Hampden at Battery Point Apartments

The location was pretty decent, with underground parking and an easy walk to the city centre, Salamanca, Battery Point, and the waterfront piers. The room was quiet, on Hampden Road a little west of Sandy Beach Road, though getting to the hotel by car takes some getting used to. Depending on the room, the windows face Hampden Rd. or the medical centre car park, with perhaps the upper parts of taller city buildings visible. We were in room 106. Management offered us another room after the first night, but we’d unpacked and didn’t want to risk a different set of problems. We only had one key, as we were told the second had gone missing long ago and hadn’t been replaced. I think there may have been another in the lock box, but I didn’t check. Several things needed attention. The toaster tripped the room’s main breaker until Housekeeping brought a working replacement. The WIFI kept disconnecting, which made planning excursions and getting work done frustrating. There was only one air-conditioning remote for the upstairs and downstairs units, so we had to carry it between floors. The upstairs sliding patio door wouldn’t roll properly and took real strength to open or shut, and its handle seemed close to breaking off. The bathroom vanity was mostly clogged. Water leaked from the shower door onto the floor, and the shower hardware was worn and corroded. My wife thought some dishes weren’t clean, and I took her word for it. The carpeting also needed a better clean. On the positive side, the king bed was comfortable and the sheets were clean. Having two televisions was nice, though they often lost signal. We used the USB port to watch videos from a flash drive. My rating is 2.5 out of 5.

The harbour view is great, and the location is spot on, just a few minutes on foot from Salamanca. It was a pleasant surprise to find the place modern, clean, spacious, and equipped for a short or even longer stay.

Set your expectations to medium. The bedroom TV didn’t work at all, and the living room TV only got one channel. Internet was down for three days, then took around ten minutes to load once it was fixed, so we gave up on it. The washing machine had a sign saying it was broken and to use the laundry out in the car park instead. Milk in the fridge froze overnight. If none of that bothers you, the rest is OK.

Very clean apartments with everything we needed, and good value for the money. We could walk to the CBD and the markets. The only problem was the elephants above us, which were very annoying. We’ll definitely return.