Meriton Suites Bondi Junction — Hotel in Sydney

My 3 month experience at the MERITON Bondi Junction was extremely poor.

I’ll start this off by saying we woke up to cockroaches every morning…

If you want a hotel experience DO NOT STAY HERE. Throughout the whole stay I noted certain things that were of bother to myself and husband, they would agree that it was unacceptable and said it would be resolved but nothing ever came to fruition. Management (Sue) promised a lot but produced nothing. It’s sad to say we stayed the whole 3 months as I continued to think that it would have to get better (silly me)

I just want to note that I was in the hospitality business for years, I understand the stresses and I am very respectful of people who work in the industry. There were many times I was polite in asking for small things and it truly wasn’t brought out.

The cleaning room service was an absolute joke, they came once a week, made the bed (with marked up and sheets that were not cleaned properly or maybe not at all) and left. The second week I asked the front desk what their procedures were when cleaning the room. He said if I wanted extra room service I could pay more money. I asked again what they are supposed to be doing with the ONE SERVICE we got a week, he said they should clean and replenish EVERYTHING. That was never done… I literally cleaned everyday after they left.

The second month I spoke to one of the ladies cleaning my room (nicely explained how I was upset with how the room was not cleaned previous weeks) and she said that maybe I had a bad experience because they have been under staffed. That’s the management job one hundred percent to make sure they are fully staffed and prepared for guests to stay.

Not only did the staff say they didn’t have enough time to finish jobs but they are on their phones ALL THE TIME. I stayed in the room one time while they were cleaning to make sure they had given our room the full service and she was crouched down behind the couch ONCE AGAIN ON HER PHONE. Walking through the halls.. on their phones.. everywhere on their phones.

Pretty much every service we had I would come back to the room (after the ONE service we had during the week) and there were no towels or toiletries, nothing cleaned at all! They made the bed and left

If you need something and you call down to the front desk do not expect it for at least 3-24 hours most times. They are more delayed than ever.

Not to mention I had said there was a strong smell of propane coming from our balcony rm.111 (the first day I arrived) that was never resolved. A lot of bugs in our room, we’d wake up with cockroaches, millipedes, big spiders and infestations of fruit flies.

I used the pool once and would never go back in. The hot tub was also dirty and the jets hardly worked.

Let’s just say that I’ve stayed at other MERITONS and they are above and beyond better service, cleanliness and all around enjoyable place to stay. Please do yourself a favour and book a different hotel.

Accountability is key when running a hotel and this place has none.

I’ve only taken 2 photos out of many nightly cockroaches and a spider I caught over my bed in...

Came to Sydney for a long weekend and spent decent money on this place.

I have stayed at many other meritons before but this was by far the worst one. I think Bondi Junction should take a page from Southports book in terms of cleanliness. The room was the dirtiest I have stayed in. After check in we complained about the room cleanliness and asked to be moved however we were told fully booked and they would send someone to clean. The surprise is that they said someone had just checked out of our room that day, so it should be clean but a complete deep clean was DEF not done. The bath was dirty, the kitchen was all sticky and I did not use ANYTHING from it because I didnt trust it. Coffee machine was disgusting and kettle dusty. Floors were sticky and all the mirrors were not wiped. Couch had stains on it. Clearly no deep clean done between guests other than clean sheets.

Took the kids for a swim and the chlorine had a bad smell on us after getting out. Water was too cold so we had to stay in the spa.

Staff do not patrol the hallways, because someone left dirty socks and an empty beer can in the hallway NEAR THE LIFT and it was still there after 3 days. Not a very good look.

Good thing is definitely the location however parking is a major let down with the hotel charging guests for parking although it was completely full so there was nowhere to park, was told by staff that they know it was full but that "parking is not guaranteed"... then why charge for it when you know it is full?????

Westfield on the doorstep and shops close by which is one of the only positives from my stay here. Southport Meriton is by far the best in terms of service and cleanliness, even if you stay short stays they always come and clean the rooms without you asking. Bondi Junction said that for a short 3 day stay they do not come and clean, however I had to even just prompt them for towels which should be a given to be supplied every day.

Wouldn't stay here again, wouldn't recommend unless you are literally just sleeping and not staying in your dirty room all day.

My kids have come home sick, which does not surprise me for all I know the previous guests could have left their germs behind and the room was not sanitary. Could be a...

My husband and I had been living in the east for over 9 years, and had recently moved out of the area, so we know the East super well.

We needed some local accommodation as I was due to have my first baby @ Randwick hospital. We paid for 9 days stay and they put us in Tower 2. I was 39-40 weeks pregnant and they put us in a room that not only absolutely WREAKED of smoke (like I couldn’t get the smell out of my own clothes and pillow after we got home, took 3 washes??) the room they also had us in was located right above/near a local gym that absolutely blasted their music from 4.30/5am EVERY morning!! Like just this absolute bass thumping sound that had us up from then, lasting until mid afternoon.

When I went down to the reception to mention it, they knew exactly what I was talking about, so I have no doubt that many people before me have struggled with the noise.

I was having such bad anxiety prior to the birth and no sleep and asked them to move rooms (they said they couldn’t do it straight away) so had to wait 3 days to move. We would’ve appreciated if they had given us complimentary parking or something for at least a few days for the hassle, however nothing like that was offered.

We also ran out of toilet paper and my husband had to go down 4 times to ask for more…?

When we did move to a different room, it was a lot more quiet (in Tower 1) and the room didn’t smell as bad, the new room wasn’t as clean (benches weren’t wiped properly) but honestly was so tired and over it that we didn’t care at that stage and just wanted to sleep and get through the last few days.

When I went in to have the baby, my husband was able to stay on a mat on the floor with me, so we decided to cut his stay short 2 days at the hotel just to get some funds back.

The only real positive is that it is a fantastic location to so much in the east, right above the Bondi junction train station and shops, 10 mins from Bondi Beach, 10 mins from Randwick hospital.

Just such a shame about the lack of guest care and experience. Felt super clunky and not cared for and for the money we paid, just felt like a bit of a joke. I don’t understand why they would put guests who are staying for longer periods of time into such noisy...