Ardo Hotel — Hotel in Townsville City

Ardo Hotel was only a few weeks old when we stayed there for two nights in late December. I’d watched it being constructed over the past couple of years so was looking forward to staying there the next time I was in Townsville. When I booked I requested the bed be made with sheets and a blanket – not a doona/duvet – and with feather pillows. Our flight was delayed so we checked in late at night and were advised that the bed had been made as requested but, when we got into our Ardo Suite ($715 per night), we discovered it’d been made with a doona and the sheets and blankets had been left on top for us to make the bed ourselves! ||We called down for housekeeping and two women came and remade the bed. They advised that no turn down service is offered at night and no complimentary water or chocolates are left by the bed. We then had to ring down again as the night light running the length of the bathroom and on a sensor, was reflected in the hallway mirror, illuminating the bedroom whenever someone walked into the bathroom which didn't have a door. The exhaust fan in the shower was also on a sensor and turned on very noisily for five or ten minutes whenever someone passed it. To make matters worse, the bathroom and bedroom are divided by two long sliding glass vanity mirrors which don’t properly seal the space, so light also came into the bedroom at the ends and over the tops of these mirrors. While a maintenance man was in the room trying unsuccessfully to deactivate the sensors, we asked him to check the air conditioning which was too warm despite trying to adjust the temperature by using the control panel. He offered to cool the room down by overriding with the main controls downstairs.||The other unforgiveable design fault is that the rooms are tiled and all hard surfaced (to be cleaned by hosing down?): a terrazzo bench along one wall in the bedroom becomes the desktop at the other end while in the bathroom a terrazzo bench becomes the bathroom sink. The benches are fine for storing luggage on but not for sitting on comfortably. There are three desk chairs in the room – one at the desk and two around a small table – but no sofa. When I complained about there being no comfortable place to sit I was told that if I upgraded to a Corner Suite (at extra cost), there would be a sofa. Our room - it was hardly a suite - had a large balcony with, wait for it, a bathtub on it. There were lots of boats moored below and I’m sure the people on them wouldn’t want to look up at us naked on the balcony. It was way too hot and humid to go out there anyway. The hotel entrance and lobby are also tiled but the grouting is a couple of centimetres below the tiles themselves so, like cobblestones in Rome, it’s very noisy dragging roller bags across the expanse of the foyer.||Ardo offers breakfast on room service but has no restaurant serving breakfast. For that, guests have to walk next door to the casino which is part of the group. When phoning the main number, a recorded announcement asks if you want The Ville Casino, Ardo or the Entertainment Centre on the far side. We needed an ice bucket to chill a bottle of Champagne in, but hung on for twenty minutes before our call was answered and then were already in the restaurant having dinner when someone phoned to see if we still wanted the ice as we weren’t answering the door when it eventually turned up. They need more staff.||To be fair, staff were obliging and offered to move us to the casino hotel for our second night as the lighting had been a serious (lack of) sleep issue. Then they advised they’d temporarily fixed the sensor light problem and offered a discount on the room rate. Whether or not they deactivate the sensors for other guests who complain remains to be seen. Our food in Marmor Restaurant was good and wait staff were friendly and efficient. ||At the price level of a five star hotel, though, Ardo only delivers a three (or at a stretch, possibly a four) star experience due to its bad design and lack of...

5 Star Property 5 Star FOH Manager 0 Star frontline staff: performance, etiquette, manners, respect, integrity. 0 Star Information technology

Arrived, sat in my car patiently for a couple of minutes, humbly waiting for a concierge to acknowledge my arrival. Unfortunately he had no inclination to offer to open a door or attempt to acknowledge me. Reluctantly let myself out of my vehicle and commenced walking to where I was met by an Ardo Concierge. I asked "Do you offer concierge or Valet parking here?" Young lad "Yeah but it's $20 bucks per night for valet" I obviously appeared confused at this response as I was carrying my bags out of the car but hadn't paid a fee? Maybe bags being carried out of your car is an optional extra???? Not sure...

I opened my rear door and boot (I assumed) he would assist with luggage, alas the young gentleman was so perplexed at the task, he asks "would you like your pram out?" (as my 18 month old stands next to the trolley and I am unpacking the car looking for the keys). "Yes, please". Ultimately I was forced to roll the Baggage trolley into the Foyer. FOH Manager made aware of situation - FOH Manager absolutely amazing in dealing with poor front of house customer service.

