Princess Palm on the Beach — Hotel in Gold Coast City

Firstly location and views are absolutely incredible we were so lucky and we did see lots of whales passing by. The pool area, tennis court and courtyards gardens and areas were immaculate.

We stayed in room 10C. 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. We had booked for 3 kids and 2 adults so we wanted an apartment to fit as all in a bed each ( 1 double and 3 singles ). We made this clear when we booked and confirmed multiple times.

The apartment was very dated and dirty. We opened the fridge to find an half drunk frozen boost juice! Yuck. So immediately we knew that a thorough clean had not been done. Lots of marks on the walls and dust on the shelvings. Windows were filthy. Hand prints on them and water marks. Outdoor furniture was all rusty. We ran out of toilet paper on day two as we started with half rolls in each bathroom. And there was no refills available.

There is a dishwasher but no tablets and absolutely no cleaning products at all.

The broom in the cupboard was broken.

We were told an extra single bed could be added for an additional $30 per night. So we agreed and paid that. Which was an extra $210 for our weekly stay. On top of the nightly rate. When we got there there was an old rusty fold out bed in the kitchen ( not made, no sheets or anything still folded ). Okay. We began to try and figure out where we could fit the bed. It didn’t fit in the master room and it didn’t fit in the kids room. And the size of the lounge / kitchen we couldn’t fit that either. Otherwise it would be blocking walkways. So my daughter ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor in between her two brothers beds. I just felt like they knew the size of the room, they knew the size and ages of the family who were going to be staying in that room and they knew that bed was too big for the space. Even though I told them this we were still made to pay for the mattress on the floor. UNBELIEVABLE!!

Another odd thing and unhygienic. Is the the master bed did not have a fitted sheet on it just a flat sheet. So eveytime you rolled or moved you would end up tangled but also on the mattress topper. Yuck!

The doona was very thin and also looked old and faded.

Again. The staff were very aware that we had young kids (as you provide their ages on the booking forms ). The apartment we were placed in had a broken fly screen door to the balcony, fully can off the rails everytime you tried to slide it open and it had holes all through the wiring. The locks on both the fly screen door and the glass door were extremely hard to open and lock because they were all rusted.

Also. Because the building is dated. The big glass doors to the balconies are very light and easy for kids to slide open. They are not the big thick, heavy doors in the new apartments that are a lot safer. Just FYI for any parents that worry about things like that.

I was annoyed that they would place us there with 3 small kids and broken balcony doors.

We won’t stay here again. We travel multiple times to the GC every years but this apartment and honestly service was a bit disappointing.

I didn’t wake a photo of the bed situation. But this...

I asked for a high unit on the south of the building (A or B). |Checked in at 4.45 pm on a Thursday afternoon. Reception was unattended. So when I was allocated a low down unit on the the extreme north of the building - 4E, I contacted the night service, who would not contact the manager stating 'it was not an emergency so we won't call them'. They advised us to take what was offered and to sort it out in the morning.||The next day of course, the manager refused to move us. He also told us that we had paid for a cheaper unit. This information was not available displayed on the resort web page. They seemed to have 2 tariffs (air-conditioned or not air-conditioned). Nowhere on the website does it state that units on higher floors or facing the south are priced differently.|Nor did the manager contact us at the time of booking to explain that he couldn't accommodate our wishes.|I seriously doubt they would move you anyway because of the associated cleaning costs.|The bedrooms look out over another building. In the lounge to see the beach, you must crane your neck. |Lots of broken fixtures in the unit. The sliding doors to the deck are rusted and almost impossible to open. Much is rusty! |Cleanliness was lacking. Many of the dinner plates and bowls in the kitchen had small remnants of baked on food.|The widows were dirty and some had cobwebs. Although the easily accessible glass doors to the balcony were clean. |The coffee table was dusty and had crumbs on it. I have stayed there before and did not have these issues.|I should have complained to the manager but given his former recalcitrance and admission that he worked in the interests of unit owners, I just cleaned the plates myself and put up with the rest. It just felt grimy.||My advice - expect the worst room and you may be pleasantly surprised, never, never check in after hours, and expect that the on-site manager works solely to serve the interests of the owners and has no desire to accomodate the interests of...

This review is as much about awareness raising as it is about the property. If you are visiting the Gold Coast you need to be aware that unless the hotel or resort you plan to stay at carries a recognised national or global brand, then what you are staying in is accommodation (I mean the actual apartment itself) that is privately owned and just included as inventory for booking in this building. This is the case with both the Princess and Royal Palm. While the grounds and facilities are very good, the beachfront location and views excellent, the actual quality and state of the room you stay in is up to the owner of that apartment, with no evidence of a minimum standard required. That also means what you book online after looking at the photos of a room, will almost certainly be not what you get, it could be better, or in the case of apartment 15C much worse. This apartment is old, mostly original, uncomfortable and badly in need of both soft and hard refurbishment as you can see by the photos (and handwritten warnings). Beds were awful, linen thread bare and when entering the room for the first time we were overpowered by bleach vapor (which is how these places are brutally cleaned). Be aware as well if you have children that the railing on the balcony is only adult waist height. It is quite confronting even as an adult how exposed these balconies are, and on the 15th floor. My advice is to explore properties very carefully before you book, call and ask for a renovated apartment. This was not cheap at $1,254 for 3 nights...The Gold Coast is a high-volume tourist destination where demand is so high owners can cash in on their investment. Its just a shame more owners don't actually care about what impression is left of both the Gold Coast and...