Osborn House

"We stayed at Osborn House expecting a luxury experience, but unfortunately the service and overall experience fell well below expectations for the price charged. The problems started at check-in. Staff could not locate our booking and then confused it with another reservation. After finally sorting it out, we received almost no orientation or introduction to the property or facilities and were simply pointed toward our room. On Friday evening, when we mentioned we were heading out for dinner, there was also no proactive service offered at all — no assistance organising a taxi, no offer to bring up our car, and no sense of hospitality or attentiveness you would normally expect from a hotel positioning itself as luxury accommodation. Breakfast the next morning was also disappointing. The coffee machine was not functioning properly and produced bitter coffee. We eventually ordered coffee separately, which was acceptable, but the breakfast overall was average at best and not what you would expect from a premium luxury property. The most frustrating issue happened on Saturday afternoon. After spending the entire day out, we returned looking forward to relaxing in our room and enjoying the fireplace, only to discover the room had not been serviced at all. Beds were unmade, towels untouched, and the room was left dirty exactly as we had left it. When we called reception, we were told rooms are only serviced during breakfast and dinner service windows — despite the fact our room had clearly not been serviced while we were at breakfast either. This left us stuck in the room all afternoon with housekeeping unable to clean it while we were there. I emailed Caitlin, the General Manager, during our stay to raise these concerns and again after the stay. She attempted to call once while I was unavailable, but after I returned the call and followed up again by email, there was no further response. For the nightly rate charged here, the level of service, communication, housekeeping and attention to detail was nowhere near the standard expected of a luxury hotel. Very disappointing experience overall."

Ardour Milton Park Bowral

"The Bowral area has long needed a great place to stay and a good restaurant on site and after many years of being run down it is great to see a refurbished Milton Park again offering this. The refurbishing has kept many of the "old" features of this grand old country hotel. The rooms are comfortable and inviting, the bar areas are great, and the restaurant is very good without being groundbreaking. The staff are very friendly and helpful and the gardens are interesting and inviting for a slow walk around. But there were a few issues that need addressing. Although the bathrooms are spacious, unfortunately our shower was very poor - the pressure from our rain shower was minimal (it leaked upwards) and the wall shower was fixed at below shoulder height - not helpful. The car parking was a good 100-200 metres away from the main door and there was no option for valet parking. Fortunately, the weather was dry on our visit, otherwise this would have been a disaster! Also, breakfast was a little disappointing. When breakfast is included in the tariff, you shouldn't have to pay an additional $15 for basic fried or poached eggs for example. So perhaps a few teething problems and worth returning."

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