Oaks Port Stephens Pacific Blue Resort — Hotel in Salamander Bay

This was our 2nd trip back. Perhaps 10 years ago this resort may have met a classification of 4 stars. The concern which is common with a lot of hotels/motels/resorts that are beginning to age is that instead of investing a percentage of the profits back into keeping the rooms, activity areas, pools and grounds to the same star rating they were originally awarded, instead the mindset of short term/large profits. Our swimout 1 bedroom was very ordinary, no wow factor appeal.. Upon entering we noticed the living room air-conditioning unit had issues. When we finally found the remote control which is shared with the bedroom air conditioning unit, we turned on the living room unit and noticed the display screen was broken and we could not see any of the icons or the temperature. The unit did turn on however when it did the lower louver began to swing which then to our shock showed signs of mould build up on the louver. We immediately turned off the unit. We reported this possible mould issue to reception as well that we only had 1 remote and not 2 remotes which would always be expected with 2 seperate room air-conditioning units. The receptionist advised me the one remote we have will work both units. Ater 2 hours the maintenance man arrived and advised that the louver did have mould although only mould staining which couldn't be removed and wasn't harmful. Being sceptical of this although there was no other option but to accept his word. More issues on our 6 day stay; the stove exhaust fan lights were both broken, the toiletry pump canisters were almost all empty, we needed to advise reception, only one roll of toilet paper was supplied with the one on the roll holder almost finished, the bathroom bin was not emptied from the previous guest. The living room recessed ceiling lighting were very bright, no other option if you wanted softer ambient lighting in the evening as no floor lamp or a side table lamp.

The wifi was terrible. The 2 TV's were unable to connect to wifi. Only way around this was that we had to go and buy either a chromecast or google TV the following day and connect it to the TV's hdmi port in order to access the hotels wifi connection.

Our 6 days stay we had no room service, which means no clean towels, no top up or replenishment of milk, coffee, tea, toilet paper, tissues, clean bed linen and all the expected essential items a typical guest would expect when paying a premium room rate.

Had a nespresso machine with 6 coffee capsules. We used all of these in the first 3 days and was then advised it would cost $1.50 per capsule.

The swimout room was not worth the money. The lagoon has a water depth of a mere 1.1 metres. Each swimout has direct access to the lagoon pool however getting in and out of the pool is very, very difficult and unsafe. When using other hotel/resorts pools there are always safety ladders/rails. After investigating these swimouts they have no safety rail/ladder. Everytime I saw a guest exiting the lagoon pool they would have to sit on the edge of the deck then roll themselves and use their knees and awkwardly hoist themselves up without falling back into the pool and possibly injuring themselves in the pools shallow 1.1 metre water depth. The male guest in the adjoining swimout had to find the nearest rail/ladder entry/exit point then walk approximately 100 metres through the carpark in his wet board shorts back to his swimout room. He was very upset and also embarrassed when I tried to help him as his partner could not get him out of the pool. We both were unable to safely get him out.. I called reception and they were unhelpful and said that's how the lagoon pool was designed. I also had this same issue and ended up buying a step up stool from kmart so we could get in/out of the lagoon pool.

I'm sure this is not within Australian Standards and is non compliant.

Based on these issues this will be our last stay at Oaks Port Stephens Pacific Blue Resort. It's ashame as it presents well in their marketing descriptions, but as they say never judge a book...

