Hanlon Guest House — Hotel in Tasmania

The old Hanlon she ain’t what she used to be. The new owners are trading off the old reviews.

After a wonderful week of staying in friendly guest houses and B&Bs with cheery hosts and excellent breakfasts all around Tassie, at Hamlin House with its sky high prices we were expecting to be blown away. Well we were, but not as expected.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a nice place, a renovated ex-presbytery with beautiful views over the beach. Our room was gracious and roomy, but at $240 a night that’s the least you expect. What was very disappointing was the total lack of hospitality.

Previous reviewers had raved about the helpfulness and friendliness of the owner and his yummy breakfasts. But the place apparently changed hands in 2022 and all those reviews are no longer relevant.

Arriving at 4:30pm, we were greeted by an envelope with a key in it. There are six rooms altogether, and the place was full, so the owner would have been bringing in around $1200 that night. But show his/her face? Why bother?! Business is clearly very very good.

Didn’t see the owner/manager for either of the two nights we were there. No sight of the owner and no whiff of breakfast. If we’d wanted an airBnB experience we would have booked an airBnB.

Besides all that: the walls are paper thin and I found myself involuntarily listening to someone else’s tv late into the night; no soap in the bathroom other than the body wash in the shower (and no one on hand to remedy the situation); plastic flowers; bathroom fan not working; wonky taps in the shower; second shower of the morning was cold; if you want local knowledge you have to scan a QR code. . .

Stanley is cute but there’s no particular reason to stay there overnight; there are a host of alternative accommodation choices within a 30 minute drive, all of which would be much better value for money than here. Our prior accommodation, not far away, was half the rate and included a scrumptious hot breakfast in lovely surroundings.

Clearly the owners are going to respond to this by saying You should have contacted us, we left a mobile number. But that’s not the point guys - at a guest house the guests expect . . ....

Having travelled on the C249, which is quite an adventure in itself, there was only the thought of finding a place of respite even though my arrival time at Hanlon House was an hour earlier than the usual check-in time. Katinka, the owner, however, could not have been more welcoming or obliging in allowing me immediate access to my accommodation and having a moment to unwind.|Excellent instructions regarding access and accommodation requirements were provided on check-in.| Accommodation provided was a Bungalow, separate from the main historical house, allowing for the luxurious feel of being in a home away from home, and right next to the beach. Fabulous scenery right at your doorstep.|The beautiful Lockwood style Bungalow provided a very spacious studio style of accommodation with the main room containing a large comfortable bed, table and chairs and a bench to work from. Also had a kitchenette with all the kitchenware you could possibly require, including an Espresso maker. |The room also contained an excellent compendium detailing the history of the house and its surrounds. It also contained sound advice on local eateries available.|Ensuite was of a good size and continued the wood paneling of the Lockwood construction continuing the very pleasant overall environment of the Bungalow. Contained within was a good shower, toilet and bathroom basin unit.|It also had an excellent Wi-Fi...

My wife and I stayed at Hanlon House on our first 3 nights of a 4 week trip around Tassie. The start of the stay here set the tone for our days; to gain entry you found your envelope at the front door. The envelope contained the room key and basic instructions. There is only on-street parking, where it was necessary to dodge the wallaby droppings.|The room was a reasonable size, but ruined by clutter of eclectic "historical" bric-a-brac. There was a small table which took up an entire corner of the room, but it was unusable due to the clutter. |While we were aware that this was not a B&B, it was disappointing that there was nothing to facilitate self catering. Again, this was not a huge issue as the restaurants in Stanley are really great, so we ate out all meals except breakfast - which we ate from our own bowls on our laps!|The bed was very comfortable, and the ensuite was nice and well provided with soaps & shampoo. However, the room was not serviced over the 3-nights stay, which is not necessarily an expectation for us, it was disappointing that it was not offered.|Over the next 4 weeks in our drive around Tassie we stayed at a number of places, while a couple were cheap caravan park cabins, Hanlon House was the low point due to not meeting...