Ramada Hotel & Conference Centre Marcoola Beach

Having just returned from staying at this property, I wish I could be more flattering than what I am about to be. However, will try my best to be factual and honest in my approach. We booked a 3 bedroom appt. for 4 nights. I’ll start my review with a positive (yes, there were two), the location is simply stunning, right on Marcoola Beach, you couldn't want for more, and the lagoon style pool, is spectacular, clean and well appointed with plenty of sideline shade, umbrellas and comfy chars to laze away an afternoon with a good book whilst the kids have a splash. Thank goodness for those 2 things, because unfortunately that is where the positive's stop. Night one, we were hit with torrential rain, and staying on the ground floor, we copped the rain water overflow from the many balconies above, and heard a constant "pinging" for about five hours, which kept both myself and hubby awake. A call to reception the following morning, saw us relocated to a similar (but unfortunately less well appointed) unit 3 floors up, whilst this improved the rain noise considerably, the unit itself (which I am later informed is individually owned, like many of the units in the property), was not as well maintained as the previous ground floor one. The furniture was dirty, arms on the lounges stained, the sofa bed broken, the mattress on the sofa bed, torn, stained and threadbare..... you get the picture. Blinds wouldn't go up and down, marks on the walls, and overall this unit was well overdue for a good paint and clean. Despite bringing this to the manager on duty attention, I was met with a shrug and little else. Our dinner experience was less that satisfactory, we opted to dine at the in-house restaurant on night one, I noted that staff were lackluster in their service attitude, one staffer not having her hair tied back, was serving on the ice cream counter, and actually allowed her hair to fall all over my son's ice cream, again, despite bringing this to her attention, nothing was done. In addition, the so called "kids play room" consists of 2 working playstation/tv units, and 4 broken ones. This property has the opportunity to be simply outstanding, with its location, and amenities. But unfortunately there wasn't much i could salvage from this 4 night stay. We will not be returning, nor would I recommend it for families until it gets a good scrub down, staff clean up their act, some training gets in place, and those individually owned units are brought up to standard. Consumers have many choices as to where their Qld. travel dollar ends up. I would be searching elsewhere further afield than this property, if you seek anything above sub standard service and amenities. Upon checkout, Manager on Duty did not enquire about our stay, nor was any further explanation given to my queries and complaints. Upon my return to Sydney I thought about our recent stay and decided to pen a detailed email to the General Manager prior to penning this review. I honestly didn't know if anyone would take what I had to say seriously nor did I expect a response as more than often, these large Corporate entities are faceless. Much to my surprise, this evening the General Area Manager contacted me via phone, we had a lengthy discussion, he listened to my concerns and read from my email, it appears that sometimes, clients concerns don't fall on deaf ears. He acknowledged that my concerns were valid; they do have areas where they have a less than satisfactory level of standard. He offered to reimburse me one nights stay as a gesture of goodwill and to acknowledge that they "did fall down in some areas". I believe this to be an honest offer, and accepted same. As travel consumers, we don't have to sit on our hands when things aren't right. Speak up, who knows? Someone might just be listening this time.
Note to selves: There seems to be a constant denomination regarding time share and/or properties where units and villa's are "individually owned", the standard can't always be guaranteed, nor can the amenities. for eg: unit one, night one, 2 flat screen tv's. Unit 2, nights 2, 3 and 4 (upstairs), one small portable size tv in the living room. Ask before you part with your well earned dollars, what is in the room? What can I expect with bedding? Is the room clean and/or serviced daily? Have a list on you when checking in, and get the answers you need. Everyone works hard for their money; let’s see it go to people that are "doing it right" and not simply "doing it".
Written by: Bel Russo (Mother of 4, constant traveler, freelance writer and blogger. Menai N.S.W. (Date of experience: Jan, 2011 )