Inside Australia's filthiest 5-star hotel
A luxury hotel owned by one of Australia’s largest accommodation chains has been slammed online by furious guests who compared the 5-star hotel to a highway motel.
A room at the QT Port Douglas, located near the Great Barrier Reef, costs more than $400 per night in the high season.
The QT chain markets itself as “luxury design hotels with a touch of quirk” and when the QT Port Douglas, formerly a Rydges, opened in 2012, it billed itself as “boutique luxury hotel … a tropical paradise for the way you are”.
But angry patrons have condemned the top end hotel, with one saying they “wouldn’t stay here again if you paid me”. Customers have complained that bed linen was stained, furniture broken, showers were cold, cutlery dirty, rotting food left in room and extremely poor service.
On TripAdvisor, photo proof of complains have been uploaded of mouldy sun loungers, pillows streaked with dirt and squashed bugs in uncleaned rooms.
“The decor is cheap; lampshades broken and lopsided; there are stains and scuffs all over the floor, walls and decor; grease on the handles of the cupboards; stains on the pillows; batteries were corroded in the TV remote which made it unusable and there was an out of date Snickers in the minibar,” said one angry customer.
“We felt like we were in a cheap run-down motel,” one guest commented.
“If I could rate this zero stars I would,” was another.
When it came to the food, “a Bunnings sausage would be better,” a customer said.
A spokeswoman for QT’s parent company told news.com.au they were “always sorry to hear that some guests have been disappointed” and that the resort was now on the market and would be sold.
Owned by Event Entertainment and Hospitably, QT is part of the same group as Rydges hotels and the Thredbo ski resort, as well as Event and BCC cinemas.
Norman Arundel, Event’s Hotels Operations Manager told news.com.au the hotel was now up for sale.
“While QT Port Douglas has been a much loved part of the QT family, the property is on the market following an asset review in 2017. QT Port Douglas is still open for business and we will continue to deliver great guest experiences synonymous with the brand,” he said.