We have been staying at the Oaks every Australia Day long weekend for the past 7 years and I’m saddened to report that the standards of the resort were below average considering the price we paid. They lock you in for breakfast but if only it was a descent buffet, the eggs were over cooked, mushrooms and tomatoes were let’s just say not even cooked. The coffee was the only positive thing besides the friendly staff who tried to compensate for the bad food. The pool was dirty and even though the resort wasn’t that busy they only seemed to clean one side of it. Daily house keeping was included but the cleaners couldn’t speak English so this made it very hard. No beds were made and we had to beg for the carpet to be vacuumed and ask over and over for our bins to be emptied and fresh towels. We didn’t realize we had to bring our own pillows because the ones supplied were extremely uncomfortable. They didn’t even have enough pillows for the rooms. The furniture was all damaged, as we set up for dinner the leg of the dinning table fell off and half our dinner ended up on the floor. The chairs all had holes in them and the sofas were stained. The rooms were not clean and for the price we paid unfortunately we won’t be returning. We had to clean the rooms ourselves because housekeeping would come in for 5 min and leave. We had to even buy our own toilet paper. All this was all included in the price but we received nothing without calling so many times that in the end we gave up and just cleaned it ourselves and went out and stocked our own bathroom. On top of all that we had to spray the kitchen from the ants and the balcony. We had to hose it all and they just kept coming back: I felt like we spent a lot of time repairing and cleaning instead of relaxing. You get free internet but it doesn’t work. The staff were nice and really tried to help but I could tell they were struggling so I felt bad for them. Upon check out I discussed all the issues with Amanda who was the manager on duty and even though she noted our complaints and compensated us we felt that unless some major improvements happened then we will have to find another place to go on our traditional Australia Day family getaway. Thank you to Amanda for doing your best to help us, customer service is still good but pity the resort seems to be falling apart and the privately owned apartments need to be refurbished and restocked with kitchen equipment and bed linen. We stayed in a 2 bedroom swim out which should of had enough plates and cups to accommodate but we had to buy plastic because the owners didn’t want to stock the kitchen even though we paid for that service. It saddens me to write this review because I loved this Resort and now we need to find a new place. Good luck to Amanda and the staff hope they can fix the issues so your loyal customers like...

Really disappointed. We booked a cot for our room for our 5 month old baby. We called twice to confirm before we arrived and both times were told all was fine. When we arrived we discovered that the cot did not include a mattress. We asked the front desk and they told us it is their policy not to provide a mattress for cots, and we should have brought our own. If that is their policy then fair enough, but they should have told us. Both times we called and no one said anything. Their website says nothing either. Now we’re here after all the shops shut and our 5 month old baby has no mattress to sleep on. What makes it worse is that although they were not extremely rude, they were very dismissive of us when we asked them about it. No sorry, no apologies for a lack of communication on this unknown policy, just unsympathetic vibes, almost implying that it’s our fault for not being aware of their policy which they don’t put anywhere. It’s not rude per se, but it certainly isn’t helpful and was extremely dismissive. I asked to speak to the manager and when she came, I asked whether if we purchased a mattress from a shop now they would consider reimbursing us, and the manager said you would have to ask ‘Bob’. I asked who Bob was and she pointed to the guy sitting at the desk right in front of me. He just looked straight ahead and pretty much pretended not to hear what I had asked. I feel like a friendlier hotel with a focus on customer service would have at least said sorry. And a great hotel that wanted our business again would have offered to refund us for the cot (not the whole room which is fair enough) or would have offered to pay for a mattress for our baby (their guest) to sleep on as now their guest has no where to sleep. But this place and Bob just didn’t seem to care, implying that it’s our fault for turning up and expecting our baby to have a place to sleep. When you go to a hotel and you book a place for your baby to sleep, you should get a place for your baby to sleep. If that is not the case, then they should clearly explain what you are getting and what you need to bring yourself. This whole thing has left a very sour taste in my mouth and we won’t be staying here again and we will be telling everyone we know never to stay here either. If they had just apologised and didn’t act like it was our fault for not knowing their secret policy that isn’t on their website then we could have got over it. But no, shame on us for booking a place for our baby to sleep, and expecting to get a place for our baby to sleep. Please never stay here, I feel like they don’t care about you and don’t deserve your money. At the very least you will be disappointed at the lack of care and the horrible, lacklustre, disappointing, sad, and ridiculously woeful...