Strahan Village — Hotel in Tasmania

Overall, a pretty decent place to stay.

We upgraded on arrival to Executive Suite (for $30/night extra) to avoid climbing stairs with a dodgy knee. For the extra money, we got a king-size bed instead of queen, a spa bath instead of normal bath, and presumably a slightly larger room.

The good: Decent size room at ground level overlooking the wharf. Reasonably appealing decor, and high ceilings. Nice view. We also had a small front deck with 2x outdoor chairs and table, and a small front garden with picket fence and gate. Nice place to sit, even on a cold winter morning. Air-conditioner kept the room comfortable, and ran very quietly. Bed was softer than most hotels provide, but pretty comfy, and had small bedside table each side. Ensuite was spacious, and shower was very nice. Bar fridge, kettle, coffee plunger and assorted teas, coffees, etc supplied. Decent hanging storage and shelves to put your suitcase on. Small desk in the corner. Plenty of powerpoints. Undercover parking right outside our door. Staff were friendly and tried to be as helpful as they could.

The not so good: Lounge suite was not particularly comfortable, and positioned so you couldn't see the TV. Didn't matter much though, as the TV reception was so bad it was unwatchable. Staff member went to check it out while we went out for dinner, but couldn't fix it. Wifi was pretty slow. I could just barely - but not reliably - stream TV catchup channels on my laptop. Hotspotting from my Telstra-carrier phone was also pretty terrible, but I suspect that may be because we were in a shadow from the tower here. Speed was superfast from up near the supermarket up the hill. Only single dining-style chair (not very comfy either) and a small coffee table, so even if the TV reception worked, you'd most likely be sitting on the bed to watch. Carpet was pretty old, but in good condition. No toaster or microwave. None available either. No crockery or cutlery, so you can't even make yourself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. No electric blanket for the bed, and it gets pretty cold in Strahan in winter, although the air-conditioner helped to take the edge off the bed. The two closest powerpoints to the bed were actually behind the bed, and at a height where the mattress pushed up against them. This made them unusable for phone chargers, so if you want your phone close, I suggest bringing your own powerboard, or have 3-4 metre charger cord. We could hear the people above when they got in and out of bed, and when they walked around. Fortunately we didn't hear any other bed action.

It's a great location, and a very short walk to the pub, restaurant, Gordon River cruise terminal, Visitors' Centre, etc. Price was reasonable given...

A beautiful town and a beautiful location unfortunately marred by terrible front office service with a completely dismissive attitude to customer issues.

We checked in and our rooms were allocated at the rear of the building, unfortunately away from any views, given the high occupancy rate.

We accepted that and moved on with exploring Strahan.

On settling for the evening, our travelling companions found that their bed had collapsed somewhat in the middle and had a misaligned frame causing the sleepers to sleep “downhill”. Given that it was late at night, they chose to sleep reversed to at least try and get some sleep.

In the morning, our companions went to reception requesting someone attend the room and replace or fix the bed. She was told quite directly that they were not due for service that morning and they would have to put up with it. My friend challenged that and the young lady begrudgingly said she would have someone look at it.

Returning to the room, it was clear to our friends no one had looked at the bed, let alone made an attempt to fix it.

I attended reception with my friend and requested to speak with the manager. We asked the manager why no one had attended the room and he told us they had, “tested” the bed (not sure how) and it was fine. I asked him the room number they “tested” and he quoted another number. I asked that he send someone to solve the problem, and whilst not really wanting to, he agreed to. We went to dinner and after returning, nothing had changed. Our friends decided to just turn the mattresses around themselves and retired for the night. After settling, they received a knock on the door just before 10pm from housekeeping letting them know the manager had forgotten to request the bed be repaired and they were here to move our friends to another room. Given the late hour they declined and put up with the uncomfortable bed for another night.

It is clear that NRMA do not take customer satisfaction seriously. The attitudes of the front office staff were appalling. Zero empathy for the situation and a complete reluctance to assist in resolving it. Their attitude reflects so poorly in NRMA that it would cause us to avoid any NRMA location in the future.

All that was required was someone to take ownership, and not one person was prepared to. In addition, the rude responses we received told us there was was little to no training provided to your staff. This attitude was in complete contrast to the bar and restaurant staff who could not be more helpful.

Do better NRMA - your advertising shouts about helping people and in this case you...

Whatever you do, DO NOT stay here!! The rooms are not fit for habitation and are a health hazard for anyone who stays here, you would have a more comfortable and clean stay by sleeping in your car than in what Strahan Village calls rooms. When we walked in we were greeted by the overwhelming stench of mould and mustiness, a dining set from the 70s, that's upholstery was literally sticky 🤮 and a piece of carpet duct tapped to the floor. The kitchen bench was filthy, with sticky smears all over it and the glass wear was covered in fingerprints and greasy lip smears. The sliding door was also covered by greasy smears and hand prints and the entire frame and tracks caked in what looked to be decades of dust, dirt, mould and black slime, the curtains were also filthy. The carpets were filthy, dust, hair and unidentifiable muck everywhere. The furniture was caked in decades of dust and mould. The mattresses were rock hard, lumpy, uncomfortable and ancient. One of bathrooms in our so called connecting 'suite' had lino that was extremely worn and probably decades old and covered in mould, random pubic hairs, dust and stains, the vanity was swollen stinky chip board and the toilet wobbled, the window frame was caked in dust and mould. The bath was ancient and obvious signs of water damage and a crappy mouldy shower curtain. The second bathroom had also random pubic hairs and other hair stuck to the walls and floor, the shower had broken tiles and mould and sticky marks on the vanity and severe water damaged mouldy chip board shelves, which were used to store towels 🤮 the window also was caked in dust, black slime and mould! The blankets were dusty and musty and every window had black slime and mould. How they can still legally, let alone ethically or morally, let these rooms out is beyond comprehension. The only redeeming quality of this hell hole was the view of the river, however the view means nothing when it comes to your health being compromised from being exposed to biotoxins from mould, unhygienic cleaning practices, lack of basic maintenance and lack of updating of rooms fixtures and decor for literally decades. Stay here at...