Surfers Aquarius on the Beach — Hotel in Gold Coast City

The view is gorgeous, but I can’t say the same about the apartment or the experience so far. One of the receptions is lovely the other is abrupt and cold. We asked for an early check in and were informed to call on the day, so we did but she was unhelpful and rude as if it was an inconvenience for us doing what the email said. It’s fine if you can’t but maybe just let the customer know nicely not a very rude ‘check in is 2pm but I’ll let you know’ then never touching base again, when asking the time if it was possible or the time roughly if it is at all possible mainly so we could plan around it ‘I don’t know’ abruptly isn’t needed a simply we are really busy today we aren’t able to accommodate would have been completely fine and understandable. Secondly, the furniture is dirty, and stained, bedding and feature pillows ripped and stained. The apartment was also not clean overall and to top it off the toilet is blocked up so we had a pleasant surprise of someone else poo in the toilet unable to use it it’s been over 2 hours and still has not been fixed or even a call of an update of when so someone else floater is stinking out the room. When we asked if there was another room due to this (being clean should be the bare minimum) again the abrupt person cut into the conversation about the Grand Prix and it being busy. Not really excusable for cleanliness especially when our stay is over a week, I wouldn’t have opted for a review if there was at least an apology for the toilet incident or some sort of care to this but I don’t feel that there is or will be so I would avoid booking as it seems the experiences previously have been similar and it’s disappointing as we were really excited but it’s put a huge damper on the stay.

Updated to add:

I really hoped that the managers comment was more than just a PR stunt for people reading other guest reviews as if it’s a once off but seeing other reviews, it’s not and they don’t actually care.

Toilet was left unresolved until my mother went down to talk to reception, dispite the review and noting they wanted to better the stay it does seem it’s just a response for the negative reviews to make it seem better.

The toilet was not able to be fixed with a plunger and it was left for nearly 24 hours, a plumber came and was able to repair it by removing the toilet - great but they left a mess of literal poo and toilet paper all over the bathroom. We thought maybe they’d send a cleaner but nope. It was left, we then asked again for a room change as it was just a nightmare (this was Friday) they agreed but on Sunday, so days later and the poo and toilet paper left we were moved to a different room. Much cleaner and without stains and dirt.

But to add insult to injury, none of the air conditioners were working. We called reception immediately and they said because it was Sunday it probably wouldn’t be until Monday. Monday, nothing, Tuesday we asked reception and someone was apparently going that day and we said we were happy for them to be let in. We got back Tuesday evening and asked if someone attended (still wasn’t working) they said they’d call us in the room but we heard nothing. Lodged an online form as we were sick of spending the stay brining up issues, no response, sent an email also just as a benefit of the doubt but no response from the manager either.

Sad to say, as overall the experience was shocking, and would have been an easy fix if there was some attention or care with issues but no. For the price point (over 2k) for a week I’d suggest booking elsewhere as there’s a lot of options and the actual service would be better too they probably won’t leave someone else’s poo on the walls and lie on reviews to make themselves seem better or like they care about...

Update: We had a call from the manager today who was very helpful and friendly. Explained she had been away, obviously they had to go by what the house keeping told them (which we understand) but also understands our side of view. Has refunded the amount charged and wants to do what they can to make sure we return and enjoy our stay and make sure we haven't been left with a bad taste in our mouth. Gave feedback about the initial poor communication around the charge which they will endeavour to improve on.

Our room was stylish with a good view and good location. basic cleanliness could be improved-very dusty especially the bed heads, sandy floors, mold in the aircon and the quilt inside the cover was dirty-was hot enough not too use so overall we were happy to overlook these things and didn’t make any complaints. To be honest we didn’t spend much time in the apartment, we were actually disappointed that we picked this complex for the facilities but never ended up using them (annoying that the gym was closed for renovations but again, these things happens and we weren’t going to complain). I’ve read a lot of complaints about the reception staff being rude, we actually had nothing to do with them so hard to comment. We had a smooth check in after reception hours were closed. On check out I wouldn’t exactly describe the staff as warm and friendly but we were waiting while they were finishing another task so assumed they were just distracted with something else. Unlike other reviews, we never have any issues with toilets or aircon, they all worked fine.

You could imagine our surprise when we noticed $150 had been charged to our credit card with no notice or explanation. We asked for our invoice, wondering if we had missed something, and found a $150 mattress steam clean charge added. You could imagine our shock. As per our clean sheets there had been no spillages, damage or urine stains (as management has reported in other reviews). When they got back to us, they said the mattress was wet and stained with urine and they take hygiene very seriously. We also take hygiene very seriously and are disgusted that this was not picked up with us prior to our stay. We would have noticed if the mattress was wet, so this was simply a lie, but in the picture you could see mold growing along the stain, another indicator that this was present prior to our stay.

I can’t say that I have ever removed sheets to check the state of a mattress when I am staying somewhere, is this something other people do? Should we start doing this? We asked for further evidence such as photos of wet and stained sheets, as if it was currently wet and stained with urine from us then the sheets and mattress protector would also be damaged. It has been 5 business days with no reply.

I’m not sure if I am more concerned about the lack of communication, both at the time of the charge, the accusation and then the lack of follow up, or the fact we were left sleeping on this mattress?...

We booked a 3 Bedroom Oceanfront apartment which on their website says it sleeps 7 with 3 queen beds so we assumed the 7th was a pull out sofa. We were assigned Unit 10A on arrival. There were only 4 adults and 2 children in this apartment however 2 of the adults were our son and daughter who naturally did not want to sleep together. We had planned as there were queen beds that one child would sleep with their father and the other with their Aunt. On arriving in our apartment we had 2 large single beds joined together in the main bedroom. The second bedroom had a queen bed and the third bedroom was an old wooden double bed which originally must have had an upper bunk as there were holes in the ends of the bed and a frame in the wardrobe which we imagine was part of the original bed. The bed was also very creaky when moving around in your sleep. The middle bedroom had very dirty curtains which were nearly all falling down and missing hooks so you could not even try to fix them. The apartment also had a very bad smell and had not been aired or the air conditioning put on before arrival. Also there were only 4 dining chairs when the apartment catered for 7 people. I went down to the Manager who told me no-one else had complained and we had 4 adults and 2 children booked in therefore the two children could sleep in the double bed and the apartment had recently been re-carpeted and hence the smell. She was very short with me and was visibly upset with me when I said we at least needed the curtains fixed as the morning sun came straight in and we also needed 2 more chairs. Nothing was done that day therefore the next day I again requested the curtains fixed and 2 more chairs. This was not attended to the 3 days we stayed. Also most of the glasses either had a big crack or chips around the rims. The leather on the lounge was very cracked and dirty looking and the feet were so rusted some of the chrome was dropping off. All of the curtains in the bedrooms were very dirty as well. The whole apartment needs a major clean up and replacement of furniture.|We also had a 2 bedroom deluxe apartment which was very nice and furnished lovely. The only negative with the room was there was mould in the bathroom.|The facilities in the resort are really good and it is in a great location. I would not hesitate to go back if I was assured I did not get Apartment 10A and the apartment I was allocated was in good repair with furniture that you expect in such a resort and was clean. Also I would expect to be treated well by the Manager.|It is unfortunate I did not take more photos but have attached photos of the...