Sage Hotel Wollongong — Hotel in Wollongong City Council

Sage Hotel Wollongong is located directly opposite WIN stadium, and very easy walking distance to the beach, multiple green spaces and playgrounds, and loads of eating options.

We visited as a couple with a 2 year old, brought our own cot but used a sheet provided by the hotel, and had Á la carte breakfast in the morning.

Firstly, you should be aware that there is a car park but it operates on a first come first served basis, and it was full when we arrived. The alternative carpark we were directed to was pre-book only because of an event happening in WIN stadium. Luckily we found a space on the road about 50m away from the hotel which was 2P until 6pm weekdays and 12pm on Saturdays. If longer parking is needed, you might need to travel further away from the hotel during peak periods. The accommodation room was spacious and clean. There was a wireless charging clock, a lamp with USB outlet on the desk, and multiple GPOs to use throughout the room. The bathroom had a large bath and separate shower with both overhead and handheld shower heads. Water pressure and temperature were both great. The king bed is one of the "zip-together" kind (two singles combined) but actually the most comfortable version that I've come across. You can just about feel the line where the two beds meet when lying directly on that area, but there was no canyon effect as the mattresses sloped towards each other, and the edges of the mattresses felt soft compared to usual. There is a lot of space in the room which was ideal for a cot and suitcase, and it still left us space to move around easily. A modest but usable balcony has views to the ocean from one side, and caught a decent amount of sun on a winter morning. The railings felt solid and looked well maintained, and the furniture on the balcony (two chairs and a small table) was clean, sturdy and comfortable enough. At breakfast there was a noticeable shortage of staff (for which we received an apology and they explained it was due to last minute sick calls), but the staff who were there were friendly despite being obviously a bit frazzled. We ordered from the á la carte breakfast options, and found it a bit surprising when our meals arrived with dry toast and no butter provided. It was also a bit disappointing when we were told (after waiting and having everything else served) that we should get the juice ourselves from the buffet - this wasn't explained when we ordered so we waited for ages for nothing. It also means that a $6 juice is only a tiny glass (you know the sizes they give you at breakfast buffets!), so it definitely felt like a rip off. The other breakfast items were priced in a relatively normal cafe range - actually much cheaper than most hotel restaurants charge. Overall a pleasant stay and I would look to stay at Sage again if I am in Wollongong overnight...

The entire experience with staying at the Sage Hotel was nothing but terrible! The entire experience was difficult and the worst I’ve ever experienced! I hate leaving negative reviews as I know how important google reviews are! Right from the very beginning when I booked my Accommodation in 7 months advance I should have noticed the red flags, however being a family member was getting married in Wollongong and all of our family and friends were staying at this hotel we persevered! I originally booked two rooms via their direct website, however the bookings didn’t go through, so I called and booked directly with the reservation desk. They offered a great breakfast deal and also offered room upgrades due to being family members of the bride who booked one of the large suites. A confirmation was never sent after the reservation was first booked, I had to email as well as call numerous times just to have them sent through. 3 weeks before check in emailed to confirm our reservations were still in place and was told to call the week of the reservation. I called the week of the check in date asking for a confirmation of both rooms to sent through and also asked about the upgrades. The receptionist stated this was not requested and they couldn’t offer this. I also asked with the balcony room could we please have an ocean view and was told you will get what is given. Once the confirmations of both rooms came through I called again noting the breakfast offer had not been made and was told that had expired. Even though this was offered and as well as advertised at the time of the reservation 7 months ago! They said there is no record of it. I also asked would it be possible to have an hour early check in as we were traveling on the day of the wedding and just wanted to freshen up before attending the wedding and was told no! Upon checking in the staff member was nice enough but didn’t seem to enjoy her job. Once in our room it smelled old and musty, there was a big dirty stain on the top of the bed linen in the middle of the bed. When we notified reception they stated that they couldn’t guarantee the linen could be changed as they didn’t have staff available. We also didn’t have any towels or bath mats in our room. Lucky there was a storage room next to our room that had clean linen and fresh towels as I changed this myself! Would I stay here again? No, would I recommend the Sage hotel? No. Was there value for money? Definitely not at $480 per night! Lastly my balcony views was of concrete walls...

Disappointing..

Everything seemed to have a $$ add on. When we booked the accommodation it seemed to be a pretty good price, but once we got there things just kept adding up.

Breakfast was a real let down. If you wanted hot food it was an add on, if you wanted coffee, an add on. Parking was an add on each night for $25. If you want room service, be ready for a hefty fee charge. I might have been somewhat okay with it if the food was actually good. It was really bad, pork belly was completely burnt at the bottom and the fat was not rendered down. So very chewy and not hot when it arrived in our room, sliders were small and hardly had anything inside. Chips were good and the chocolate lava cake was overcooked and dry with cold chocolate topping and ice cream was melted. Just poor excuse and felt like the didn't care, the way things were cooked made me question what kind of chef would think that's worth sending out?

For the first 4 days of our stay the TV wasn't working properly and all the main channels were static, I wanted to complain but it slipped my mind as we were busy throughout the days and didn't get home till later on. We mainly watched SBS Food.

If you are on a lower level floor, you'll need to get used to thin walls and being able to hear neighbours talking etc. unfortunately we had a crying child (this was only for 1 night as we came up 1 day early) but we moved up to level 11 the next day for our 5 day stay.

Bathrooms were rusty and dirty (Shower, drains, towel rails). The towel rail is in a weird spot right next to the toilet in which the toilet roll is almost behind the toilet, very awkward spot. Only 1 power point in the bathroom, behind the door on the wall (these should be near the sink/mirror).

We got a rollaway bed for 2 nights. The single mattress was so bad, it felt like I was sleeping on a fence. So uncomfortable. I had to put 3 pillows down on it to get comfortable. That's $60 a night, for that uncomfortable fence mattress! (We asked for a discount - as at this point we had spent alot of money there already and they allowed it)

Although we were disappointed in all of that, the staff were nice. It's definitely not a 3.8 hotel, like the rating has on Google says, so please don't expect that.

The location is really what you are paying for. It is close to everything and can walk to the beach.

Despite all this my husband and I still had a great holiday but we have learned our lesson and will...