If you’re after a genuine 5 star hotel, this isn’t the place for you. We paid for and stayed in the Opera Suite (best type available) for close to a week, during the summer school holidays in January. The Suite wasn’t an upgrade, or a discounted or 3rd party rate, but a flexible rate, booked directly as an Accor ALL Platinum guest. When we arrived at 2:45 pm they said the suite was not ready and we couldn’t check in until closer to 4pm. Ok, it’s school holidays and it’s busy, no big issue… and we went off to have a late lunch nearby. No ALL loyalty recognition was given, and we later figured out they had an older ALL status (Gold) in the system from a previous stay, and so ALL Platinum status inclusions like breakfast were not correctly applied. Other things like the welcome gift only showed up after a reminder was given. The welcome drink vouchers (also applicable to the Gold level) did not show up in the app as suggested. After finally settling in around 4:30-5:00, we went down to the pool to try and get into holiday mode. Unfortunately, there were no pool towels anywhere to be found, nor any staff, just loungers left empty with dirty towels strewn over them after people had departed. We later determined that the pool area is never staffed or regularly monitored; just the occasional meal/drink order shows up after being placed via a QR code at the loungers. As there was no one to speak with, I called from my mobile phone to the hotel front desk to try and get some towels delivered to the pool… 20 minutes later some finally showed up. In fact, the lack of towels at the pool was an issue throughout our stay. 4 days out of the 6, I had to call for someone to bring towels to the pool as there were none left in the cabinet. It did seem to improve after I got tired of waiting on the 4th day and went down to complain at the front desk in my swimmers! ☺️ After ordering drinks and food poolside, no one would come to clear anything. On the one occasion that we had F&B by the pool, I again needed to call up guest services again to send someone over to clear up, and while someone did finally show up to do some clearing, they only did so very selectively and then disappeared again. After another 45 minutes with ½ of our dirty plates still waiting on our loungers, I stood up and took our plates over to him when he brought out some drinks for someone else. The pool itself was fairly dirty with debris on the bottom not cleared up, and dead bugs often floating on top. No-one seemed to come in the mornings to clean it up with a net; or if they did and we missed it, it wasn’t very effective. The pool area did not appear well maintained, and one of the days I had to kick aside a rusted screw and rivet, that had fallen out of the stairs, to avoid some kid stepping on it barefoot. I guess just make sure you’ve had your tetanus shots. 😜 Back up in the room, the cleanliness of the suite bathroom was another issue. There were still mystery hairs in the shower drain from previous occupants on the day of our checking in. The bath also had dried-on ‘scum’ from previous guests. After a few days of hoping it would get cleaned, I left a note to housekeeping on the bath. While it improved, it still hadn’t been fully cleaned, so I stuck with the shower. The white wall in the en-suite basin area had make-up stains on the wall that hadn’t been cleaned throughout our stay. Vacuuming was a hit and miss as well, though one day, they left the vacuum right in front of our door the entire day until the turndown person arrived and took it away, so maybe it was used for something? Turndown only seems to consist of chocolates & tea bags being left (but not enough chocolates for each guest in the room unless you ask nicely), no servicing or preparing the bed or taking away rubbish, or even actually ‘turning down’ the beds, and adjusting lighting (as is the norm in other 5* hotels). The shutters in the bathroom were just about all broken; and had a lot of dust on them. Haven’t been cleaned in forever. There was constant dust on the shelving above the bed as well. Never cleaned off during our stay. On to breakfast, which was another let down. Breakfast was more in line with a property still aspiring to be a Novotel, rather than a Sofitel. There was no egg chef at the buffet there who would/could make custom omelettes or scrambled eggs etc, like in most other top hotels we’ve experienced. No eggs benedict or other specialties either (no eggs benny in any hotel should be a crime!). You can only order omelettes (not scrambled eggs) from the restaurant waitstaff, although order taking and delivery was pretty hit & miss. Once you did hunt someone down, they looked pretty inconvenienced by the fact that you were trying to do something other than self-serve. Finally, we found a manager, and after some debate over what we were allowed to ask for, we got some scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms in it. Most days we received some dried out, overdone omelettes. One time they didn’t even put our order through (cue: hangry kid!). With all this, I decided I’d try and stick to something simple: hard boiled eggs … but no; one of the eggs I cracked open was rotten and starting to smell already. Who knows how many days they were sitting out there, so no boiled eggs then either. The scrambled eggs on the buffet were dry and chunky as it was on a hot plate constantly cooking. The mushrooms were cooked to death and chewy as well, constantly boiling away. There were no fresh juices, only processed / canned types. I gave up on the included breakfast halfway through the stay and ate outside the hotel instead. Granted, the pastries were pretty ok (when available) and so was the bircher muesli. The general state of the hotel: Everything is old, outdated and smells musty. In fact, you can even see the mould on the ceiling in the reception area. They add their signature scent throughout the hotel to mask the damp smell; but it’s very obvious. The first night it smelt quite overpowering in the bedroom, seeping in from under the suite door. The lifts are old; frequently out of order, and some do not display the levels correctly. Allow time when coming and going to wait for the lifts. The Opera suite bathrooms were very outdated, complete with yellowing toilet seats. The shower head is barely functioning and full of limescale. The bath is a tiny corner spa, barely big enough for a child. The cherry on top: the day before leaving, hubby called guest services for a slightly later check-out, to 12-12:30PM. The person on the phone confirmed that this was no issue, and noted we could also stay later if we wished, offering until 1 pm or even later without prompting them. As we’d intended to get away by 12:30, we confirmed this time with guest services, and made our plans accordingly for the following morning. The next morning at about 11:30am, whilst showering and packing for our 12:30 checkout, the general manager (GM) calls up asking when we’ll be out of the room, because they need it back. The person we spoke to the night before apparently didn’t update the system with the agreed checkout time! I really should have expected this, given the ongoing issues we’d had with service & communication in general, but it just really tipped me over the edge. Hubby explained we are not ready to go given our agreement from the day before… then 15 minutes later, housekeeping then starts knocking on the door (‘do not disturb’ sign ignored) asking when we will be done and gone! We’ve stayed in countless 5 star properties across the world, but this was the first time I have been harassed to leave a room after agreeing to a set departure time. Terrible finish to an underwhelming stay. Again, this is not a 5 star hotel. As it stands, It’s more of an upmarket 3 star property. Most Novotel properties would do it better; maybe a quick rebrand to Novotel or even Ibis would help with better expectation setting for guests. It’s only saving grace(s) - and why I gave some stars - are 3 things: the room service / food is fast and delicious, the bed was comfortable, and the location above the Oasis mall at Broadbeach is convenient. I do hope they can turn this around, but to do that, a new approach to service and management are needed, together with a full renovation from top to bottom, indoors and out. Maybe they can go take a look at the St Regis and Ritz Carlton when these open up on the Gold Coast, for some inspiration.…