The Star Apartments

The apt is managed by an agency which did not make an effort to contact you using other medium beside SMS. So, in convenience. At Aussie standard, the apt complex can be better clean - too many dry leaves on the ground - otherwise good place with good location.

My husband and I stayed at Star Apartments in Newcastle on the night of Friday 20th Sept. We were given room G01. On that night a musical/disco event was held, in the laneway right outside our room. It continued until midnight. So we did not have an easy night. I believe that room G01 should not have been offered for use on a night when there was to be excessive noise so close by. The management have ignored my complaint.

Access to the building When my colleague and I arrived, we were unable to find an entrance that we could enter. I phoned and as we were from overseas and did not have an Australian Sim Card, we were unable to gain access to the building. Eventually, a code for entry was sent to my email address. I am not sure why this was a problem and certainly it was not stated on the website that you required an Australian Phone Number for access. During the stay, the access codes become invalid. On the Thursday when I returned to get something from my room, I was not able to get entry into the premises. Again, I had to ring. It turns out the codes were changed overnight and we needed a new entry code. This code only worked on the front door and not any of the gates. This meant that we needed to go to the far end of the building for access. For my colleague, who had a downstairs apartment, she had to enter and walk upstairs to then go back down through an internal door and down some steps to get entry to her room. We also had a note informing us that we needed to remove the rubbish from our room and drop in the rubbish bins otherwise there would be a charge. However these bins were not obvious and required another phone call to find out where they were. It also required a door code. This required yet another phone call to the so-called ‘management service’ to get access to the bin area. The Apartment The apartment was okay but I did wonder about how well it was maintained. The shower would only maintain hot water if the cold tap was off. As soon as it was turned on, there was no hot, or even warm water just cold. The bedroom bedside light flickered constantly and couldn’t be used and the lighting in the lounge was very dim. I am quite sure that the dinner plates were plastic. Finally, the state of the bedspread in the main bedroom was filthy and did not inspire confidence in the cleanliness of the apartment. Overall the experience at staying at the Star Apartments was less than satisfactory and I do not recommend.

Worst place I have ever stayed at! First off we could not find the entry, such a hard place to find, jammed between two streets. We didn't realise we had to book parking so we tried to book when we got there thinking it would be at least on for each room but nope, another room booked 4 spaces we were told. We drove around for another hour trying to find somewhere to park. Such a nightmare !! Got to the room finally and it's so dirty ! Our bedroom window is right beside the lane way where the pub is. Had loud drunks from the pub just sitting at our window tapping on the glass. The pub goes to 1am so can hear loud music and people all night. Couldn't get any sleep. There is no hot water !!! Stand in the shower for ten minutes and nothing. Does finally come after 15 mins but do not turn on the cold tap. Air con didn't work at all. This place was a dump. Do not book!

Our booking was made looking for a comfortable place with air-conditioning as it was in summer. On top of that, we assumed we'd get a clean apartment. We were wrong. The apartment was hot and the air-con didn't work (it hadn't worked in ages, going by the state of corrosion through the system). The kitchen was grotty, cups unwashed, cockroaches running everywhere, and the bathroom door didn't close. To make it worse, there were dirty and wet towels left in cupboards which stank. To make things even worse again, we called the manager, and very quickly the manager started telling at us, told us to put up with it, and hung up. We got no sleep, and couldn't leave fast enough. I am in the process of suing the company. This is one of the worst places I have ever stayed in.

Almost every feature which the website claimed for this hotel was false. There was no air-con, no Netflix, the room was not secure, the floors were dirty, the kitchen and its contents were grotty, bathroom fixtures were broken, cockroaches ran around the room, doors didn't close properly, and the manager was an egotistical angry little man. I tried to find a solution for these problems, but was quickly told to put up with them, and a refund was not possible. Then I was insulted, and he hung up on me. The room was a decent size, but with no air-con or windows, it became a sweat-box, and we didn't sleep a wink. We couldn't leave fast enough. Please get a written statement that your apartment is ready and clean, so you can't be blamed for the poor room they want you to pay for.

We booked room 107 for our stay at the Star Apartment on the 2-3 January 2022. It was one of the worst apartment stay we've ever experienced. The room smelled of third-hand cigarette smoke, and despite calling Star's customer service four times to get someone to neutralize the odour, no one came or did anything about it. The staff kept saying they will escalate the issue to the supervisor, but again no action was taken. Because of the third-hand smoke, the only way to get air into the room was to leave the door and windows open. The pillows also reeked of sweat and obviously wasn't changed. The same goes for the condition of the room, I had to get something to wipe down the stains and prints left behind in the kitchen, toilets and sofa.