prepared with 1) a car and 2) our own F&B to have in the room and/or poolside AT OUR LEISURE. Our experience is the difference between a hotel managed by a hotel management company (used to be Novotel) and the new ownership (apparently not local, not a hotel...

Firstly, the scallops entree and duck main was great however the special, salmon and lamb was lacking.

The main issue we had was with the male bar staff who signal handedly ruined the whole experience and night for our group. We spent over $800.00 at this resturant and only sent a drink back, as a paying customer we thought that the drink didn't taste like the description on the menu.

Due to the time frame for someone to visit our table we had already finished our mains and was ready to leave and requested the drink to be removed off the bill. The staff member took the drink back and not long after the "Head Bartender" who made the drink recipe came to our table to basically advise that our taste buds are wrong and he was right by disregarding our comments and over talking.

The "Head Bartender" was discussing the issues with the females of the group were we found he was very condescending, disrespectful and came off a bit arrogant and misogynist. which was only confirmed by the way he treated and spoke to the female wait staff. We Honestly felt sorry for your female staff members and this should be reviewed with HR.

We all realised this was too much of an effort for a drink and requested for a replacement as this was really the only option he gave. From memory was $20.00 or more.

Another male bartender came to our table with the replacement drink and to our surprise gave us attitude and then found out he was the original bar tender who poured the drink and clearly had an issue with the return.

There was a sly mention from the male bartender about "if you let the drink sit there with ice for 30min then it will taste Watertown/different" which I spoke up and said this was not the dispute we had and of course, we understand how ice works however, it took your staff awhile to retrieve the drink and taste it. Again the male bar staff was condesending and arrogant which seems like a common trend at this restaurant.

In short, the male bar staff where very unpleasant to deal with however, the female wait staff were a delight and we tipped both of them for having to deal with the male bar...