The Lodge Wadjemup — Hotel in Rottnest Island

We now have only the best of memories from our stay at the newly renovated Lodge Wadjemup - warm, helpful staff and a renovation that captures Rottnest style and has catapulted it into the 21st century. ||I travelled to the island with my 98 year old wheelchair bound mother and a support worker. The hotel staff had arranged an accessible twin room and nearby room for me.||Having experienced stairs and baths in so-called "accessible" rooms, we entered our room with some trepidation - needlessly. We were delighted by the accessible bedroom and wet room! Stylish but practical, and we loved the French doors opening to the external verandah.||For wheelchair uses, it was so welcome to move from surface texture to different surface seamlessly, each surface offering a smooth ride and the space wide enough to move through without disturbing others.||From the time we arrived late Monday morning, a team member helped with the gates (for Mum’s wheelchair to pass through), to our warm and helpful reception, to the lady at Sunset Bar who showed us seating options, to the receptionist who helped me keep Mum’s tea habit sorted by getting (6!) extra English breakfast teabags, to the staff who served us in the evening and helped me try the ginger beer (for Mum’s to choose a pot of tea instead!) and at breakfast (bringing weaker flat whites and hot water for my mother!), right to the lady who walked up to ask if she could help take a photo of the three of us as we were leaving for our day out on Tuesday, we felt embraced with calm, competent but kind and helpful friends. It was that good!||What a wonderful renovation!! It has kept the feel of the lodge but updated it. We loved the sage green and pale blue colour scheme (with touches of outback orange) - so Rottnest, so calming. ||And that sunset view!!...

We stayed there for 2 nights over the weekend, had the Lake View room. Loved the place and wasn't too bothered by the on-going construction. We had stayed at Sampire prior and wanted to try this new spot out.

Pros:

1. Location was fab. Closer to the grocer shop, bakery etc. Walkable if we didn't want to cycle. Prefer this location Vs the Sampire. Though it was right smack in the middle of the settlement, it didn't feel busy or noisy.
2. Room was spacious and tidy, well laid out in terms of design and use. Only suggestion is a more functional spacious shelf in the bathroom for toiletries. The lighting in the room was also kinda tricky to navigate. Otherwise bed was comfortable.
3. Staff was always polite and professional. Lovely service. But it appeared under staffed.

Cons:

1. security... Would probably suggest card access onto the grounds near the lake rooms for safety , being so close to the main settlement area. Anyone can wander in and around the rooms area without card access.
2. housekeeping... Would suggest better efficiency. We left our room at 9am, returning at about 1pm. Room was still not cleaned. Which was disappointing as we wanted to rest after being out snorkeling the whole morning. There was only one person seen cleaning the area so appeared understaffed.
3. Sunset Bar... Service was good but again wasn't very prompt as staff was always occupied. Standard restaurant pricing charged but U go to the bar to order your food and pay, no table service. Not a Biggie but table service for what you pay would be a nice touch.

We would definitely...

The good |Sunsets bar, amazing view and great atmosphere, food offerings were limited but what we had was good (it’s heavily carb weighted). Music and ambiance good, decor beautiful, staff hit and miss. ||Coffee at Pelicans recommended.||The not so good |Breakfast buffet options were good but there were fruit flies all over the fruit, items not chilled (salmon and cheese) and our poached eggs were raw, complementary sparkling water was good. ||Lake View Room, don’t recommend booking until building works are complete. We paid a premium price to be beside noisy building works with a heavy vehicle access road and a construction fence in front of our ‘view’. Until works are completed I think Courtyard Rooms would be better option. ||Unfortunately my favourite hotel feature is clean and the Lodge fell short. There were hairs in the bathroom and someone’s sock left in the room when we arrived, the tiles were grubby, fridge needed wiping and the courtyard needed a sweep and the outdoor furniture was dusty. ||The room could be better appointed. There is no proper mirror, no storage in bathroom for cosmetics, no moisturiser, no suitcase shelf in room, doors on wardrobe would not open, Nespresso machine in room but no milk frother, the e-compendium is not complete. Tried to order firm pillows from the ‘pillow menu’ but they didn’t have any.||We had checked out of Samphire which was sensational and into the Lodge so compared both over the week and recommend Samphire for the stay and the Lodge for...