Country Comfort Sunlodge

It's easy to find a street parking spot nearby even though there's no onsite parking. The hotel is conveniently located, and the renovated rooms are a good size. The air conditioning has to stay at 24 degrees and doesn't seem to cool the room properly, so it was a little uncomfortable.

We had two rooms for our family, and both stayed warm. Hotel staff said the air conditioners only worked if set to 24 degrees. We followed those instructions, but they still blew only weak, cool air, and sleep became very uncomfortable. After being out in Cairns' tropical warmth all day, we hoped to sleep well in properly air-conditioned rooms. These rooms didn't come close.

My stays at Mercure have varied quite a bit in quality. This most recent one was frustrating: the TV kept showing a “restarting” message and I couldn't turn it on or off. There was no phone in the room to call reception, and several attempts to reach the hotel on my mobile went unanswered. I finally went down to reception myself. I could see the phone ringing, but staff seemed to be ignoring it. It was disappointing to have such a hard time getting help when something went wrong. I hope the hotel improves its responsiveness and service consistency, because this affected the whole experience.

The 'Loft' accommodation had excellent facilities, though with my mobility limitations I wasn't keen on the steep stairs to the upstairs bedroom. The restaurant staff took especially good care of us around my partner's Coeliac food intolerances and went beyond what was needed to provide safe meals. Mercure Cairns looked after us well. Yes, I'll definitely stay again. Well-Done to everyone involved.