Grand Harbour Accommodation

Poor self contained apartments

Watergate Apartments 16 Waterview Walk Docklands Melbourne Victoria Australia.

Lovely open two bedroom apartment at reasonable prices ($150/night T/S off peak period - winter ). Seems OK but --- Irritations --- These are completely self contained ie no room service of any kind and only minimum accesories. They are designed for four people. ie four towels, four toothbrushes, minimum shampoo and some dishwashing liquid and dishwasher tablets. Nice manchester, clean etc. Big kitchen area, good fridge, table chairsetc. On first impressions looks great.

But some things that would make this a great deal that let them down are so irritating that you should look elsewhere. eg Light globes blown in bedrooms, light for rangehood blown, batteries in remote DVD controller leaking and flat, controller useless, clock battery flat, one tiny towel rail in bathroom, only good for hand towel; no towel rails in kitchen for tea towels; oven and grill dirty;chopping board missing dish componets; no ice cube tray in fridge;no cleaning equipment (eg chux); no rinse aid for dishwasher but tablets OK; counter stools missing; main blind in lounge broken. These are all relatively minor on their own but they build up. And you cannot do anything about these things as we were there on a weekend and maintenance is off, Nothing can be fixed until the following week. Staff are only available on Saturdays anyway.

It is a great shame because what could be great apartments have been spoilt because of a careless lack of attention to detail which would cost almost nothing. What does it take to replace some batteries and a couple of light globes?!! But to the traveller with little time this can make the difference to a relaxing read in bed or a less than relaxing time. Even tho I could forgive this I am astounded that such fundamental design details like bathroom and kitchen towel rails have been overlooked. While I could replace the light globes and get a rebate, I can't install towel rails etc in a weekend!

Blind hassle was probably the worst. As it was winter could cope. but as it is a west facing main window it would be unbearable in summer. It was apparent that someone had tried to fix the blind before, because it had wire etc wrapped around the cords. Why wasn't this fixed before we arrived?

No instructions about rubbish disposal or any information about the apartment is provided - nothing - no dishwasher, washing machine, drier or oven some of which have obscure symbols. The worst is the air conditioner controller which is comprehensive but of course has that little statement- see manual for full instructions! No manual to be found. Its time was incorrectly set and I couldn't work out how to set it and of course the pleasant receptionist had no idea and suggested I wait until next week - I would be long gone by then.

One last positive thing - broadband access was good $10/24 hours, not cheap but easy to setup and worked well. Am writing this review from the apartment on my last night.

Unique Quality: Close to Dockland/Etihad stadium if football is your thing. Not too far to city but still decent walk. Close to City Circle Tram which is free. However there are many other apartments close by which offer this too. Hopefully they are better for detail. Sigh!!