Wildlife Retreat at Taronga — Hotel in Sydney

For a non-profit organisation to not price match a booking agent that you engage seems very strange, you would rather the agent keep 30% of the total booking than price match them with $15. Seems ludicrous to us when you say you’re all about the animals?? At breakfast i asked for some apple pastries and after eating about 2/3rds I found an insect baked inside. You can understand my extreme disgust with this. I felt immediately ill and asked for the manager on duty, he apologised and I left. He didn’t try to stop me or offer any explanation and or solution. This was brought up again on checkout and a seperate email was sent with photos. I have made an official report to the Mosman council. We asked about the wildlife encounter and the requirements you impose and how inaccessible it is for people with disabilities. Why not have an option for guests who pay top dollar to have early access to these on the day. It seemed to us there are absolutely no perks for staying at the retreat. No early access to the zoo, no discount in the gift shop, not even a complimentary bottle of water to fill up around the zoo. Thankfully the manager lined up on the day for us and secured 2 tickets to an encounter which was the highlight of our stay. So thankyou to her, but surely it doesn’t need to resort to staff lining up. As for our room - on first glance is beautiful, but spending any extended time in was difficult as the very low chairs were uncomfortable and unsuitable for anyone with back or mobility issues.. the chairs moved without any effort or strength. They offered no support at all. Cameron at the desk was doing his best to find an alternative which he did, so Thankyou to him. This issue also extends to the bar area where there is no supportive furniture. Too soft, too big, too low. The TV provided is dated with only access free to air and a selection of movies? - why not allow people to access their own content. You opened in 2019.. I ordered extra towels on two occasions - with first delivery the young man came with sanitary kits and the second time 2 bath mats. Clearly English is not the first language so it is not the servers fault, the issue lies with communication from the front desk and training.. these staff need more. When housekeeping cleaned the room they failed to clean the toilet which I think is one of the most important tasks. Didn’t refill the tissues or provide any more toilet paper. On a side note upon arrival I found a toothbrush packet opened in a drawer with some contents removed and some still in. I left it where I found it. No one seems to know too much inside the zoo itself - We were directed to the mid kiosk to purchase another animal encounter and once we arrived were told this experience can only be purchased at the main entrance. I have limited mobility and this was now inaccessible for me to do. So I missed out. Why put restrictions on where you can buy only certain encounters - that makes absolutely no sense to me. The non alcoholic/soft drink selection was very poor. I had no choice as I don’t drink coke or sprite..so just water for me then.. We ate dinner in the bar area before the concert and asked the bar staff about spice in the pulled pork burger - we were told absolutely no spice and they’ll remove the chipotle from the chips aswell. Perfect we’ll order that.. and are you able to put tomato on the ham/mushroom pizza? No everything is pre-made sorry.. pre-made?? Are you serious? We’re paying $800+ per night and over $30 & $25 for food that is pre-made? How disappointing. The food came out and the burger was full of chipotle and pepper so inedible for us. The chips were over cooked and not worthy of eating l. We ate because we had to and were hungry not because it was good. We did receive a refund for that meal and rightly so, what chef would send those out and be happy with it? Oh that’s right no chef as they can’t add tomato to a pizza. We left feeling stressed and disappointed. I emailed the zoo with these issues and...

This place was really wonderful! Went there with my partner. Definitely the highlight of our anniversary trip. There are pros and cons so I am going to let people know what I experienced so they have a good idea of what to expect - especially if they’re a romantic couple.

The king sized room had the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. We did not want to leave because of the bed itself and the wonderful linen used.

There was a small fridge, an area to keep your clothes and baggage, a kettle and teas (no coffee, sugar, milk etc) a decent sized television that could swing around so you could comfortable watch in bed (the t.v wouldn’t allow Crome cast and didn’t have Netflix or any streaming service options but did have new movie releases etc). There was no reception in the room we were in but was easy to connect to wifi so that was nice. There were charging ports and plugs for plenty of devices.

