We contacted Aseem prior to our stay to advise we would be checking in at approximately 9.00pm (certainly not a early check in!) and so asked if a possible later checkout was possible and explained that we did not intend to use the kitchen to cook and would be using only one bedroom. He agreed to this as our limited use of the entire venue made it faster for him to turn around the accommodation for the next guests.
The first night we slept in the main bedroom which turned out to be noisy for several reasons. The accommodation is adjacent to the train station which makes it difficult to get a restful sleep, although this is understandable it’s not clearly stated in the profile. The glass is not double glazed and the window did not close entirely as the latch was faulty. Further more to this, in the room is a portable air conditioner that has 150mm ducting running from the window to draw air from outside. Besides not aesthetically pleasing, the big issue is that the roller blind protrudes from the window so that the room is filled with light. As our stay was about getting some long awaited rest we were unfortunately unable to sleep past 6.00am.
Due to these issues, on the second night we had to try a different bedroom. The other issue we had was that all the bedrooms we noticed none of the beds had a top sheet, there was a doona which on all did not appear to have been laundered for some time. Adding to this when we washed the linen as per the policy we discovered the pillows were significantly discoloured and stained.
During the morning I decided to make tea, hoping a little milk may be available which wasn’t so I ventured to the deli. Upon disposing of the teabag I discovered the bin was full of rubbish. Now I understand that a bin can be missed but I believe what it indicates is the accommodation is not serviced to an acceptable standard. There is no attention to detail which is obvious when considering things as simple as there being no toilet roll holder.
Aseem seems to promote himself as a super host but I’m unsure why, as someone who has their guests best interests at heart would have advised them of the major gas pipe line works that commenced at 7.00am the second morning of our stay on both streets the accommodation is on namely Anderson St and Simpson St. This included concrete cutting and jack hammering at this time. Aseem has denied knowing about this but I find this difficult to understand as he owns the Indian restaurant below the accommodation. Now considering he owns a business and accommodation on both streets I believe he would of received the notification that the council provided.
When I advised Aseem of these issues his solution was to offer a bottle of wine. As we rarely get a opportunity to relax and unwind this experience certainly tainted our consecutive days off after traveling from interstate. We found the offer of a cheap bottle of wine as compensation insulting.
What is frustrating about this stay is we paid equivalent to 4 star hotel prices but received backpacker accommodation.
This accommodation is not suitable for anyone that expects better than backpacker standard accommodation.
The accommodation is not suitably clean, it has odours, is noisy and sleeping arrangements are far from satisfactory.
We do not have unrealistic expectations of accommodation but do expect them to be clean and comfortable which this premises is not.