North Shore Hotel

The room was cramped and basic, with old furniture and barely enough space to open a suitcase. The bathroom was about the size of one on a country train. There were hardly any toiletries, and no hand towels, face washers or sanitary bags. The guy at reception came across as arrogant and didn’t seem interested in helping.

Maurizio was great, friendly, knowledgeable and easy to talk with. I’ve seen comments about the cooking utensils and equipment being old, damaged and dirty, and I agree with them. That’s my one real complaint, since the cleaning staff otherwise do a lovely job of keeping the rooms tidy.

We stayed two nights because of cyclone Alfred, paying 240 dollars a night, and both of us with asthma were affected by how damp the room was. It was dusty, with mould under the bed, cobwebs and a spider, and just one extra roll of dirty toilet paper. When I switched on the air conditioning to air the room out, a cockroach fell onto the floor from my shoulder. We reported it through Booking.com. North Shore Hotel denied everything and said they were servicing our rooms, but when we came back later that day nothing had been touched. We raised the concerns again, and they still only denied them. I wouldn’t stay here unless you want respiratory issues and to have your complaints flatly denied.

For our North Sydney conference, we booked a superior room for a few nights. Mine was spacious and very clean, with a desk that made it easy to get my weekly reports done. The location is special, and the gorgeous, lush yard made me miss home and almost forget I was in the city. I recommend staying here.