There was soaps, shampoo & conditioner provided along with some hair caps and other amenities. There was also a nice sized hair dryer. The robes were a very nice part of the experience, although one was made from a coarser material so my partner let me have the super soft one. The body wash they had for us to use, my goodness! It made my skin the softest it’s ever felt!! I am going to buy a 5L tub no joke (Wallawa Indigenous Botanical Skincare - Tasmanian Bushpepper body wash)

The toilet & shower facilities were very awesome, really lovely experience but not private. If you’re a new couple please note there will be NO PRIVACY when it comes to sound, so hopefully you’re comfortable with your partner or friend you’re staying with as the cracks in the doors and the sound echoing is not something a new couple would be comfortable with lol.

Please also note the rooms aren’t well sound proofed so if there’s children right next to your room you will hear them screaming. You can hear people walking past your door talking and if there’s people staying above you you will hear their footsteps. So if you’re watching loud movies or laughing your head off in the room your neighbours will be able to hear you 100%.

If you’re a smoker you have to leave your room and go out the front which is a decent walk and come back every time you want a cigarette - but completely understandable considering how close to wildlife and families you will be. (This is the same at the zoo itself. You have to go all the way to the top or the bottom to have a smoke and then go back in which is tiring lol.)

If you traveled there by ferry be aware the last ferry is around 6pm so you can’t really go to the city, have some fun, and come back to the zoo to go back to your room so you’ll kind of be stuck there. My advice is to take along some drinks (as there’s no alcohol for room service) a big bottle of fresh waster (as there’s only tap water in the room) and some savoury and sweet food to keep in your fridge for later on in the night so you can have a nice time without getting hungry later on and not having food options.

The zoo was so much fun! Would recommend dropping your bags off at the reception desk, going around the zoo for a day, going back to your hotel and then doing the zoo the next day too as it’s a lot of walking to do in one day and there’s so many lovely animals to see twice or three times if you have it in you!!

Over all a pretty great experience, the 3 course dinner was lovely. The drinks served at the Met were YUMMY! The animals were so cute, woke up to a koala in a tree right near our hotel window… would love to do this again in a few years!

My American partner said the room we stayed in gave his ‘Disneyland Vibes’ which is an awesome compliment as Disneyland is one of the moss amazing places to stay...

Taronga Park Zoo is a special place, and a stay at the Wildlife Retreat at Taronga adds another dimension to the zoo experience with access after hours and staying on the grounds. We opted for the Ultimate Package which included two nights stay, and breakfast and dinners in Me-Gal Restaurant (reviewed separately), and, also included three guided tours, two of which were after hours.

We trained it from the airport to Circular Quay, and then the ferry across to Taronga Park Zoo wharf, and a bus up the hill to the main entrance and Wildlife Retreat. All tap on/ off with a credit card, and the whole trip about an hour give or take, depending on connections.

The accommodation is as depicted in photos on the website and are a good standard. We chose an animal view room, and had the company of a koala for our entire stay in the trees outside our window. You could choose a Harbour View room, but in reality, you can enjoy that view from a higher vantage point while enjoying dinner at Me-Gal, and we thought the animal view room was great.

The night time tours are informative, but we saw few animals who seemed for the most part, to have gone to bed; but I would do it again. There were more animals out and about for the pre-breakfast tour and lots of opportunities for good photos.

It rained on and off all during our stay, but umbrellas are available from reception and we were not deterred as there is plenty of cover around the exhibits and we did lots of walking.

We tried the food market and bought a serve of fish and chips for $22, and very tasty beef and rice tortilla $18 that was really filling and good value. There are a range of options and different cuisines. I bought an aluminium bottle of spring water $9, which is not only re-usable but with the zoo logo makes a neat souvenir.

The staff are really friendly, committed to conservation, and will help you as much as they can to ensure you enjoy your stay. The keeper talks which are listed on the Zoo Map are a must to get the most out of the experiences; and the animals are given treats at these times, so they are most visible and most active during the talks.

We had an awesome stay and really enjoyed it. Highly recommend the Wildlife...