Cairns Sunland Leisure Park — Hotel in Manoora

It is what it is. For context, I had just moved up to Cairns for work, and needed a place to stay for a few weeks while found something long term. I just wanted something no-frills that was reasonably easy commute.

TL;DR: Cheap, mostly clean, poorly maintained. Lot of long term residents mostly OK, but you get some shouting/yelling. I didn't personally have any trouble. Area outside is really poor, pretty rough. Staff on the ground are decent, management seems apathetic.

The Good: They offer very well priced one week deals for cabins. Essentially at this price point you get a kitchenette cabin (no bathroom) to yourself for a price not much more than some backpacker dorms in town. On those terms, you can't fault it. It's a good price, and it's honest - that is what you get. The amenities blocks are clean and functional, and the showers have hot water and decent pressure. There's a laundry on-site accessible 24/7 and the washers are dryers both take card. $4 each for wash and dry. There's a shop in reception that sells the basics, including detergent sachets for the laundry. There's also a pool though I didn't try it so can't attest to the condition of it. Kitchenettes are suprisingly well appointed. You get a proper sized fridge-freezer (not those usual bar fridges with tiny freezer box) so you can get a load of meat and keep it in there. Kettle, toaster, plug in electric hob (bit shit tbqh - struggles to keep a good cast iron pot of pasta on the rolling boil), cutlery, cooking utensils, plates, bowels, mugs etc.

The Bad: The whole setup is very tired, and is showing it's age. Cabins look and feel early 80s. Mine had some dodgy floor sections. Furniture was old and tired. Clean enough but was in desperate need of a refresh. Air con did cool the cabin but was noisy. Little electric hob was very low qulaity. Rust on bed frames and even fridge door. The electrics shorted on my 2nd day. Reported to reception and caretaker twice. Caretaker got it on and we tested everything to locate the offending circuit (one of the lights), and he said he'd get some parts to fix, but despite him chasing managers a few times, it didn't get fixed during my stay (just didn't use the dodgy light). Bathroom block had a few toilets with missing locks or fittings that never seemed to get fixed. My cabin had a minor leak in severe rain.

The Ugly: Though there's an official rule of a max 28 day stay, it's clear as day a sizable number of people are de-facto tenants staying here permanently. Most are fine and decent people just trying to survive - by end of my 2nd week, we smiled and waved as we passed each other heading in and out (same with the staff), but there also a few shady figures and a few nights there was yelling and screaming. The area the park is in is at the cursed meeting point of the "Three Ms" suurbs, which are some of the poorest and most troubled suburbs in Cairns. The fence around the park has had barbed wire twisted around it, and that's no paranoia. There's a reason for it. No one ever took anything from my car, not tried to get into my cabin. I only really once felt unsafe (two drunk people yelling in the laneway my cabin was on), but bascially, there are legitimate issues and the area outside is derro central.

Note on wifi: There's no wifi in the cabins. You can get it in reception, and there's a small seating area there. Good phone reception so I just tethered. There's a TV in the cabins with the...

Extremely rude and unprofessional! I had several tabs open on my browser as we were looking into a few different parks to stay at whilst in the area for my mother-in-laws funeral, my family ultimately decided not to stay here after reading the reviews on their Facebook (they’re not good), but I’ve accidentally clicked on the tab to their site checkout thinking it was for the other park we had decided on and I processed my information, I was extremely sleep deprived as I have a young baby who barely sleeps and when you’re that tired these kinds of mistakes are easier to make than you might think, I didn’t realise my mistake until later on when checking my emails and I emailed them immediately as it was after hours, I was kind and polite, explained what happened and our situation, sincerely apologised for the inconvenience of my mistake, I kindly asked if they could waive their 1 night cancellation fee (which I’ve recently found out that they cannot charge as they do not inform you of this charge prior to your payment although Erik will say it’s in their terms and Conditions when it sure as hell is not) hoping they’d have some compassion and understanding, I never received a response, instead I’ve had to find time to make a phone call and ask if they received my email, I was told they were going to talk to the owners, a few days had past I’d heard nothing so I called again, I was told that I would be called the next business day but no one called, I emailed again to, no response so once again I called and once again I was told I would be called the next day, it got to late afternoon and no one had called so I once again called, the lady (I believe her name was Luffy or Fluffy) who answered couldn’t have been ruder, I asked to speak to a manager and was told to call the next day, I asked for the name of who I need to speak to was told she wouldn’t give out that information, I had my mum step in to help as we feared I was going to get scammed out of my money, the lady would not cooperate and just got ruder and just told us to speak to “the guy”, eventually I got onto “the guy” actually Erik and he told me the refund was rejected and my card was blacklisted (I called my bank and my card was in no way blacklisted and the refund should have processed), I was accused of scamming and making up a convoluted story by the staff and owners, how extremely insensitive and disrespectful! I am truly sickened by the way I have been treated especially in a time of mourning, absolutely horrid heartless people! I have since reported this absolutely disgusting business to Australian Consumer Affairs, I hope they...

AVOID. Heed the negative reviews. Beats me how this place managed good reviews to glean 3 stars. From NSW, we booked online via WOTIF for 2 weeks stay. Soon as we pulled up at the boom gate, we knew it was wrong. May as well have gone to Thursday Island/NG or surrounds, as that's who lives there. And many are permanent on observation. We paid in full, sadly. Over $1000.00. Reluctantly stayed 2 nights & were offered 'credit' for the 12 nights we discarded. I didn't even want to stay ONE night. It was most disappointing. Run down, grubby, the towel rail fell off, a tap broke, a door fell off and there were old ciggie butts on the ground outside. Plus a dead bicycle languishing beside our 'villa'. The cabin, was nowhere close to their "Superior Poolside Villa" description. We faced a moldy brick wall with barbed wire top. Quite aways from the pool behind the cracked besser brick fence.. Old beardy guys lived down the back area. Sunland, is for Cairns locals needing a cheapo place to live. The room stank till the air con kicked in. Clean enough, but I didnt want to even walk around. It was, dead quiet there, luckily and no crime. The cabin door closed with a push button from the inside. I felt that a bolt should have been in place for extra security. I didnt feel safe there. The website description is inaccurate. The only cabins that looked 'ok' were the newer, with a verandah. We were shoved down the back near the filthy, caked, communal barbecue plate. The office staff we spoke to were friendly enough when we left, but would give no refund. We stayed two nights and now have 12 days credit at a place, where I would never go again. A claim for 12 day refund has been submitted to Fair Trading. It's actually illegal to have in writing..'No refunds' at premises like this. The woman in the office flipped open a folder and pointed to a highlighted sentence "No Refunds". Her teeth, appeared to be lightly stained with betel nut juice. The one way traffic system is ridiculously inconvenient as well. Boom-gates to get in and out. A dusty, dry, unkempt place, which needs loads more trees. The entire place has an air of tropical neglect. Pay more and stay elsewhere. I read all 193 reviews while staying there. It was a very sad experience all round and I could not wait to get...