Best Western Plus Hovell Tree Inn Albury — Hotel in South Albury

Warm and Friendly staff, Freezing Cold rooms. We stayed here on a cold wet Autumn day. Driving up from Melbourne in the rain, we decided it would be nice to warm up and rest a day or two in a room with a bathtub, so we could have a nice hot soak and relax after a long moving week, on our way up to Queensland. The staff was very polite and accommodating, finding us the room we were looking for and we had a nice chat upon check in. We got up to our room, looking forward to a nice hot shower and a soak in a tub. We picked this hotel and paid twice as much as we needed to pay specifically so we could get a room with a bathtub. There are other good hotels in town for half the price, but we wanted the tub, so we paid a lot more. When we arrived, we noted that there was a sign by the remote for the heater that said the maximum temperature that the heater would work at was 24 degrees. The room was freezing cold, so we set it at 24. I jumped in the shower, and turned the water to the maximum heat setting to allow it to heat up. As soon as it started to get warm, I jumped in, assuming it would get hotter. Turns out it never got any warmer, and I stood there taking a quick shower while I tried to fill the tub. When you fill a tub, of course it starts cooling immediately. Soon after it was just too cold to continue my lukewarm shower, and I realized the tub was even colder. I got out and the room was freezing, so I grabbed the extra blanket and immediately got under the covers, hoping the room would eventually heat up. That never happened either. I doubt that the room ever reached 24 degrees. Poor insulation and possibly a heater thermostat problem had us shivering all night and skipping my morning shower because I didnt want to be cold. It's too bad, because the room was clean and nicely furnished, but we couldn't enjoy it at all. We asked the staff about it, and they say that's the temperature everything is set to, but they would let management know.

Dear management, Your heat settings on both your hot water heaters and room heaters are far too low for winter time. We were going to stay an extra night, but we were so cold we couldn't enjoy the hotel at all. Its really a shame because it seems you put alot of effort on having good staff, clean rooms, and convenient location. There's no point in "cheaping out" on low hot water heater settings and heaters that dont work. It's winter. Your guests dont want to...

Look the service by Adam on reception was brilliant and was 5/5 and there wasn’t anything that actually went wrong but this place was listed as a 4 star and I’d say 3 at best. Our booking rate wasn’t cheap - I booked a suite so queen bed in one room with a single bed in the living /dining/kitchen area. Room was a good size, but one small cupboard so it would have been really squashed if we had been 3 or 4 not 2 which was the original number. The 2 main issues for me - there was a funny smell in the bathroom. The room cleaning service was truly under par. We only got the room cleaned once - the beds weren’t made properly and the dishes - some cups - were left dirty in the sink. The bathroom was dirty when we arrived and was never cleaned properly when we were there. The previous guests had lefty their pool towel drying on the balcony and it was there when we arrived. The room had dirty used tissues left in the bathroom that i ended up removing. It’s the lack of attention to detail with cleaning that really annoyed me. I could have complained but it felt petty- and I thought on our room clean they’d be more astute but the beds were actually worse and nothing got cleaned. I think the smell was the other thing that was just annoying. The other issue was the lack of car spaces and rooms don’t have an allocated bay. So when you arrive back to the motel you have to drive around to find an empty bay. Why they don’t number bays in order to give us our own spot is a significant oversight. Especially considering guests attending functions can park in hotel guests bays so we got back and had to park out on the street which was once again a 4 star hotel wouldn’t do. Hotel it is located across the Hume from Noreil Park and it’s beautiful walking track along the river. Went for a walk every morning which was delightful. My recommendation is get a better rate from them - for me for the price I expected better but if I hadn’t have payed as much then it would have...

We stayed here for 3 nights during the labour day weekend (Vic). The room itself was clean, comfortable and had good amenities. The pool, sauna and spa were also great value for money and a good spot to relax and unwind. Servicing of the rooms was excellent and it was nice to come back to a fresh room after a day of sight seeing.

However, there are some issues which made our stay disappointing. The first is the fact that the hotel is split into 2 buildings. The main hotel building and an adjacent apartment block ( which isn’t stated in the description). Our room was situated in the adjacent block and directly above a car park. Our room had no natural light as our window overlooked the basement car park and exterior wall. It was also extremely noisy, with people coming and going from the car park at all hours of the night - slamming their doors and talking loudly. This issue is compounded by the fact that the car park is used by people frequenting the restaurant and bar in the main building who aren’t guests at the hotel. This is not ideal for a family or anyone wanting a quiet night sleep. We had two young children who were disturbed during the night by the car park noise.

The second issue is the lack of available car spaces. Guests are not allocated a parking bay for their room. On the 2/3 nights we stayed here, we were unable to find a car park in both buildings and had to park in the street and walk across with our luggage. This is anything but ideal for a 4 star hotel. I mentioned to the receptionist and was told that guests were often sneaky and invited friends who would park in the car park. If it is a known issue with the hotel, there should be greater enforcement of parking to avoid inconveniencing guests who pay to stay...