Dandenong Motel

The staff were friendly, it was quiet at night with no trouble from other guests, and the location is handy with lots of parking and everything close by. The room and bathroom were clean, with no dust or mould, though the chairs could probably use a proper steam clean. For a motel, the nightly price seemed reasonable. My issue was the booking. I’d booked one queen room and one triple room online, but when I arrived they said I’d paid for two queen rooms. I had to pay an extra $40 to upgrade one room to a triple.

ABSOLUTE FILTH, with bed bugs, mould, dirt and scum on the walls. Under the side tables was filthy, and under the beds was the worst I’ve ever seen, with what looked like over two years of dirt, hair, dust, rubbish and empty syringe packets. The shower pressure was very bad too. After checking the room, I showed reception videos and photos and asked for my money back so I could stay somewhere else. She offered to vacuum, but I said that would make it worse. She called the manager, and their best offer was a $20 refund. They couldn’t even move me to another motel. I paid $140 for one night and got my $100 bond back plus $20. DO NOT STAY HERE!

The motel and room were very good and clean, but the nights were unsettling. On the first night, a man banged on the door next to ours around 3 am, asking to be let in. The next night, a woman knocked on everyone’s doors because she’d left her key inside and wanted a phone to contact the property manager. On the third night, there was arguing and some kind of scuffle in the room to our right. The next morning, police were arresting a woman and a man. We booked two twin rooms for three nights. It felt very dangerous for families. I’d recommend it for a short stay, but the sign on the door says to lock your door at all times.

We arrived expecting a nice stay, but the motel staff had charged extra to my card and said they’d refund it when we got there. When we went to collect the refund, the staff member was completely rude. He asked if we had two bedrooms; we said no, since we had four kids, and showed him a screenshot of the room we’d booked. He said it wasn’t available because something inside was broken. He didn’t seem to care or apologise. I’d give zero stars if I could. We’ll never stay here.