Hotel Bondi

We had booked three nights at Hotel Bondi. The first night, Thursday, was great. The room was old but ok, location is great. Friday night the DJ kept us awake until 2am. First thing Saturday I spoke to reception about it and he offered us another room, but admitted the sound would be about the same, so we said we wanted to cancel Saturday night. He said we were unlikely to get our money back for saturday night. We'd have to email during business hours. My husband and I went away to think and talk about it, and decided we couldn't do another 2am night so we'd cancel. I emailed the next day and the reply was that we wouldn't get our money back because the websites all state it's a late night venue. I responded with what was on Wotif, which doesn't state that anywhere, and followed up that email a week later, but it's been over a month and they haven't replied so I guess that's goodbye to our money. I do not recommend Hotel Bondi. Definitely not on a Fri/Sat, but I'm really unhappy with how management have just ignored us, even though I was very polite and countered their incorrect argument. Very poorly handled.

The attitude here is like a group of beat down staff. They need a lift from the higher ups, For the crap they deal with. Don’t know if it’s personal or professional reasons. But Xmas is here and they need to be a little more cheerful as opposed to lying about issuing out change after 10am given they have a Safe in conjunction with the hotel and gaming machines of all sorts. Hope the Xmas cheer will be better For this place because the customer service here needs work in the morning.

Room and bathroom were dirty, not as advertised at all online, alot of maintenance issues with the building itself that clearly haven’t been fixed or acknowledged judging from other reviews too. I had the same issues which I didn’t look honestly until after my trip. e.g. windows banging against old frame all day that had warped due to heat or wear and tear over time, bathroom fan cannot be turned off, so constant buzzing next to your bedroom. Uneven flooring with hotspots due to I assume electrical cabling underneath, feel like you’re gonna fall through the hallway floors with uneven squeaky wood covered by dirty carpet to mask it, lifts make scraping noises constantly. Walls are paper thin, so can hear your neighbours as if they were in your room even in the day time. Pub downstairs is decent for the price, but if you’re staying at the hotel itself. Pick anywhere else. Place is a dump honestly that clearly lives off its location more than its service and accommodation. The money is made downstairs along with the pokies machines clearly so there’s no incentive to fix the hotel itself. Don’t give this place your money. Outside noise can be understood to a degree, as you’re given earplugs for your stay which should be warning enough to leave, but you’ll be annoyed with the noises internally more than outside on the strip. That’s if you can get past the dirty bathroom and stained towel upon your arrival.

Genuinely never seen the like of this anywhere. About 5 customers were standing waiting to order food and drinks at the bar. I was waiting to order dinner and a drink. For some reason the manager (?) decided this was the time to conduct some sort of training session. Perhaps she was a rep from Diageo or something? She was holding the attention of every single member of floor / bar staff at once in a sort of huddle giving guidance to them how ‘Guinness is very popular these days’ and some other inane nonsense. There was no acknowledgment whatsoever to any of the customers waiting. I gave an indignant look to the pleasant bar staff who had been previously serving me and could tell from her look she knew what was happening was ridiculous. Honestly flabbergasted. If you need to hold training talks then don’t do it in the middle of your happy hour when customers are waiting to be served. I walked out, went elsewhere and I won’t be back. This occurred just after 5pm on Thursday 30th of October.

All in all 8 had a great stay here. The Hotel is beautifully old and so very well maintained. The rooms are good and the cleanliness is top rate. Could not fault it. Food in the bistro was excellent and staff friendly. 😃 Reception staff were very friendly and were very helpful with any of my questions where to find things or anything I asked. Only draw back was the noise in the street at night. Gotta say though the Hotel supplied ear putty which certainly helped alot. I would definitely recommend. 👌