Pre-dinner - asked for information on baby sitters ARDO may have (online on ARDO website) provided response. Followed instructions provided and called number. No list exists. At this point provided details to FOH Manager - again amazing response and attempted to rectify the issue and source baby sitter. Provided feedback that was not necessary - just wanted future customers provided the right information he strongly agreed.

Dinner - prebooked Online (with notes - asking for a high chair, water views and as an anniversary). Picture attached. Asked while being seated at allocated seats "how would we eat dinner on a table lower than our knees". Was told: "I'm so sorry we are fully booked, in the future please place any requests prior to booking" I attempted to say to the young lady "We did, I put it on our booking...." Unfortunately she was already walking away whilst I was talking. Again - FOH Manager - again amazing response and attempted to rectify the issue and source better seating. Unfortunately Rooftop Manager attended tables and provided same feedback from staff and further said "Rooftop isn't ideal for meals with children and we are fully booked for Valentines day, when did you book?" I said "I think if I had booked, you've allocated seating, then you have accepted my booking, why not just say you're fully booked and not seat us where we can't eat?" Rooftop Manager provided an apology. Provided feedback to FOH Manager later (as he even tried to source a table for us at a better restaraunt) that was not necessary - just wanted future customers provided the right information, prior to and during bookings.

Walk to The Ville for dinner - Concierge happens to be driving past in the golf buggy on our right. My fiancee noticed the young conciergeand says "he doesn't look too impressed seeing us Walking past". Looked up and noticed young concierge giving his rendition of Stalins staredown - this was one of the longest, most drawn out deathstares I can remember in recent memory, and I have served in war zones...

Admin - Don't bother asking to complete a yellow canary request - to charge to account if you're only a lowly in-house peasant, incorrect information provided there as well. High Rollers must get the better treatment.

Standards - the standards you walk past are the...

Lovely hotel - our room (an ocean front suite) was very swish and elegant. However the rooms have a few issues which the hotel can and should address: there is no Nespresso machine (the coffee bags provided are simply awful), the hair dryer is one of those with a tightly curled power cord (almost impossible to use given the location of the power points - I mean provide a decent hair dryer), there are no ammenities in the bathroom (eg. cotton swabs, shower cap, toothbrush, etc - usually provided even in 3* hotels). ||Now onto the issue that really lopped a star off our rating - on checkin we asked to book one of their 2 fine-dining restaurants (the only one open that evening) - we were told the only booking available was 5:30pm or after 7:45pm as it was very busy - so we booked at the rooftop bar (more on that later) - on checking the online booking for Marmor we noticed that for months in advance there were no bookings slots available from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. When we stayed another night (after 5 days on Orpheus Island) and queried this, the checkin agent then admitted these times were reserved for walk-ins!!! So she rang the manager and abracadabra we had a booking for 6:30pm where we spent over $300 - so they essentially lost our business on our first stay. We really enjoyed our meal - except for the Townsville chic dress code of male patrons (daggy jeans or cutoffs, a T-shirt and trainers)||Now onto the rooftop bar where we "ate" on our first stay - be aware while it is undercover it is totally open on the sides - so on windy / rainy evenings it is not the best venue. When we arrived at about 6:30pm (with a reservation) - the "manager" on duty offered us a table very exposed (it was a rainy windy evening) so we asked to sit somewhere else - I suggested an empty table in an area facing the water and was told that area was fully booked but he said we could sit anywhere on the side facing the marina, which we did. When the rainy evening turned very nasty (high winds and driving rain - making it impossible to sit on the water side) many people moved to our side. The "manager" then asked us to move to make room for these people - after a bit of back-and-forth - we refused to move and he just walked off in a "huff". ||Something else to be aware of - there is no all-day restaurant at Ardo - only the 2 fine dining restaurants (only open some evenings) and the rooftop bar (which opens at 4pm) so for breakfast, lunch or a coffee or snack you must walk over to The Ville (only a 2 - 3 minute walk away) - we had breakfast there and it is most definitely not a 5* experience but at $33 pp it's "good enough". We did notice on The Ville website that breakfast is $25 if paid at checkin - we were not offered this at Ardo (not sure if this was an omission...