Rydges Darwin Central

The location was great, central to most attractions and walking distance to Lagoon and wharf. The room was clean and well equipped generally. The wifi was excellent. The bar was excellent and friendly staff. The breakfast had cost options which was good and allowed me to have just cereal and coffee, instead of a full cooked breakfast.

There were major flaws in the policy and design. When booking, beware of the fine print! I booked for five nights and ten minutes later changed it to four nights as I could not get a flight from Bali to Darwin on that day. The full cost of the reservation was already deducted from my account and a terse email followed saying that I could not change the reservation. All I was doing was to let them know that I would be arriving on the next day, the cost was not an issue, but the reply I got was not welcoming or polite. The restaurant is closed on Sunday and Monday nights, this is very unprofessional for a top hotel. The room cleaning was not consistent and the girl was not polite. The pool is a bad joke! For a top hotel I expected a proper pool, not a tiny one that would only fit two people. There is enough spare space that could have been used for a proper pool and angled at ninety degrees to the existing pool. It is still possible to build a new pool next to the little one. This is most important, as in Darwin, the only safe swimming is the waterfront lagoon or a hotel pool.

Breakfast was pretty good

I asked for a quiet room in my booking. Even though the hotel was not anywhere near full, they gave me the noisiest room possible in the building: the ONLY room on the floor that has a connecting door to another room. So you can hear EVERYTHING through that door and I was unfortunate enough to be next door to a drunk idiot that liked to sing (don’t give up your day job) and bang on things, including the door to my room! Fortunately they put me in another room when I complained, but really, why should such a stupid set up exist in the first place?? Other than that, the decor was very tired, the rooms smell like wet dog and not updated since at least the 90’s. Lastly, the air con is abhorrently noisy! About as soothing as listening to someone driving a shopping trolley across gravel. I’ve stayed in many Rydges properties and this was by far the worst. Auckland has the best one.