Heart Hotel and Gallery Whitsundays — Restaurant in Airlie Beach

I booked a room here for a single night while my wife and I were on driving holiday. It was the night of our wedding anniversary and I booked what I thought would be a luxurious room overlooking the water as a surprise for my wife. It certainly turned out to be a surprise for both of us, but not in a good way. ||When we arrived at the room we were very, very disappointed at the standard of the room for the price we had paid through Expedia. I'll explain why below, but I had paid $599 for what is described as a "water view king spa room", expecting something very luxurious with a view of the water. This wasn't the case, and I complained to Max, who was then on duty at Reception. Max's initial response was to shrug, literally, shrug his shoulders when I complained that this was simply not a room anywhere near worth $599 per night. However, what followed was a master class in customer service by Max and Dean, the other gentleman on duty. I will set out below why I believe this hotel is grossly overpriced, but I also have to recognise that Dean and Max, once we got over Max's initial inertia and shoulder shrugging, did everything they possibly could to assist, and far more than I could have reasonably expected. With the concurrence of Expedia and the assistance of the 2 gentlemen, I was able to cancel the Expedia booking and pay for the room directly to the hotel at $399 for the night. We were also moved to another room and were provided with two $25 breakfast vouchers. ||And so...on to the room...||At best, the name and description of the room on the hotel's web site is overstated. The room we were first given was a basic motel room in size and design, with the only real luxuries being a large flat screen TV, a Bose sound bar and a large spa bath. The room was on the first floor with a view of the large public car park adjacent to the building. To suggest that the glimpses of water through the distant trees was a water view is simply misleading. The room was also furnished with a bed and bedside tables and nothing else. And I mean nothing. There was not a chair to sit on, a table or bench to eat at or a coffee table to rest a cup on. Nothing. If you wanted to sit down, the bed was only option. And it was also a very small room. ||We were moved to another room on the second floor which was essentially the same room, but had a comfortable chair and foot rest, but still no table to eat a meal at or coffee table to rest a cup on. And the view was only marginally better. We were still smack bang in the middle of a car park essentially. ||I really want to be clear here, that there is nothing specifically wrong with the rooms we saw, apart from the missing furniture. But they simply are not worth the price the hotel is charging for them. At $399 per night we expected much more. Check the photos on their web site, and you'll note they are taken at angles which don't show the car park. ||Which leads me to my final comment. The web site is full of exaggeration and hyperbole. When you arrive, you will not be "...greeted by our gracious team of bespoke butlers which offer highly personalised intuitive service." You will go through the same check in process as you have at every other hotel you've ever stayed at. You will then be staying in a room which is not "...cutting edge interior design with a with a flair for functionality." It will be a clean and comfortable, but basic hotel room. And you'll wonder, like we did, what possessed you to pay $400 a night...

We had been given a complimentary 11 AM checkout the evening before departure, 1 hour later than the 10 AM provided checkout. At 10:30 AM, a woman walked into the room without knocking. My friend was dressed and laying in bed as we returned from breakfast and I was on the toilet. She said “sorry”, left the room and then came back to reopen the door without permission AGAIN and threw the clean sheets for the next guest all over the floor, in the walkway inside our room as shown in photo (where sheets are in photo is exactly where she threw them and left them). This is supposed to be a 5 star hotel, this is far from a 5 star experience and is an abnormal experience for even a cheaper hotel, or even a hostel for that matter. It is always a standard to still knock. When coming in and out through the stay, I heard Allison and an older gentleman that worked at the desk talking poorly and would gossip about various guests. When going to checkout, Alison said “what do you need” in a rude tone, rather than asking us how we are, if we enjoyed our stay, ect. I informed about the experience of the staff entering the room and throwing the next guests sheets in and the response was that she would simply speak to housekeeping about it, and she did not seem to think it was a big deal and showed no care or compassion. She also told us that despite having been confirmed for a late checkout the evening before, they put that our late checkout was on a different date accidentally, but it was clearly indicated which room we were in and that it was in the morning we’d be leaving. This is not a valid excuse. She also tried to blame it on maintenance and said they mentioned to her that they did that, but maintenance didn’t have a reason to visit our room and they wouldn’t be the ones with new sheets. What if my friend and I were changing, what if they walked into the actual bathroom while using the toilet, ect. This is a serious situation and an invasion of privacy and even safety that should be taken seriously. I guess the “do not disturb” sign on the door does not account for anything at Heart Hotel. This was my second stay here, and likely my last after this issue on the last day and Alison’s lack of kindness through the stay or care of this event. The property is in less well kept condition than my time here a few years back as well, we found hairs in the bed and gum stuck to nightstands. The most disturbing part is knowing that the sheets that were used to make our bed and all guests bed are thrown in a messy pile to sit on the dirty floor that everyone walks on with their dirty shoes, we even got black marks on the sheets as we left accidentally as we did not feel it was our responsibility to move them after this invasion of privacy. I read other reviews after the stay and found that others experience with the same staff members and cleanliness were consistent with our experience. Stayed...

Stayed 4 nights Price- $300 per night. Single traveller.

Extremely dissapointing!!

In-room Bose sound system, Samsung smart TV and Nespresso coffee machine, is clearly to dress-up and hide a lot of what's wrong with his accomodation.

How this establishment has a 5 star classification is beyond me, obviously its self rated and not independently. If independently reviewed, its definitely not reviewed in the hotel category, possibly in the backpacker or similar category. This place is run and feels like a glorified single room at a hostel/backpackers and therefore should be priced accordingly. Examples: No staff on the premises after 6.00pm No in-room phone Poor in-room WiFi Sheets or linen not changed in the entirety of my stay No additional bottled water only 2 per stay. No top up of pods for coffee machine only 4 pods allowed per stay

Cleanliness: Stained bed sheets of blood drops. Black mould on sealing. Shower head, walls and glass stained of rust, mould and mildue. Curtain full of dust and smell of mould. Carpet full of stains and soiled and smells. Balcony not swept or mopped Nothing wiped down for entirety of stay(a dead bug has been sitting on bench since day one). White ants crawling in all parts of the room including the bed. Have had itchy and red skin daily. Guest should not have to ask for a room to be cleaned or linen to be changed. We are living in a pandemic, for health and safety reasons a room should be cleaned and sanitised daily!

The accomodation is situated on the largest public carpark in Airlie. The carpark is operational 24/7 and the side of the room facing the carpark is vertical glass panels that open and close so there is absolutely no noise protection at all. It is extremely noisy all hours of the day everyday. During the day its the shoppers and visitors for the lagoon at 3am its the party goers returning to pickup their vehicles and at 5 am its the rubbish trucks, you are not going to have a restful nights sleep if you stay here.

Reception staff are friendly and attentive to needs but clearly are stretched and overworked. If reception is not going to be attended or any staff available on the premises after 6pm daily, its important that this is made clear to all guests upon check-in, as its not stated anywhere on the paperwork given. Furthermore, its extremely important that instructions are given on what to do if guests require help between the hours of 6.00pm-8.00am ie; loss or stolen of room key(a very common issue when travelling).

It seems to me to save money and increase profit, this accomodation is risking the health and safety of its guests.

Save your self money and stay up the road at the local backpackers in a single room..same...