Blackwood Park Cottages is in incredibly beautiful surrounds and the accommodation that
we stayed in itself (Pioneer Cottage) was charming, cosy and comfortable. Unfortunately, our stay at the accommodation for our anniversary was somewhat tarnished by our check-in experience and communication issues.
After booking, we had been offered a cheese / produce platter on arrival. We thought that
this would be a lovely way to begin our stay, especially as it was an anniversary experience
as we had advised. We made sure that we let the hosts know our indented check in time in
advance and also confirmed whilst driving up from Hobart that we would be arriving on
time.
When we arrived at the property, we found no one present in the main house (reception),
to welcome us or show us to our accommodation. Instead, there was a mobile number
written on a chalk board to call. Not being too concerned we assumed the hosts were out
temporarily and called to speak with Shane.
We were advised that they were out and would be back later, and that the property was
unlocked, with no mention of the platter that had been ‘organised’ for our arrival. There
was no apology for not being present, nor was it acknowledged that we didn’t have a key to
secure the accommodation. No time was stated to advise when the hosts may be back at
the property.
Again, we gave the hosts the benefit of the doubt and assumed they would be back soon
enough before we had to leave for Cradle Mountain as we had a reservation at the lodge
that evening. After a few hours had passed and our departure time was nearing, so we
called Shane again, who gave no indication of when he would be back at the property.
When we asked about the safety of our belongings, we were told casually that it was fine to leave the property unlocked whilst we were out (something we felt quite uncomfortable about
doing). The platter was finally mentioned and we said we would have to have it at another
time due to needing to leave the property.
After discussion with my partner at Cradle Mountain, we came to the conclusion that we
actually felt quite disappointed with our experience so far and that it was not up to
standard. We followed this with a text message to the host (as it was late evening) to voice
our concerns. We received a reply apologising and citing a family emergency as the reason
they were not present at the property. Whilst we are more than compassionate to matters
of unforeseen circumstance, this was never mentioned in any of the previous calls we had
with Shane and would have given us much more clarity earlier on. The excuse for the platter
was that arrival time can vary and therefore it was not prepared. Unfortunately, this wasn’t
a satisfactory response for us as we did our utmost to advise of specific arrival time as well
as the hosts being aware of our call as soon as we arrived.
We ended up speaking with Shane in person when we were finally provided with the key to
our cottage the next morning. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive an apology in person or
anything akin to this which would have been appreciated.
To be honest, we were quite surprised that our stay hadn’t been as we had hoped,
particularly due to the multitude of great reviews on the website. Unfortunately for us, this
did impact our stay negatively and would we encourage the hosts to learn from our
experience to provide a more respectful and professional service to guests in the future.