Catalina Motel Lake Macquarie — Hotel in Newcastle-Maitland

INTERNET/WIFI BASED REVIEW

As someone that travels for work and relies on the internet to do my end of day reporting and uploading of photos/videos I choose hotels based on Free Wifi first, ratings second and price third. I detest when I pre book accommodation with "Free Wifi" only to find it is a limited connection that then charges you for extra data.

I hate to say that this is the case here. The "Free Wifi" is actually 750Mb at 200KB/s. According to their portal I have used 751Mb but the data tracker on my laptop tells me I didn't even break 500mb.

For the extra $30 you'd have to pay for a usable amount of data you could stay at a much nicer place that offered Free UNLIMITED Wifi.

A note to the management - Sell booze in reception or something to make some extra coin. It's not 2008 anymore, trying to charge $XX for 500mb of internet isn't acceptable. Most people can get an extra GB on their...

Even though I reserved room 9 almost 5 days before, we were given room 11 for a week ( job in the town). Incredibly smelly carpets, first thoughts was that previous guests left old socks under the bed, the smell was unbearable and we could not even eat inside the room because of the smell. No window to get fresh air, the one we had was next to the storage room! The owner refused to change the room for us due to "busy time" despite we were promised the room no.9. Eventually we had to cover the whole carpet with bed sheets overnight so repel the smell. Neighbour was smoking in front of his room constantly and the smoke was just the horrible addition. That was the last time we stayed there. Never again! Its...

We stayed for 3 nights while visiting friends/family in the area.

The management kindly put us in a room with a walk in shower to accommodate my mothers mobility issues.

The room itself was clean and spacious; air con and tv; kitchenette with bar fridge, microwave, kettle and toaster. The bedding area was refurbished - great carpet / flooring. Large table. Clean, warm, lovely bed linen.

The bathroom was spacious as well.

The pool was lovely, parking arrangements and overall layout of the property was excellent.

My only ‘negative’ is that the kitchen sink and bathroom basin are one in the same.

I do highly recommend and would happily stay...