Our Cessnock experience. OMFG!
OMG! R & I stayed in the worst hotel in Cessnock on the weekend. I had to go to the Hunter Valley for work on the weekend - helping run a workshop for our project at the Crowne Plaza in the centre of nobby wine country. Due to the 2 night minimum EVERYWHERE in the Hunter winery region, I organised to stay at a Hotel in Cessnock.
Let me just say: the web site for the Hotel was VERY misleading. A prominent picture on the Web page shows a hotel with a sunny atrium and STATES that all rooms have doors that open on to said atrium. Some time since that photo was taken they converted the atrium into a flat, which a family now lives in. So our tiny room, with no ensuite, had its door and one window closed off - and a FLAT on the other side!!! The room was about 30 degrees or more (at aobut 10pm), with no air con and ineffective fans. So we had to open the door to our room to let in some air - which let all the dodgy blokes see in to our room on their way to the men’s loo, which was practically across the hall from us.
Other highlights:
- The bogan disco & singalong until 2 in the morning
- The stench of cigarette smoke from the flat in the next room and the hallway - which permeated our clothes, luggage and skin.
- Worrying about whether our new car would still be in the “car park” the morning (when I say car park, really it was more like an abandoned construction site).
- Waking up at 8am and thinking it was still night time because there was NO natural light in the room.
On the plus side - we couldn't pay before we left. They didn’t make me pay ahead, seemed to lose my booking anyway, & never took cash and never took c/card details. The old reception had been closed and the pub wasn’t open, so there was no one to take our money. I'm waiting to see if they give me call. I suspect NOT based on the complete incompetence I have experienced from them. If they do, ring me I will certainly have a few words to say :)
We exercised the demons by having breakfast at a nobby cafe in Lovedale and buying $20 of Hunter Valley chocolates. Nom nom.
Let me just say: the web site for the Hotel was VERY misleading. A prominent picture on the Web page shows a hotel with a sunny atrium and STATES that all rooms have doors that open on to said atrium. Some time since that photo was taken they converted the atrium into a flat, which a family now lives in. So our tiny room, with no ensuite, had its door and one window closed off - and a FLAT on the other side!!! The room was about 30 degrees or more (at aobut 10pm), with no air con and ineffective fans. So we had to open the door to our room to let in some air - which let all the dodgy blokes see in to our room on their way to the men’s loo, which was practically across the hall from us.
Other highlights:
- The bogan disco & singalong until 2 in the morning
- The stench of cigarette smoke from the flat in the next room and the hallway - which permeated our clothes, luggage and skin.
- Worrying about whether our new car would still be in the “car park” the morning (when I say car park, really it was more like an abandoned construction site).
- Waking up at 8am and thinking it was still night time because there was NO natural light in the room.
On the plus side - we couldn't pay before we left. They didn’t make me pay ahead, seemed to lose my booking anyway, & never took cash and never took c/card details. The old reception had been closed and the pub wasn’t open, so there was no one to take our money. I'm waiting to see if they give me call. I suspect NOT based on the complete incompetence I have experienced from them. If they do, ring me I will certainly have a few words to say :)
We exercised the demons by having breakfast at a nobby cafe in Lovedale and buying $20 of Hunter Valley chocolates. Nom nom.