The Nest on Newcastle

The location is excellent, about a 10-minute walk from the Perth Train Station. The room was clean and the neighborhood friendly, but major technical and management problems brought the stay down. During our 3-night visit, WiFi was constantly down and barely usable. Check-in was awful too. Agoda apps sent me the wrong lockbox code, and my messages weren’t answered right away, so I had to call management while roaming. I’d arrived around 8pm after a 6.5-hour international flight. Nearby, VETRINA is an authentic Italian cafe, only 50m from the Nest of Newcastle. It’s open only until 13.00, but the coffee and pastries, especially the cannolis, are excellent. Highly recommended. The WiFi needs to be fixed immediately.

We had a suite on the 3rd level, with a large room, ensuite and balcony. It was quiet despite the traffic and restaurants around the hotel. The king-sized bed was easy to sleep in, with good-quality bedding and pillows. Balcony views weren’t much to rave about, though at night you can see a small part of the Perth skyline lit up. The bus stop is right outside and the location is good. There’s no guest parking, so you have to pay for street parking or use the small Secure car park across the road. There’s no in-person reception or concierge either. If something comes up, guests need to call the number on the booking confirmation. Check you have the right pin for the front entrance, since it differs from the lock code for collecting your room access card. Our suite didn’t have a microwave, so we used the communal kitchen in the basement when we needed one. There doesn’t seem to be daily room cleaning, so perhaps guests need to request it when booking. We never got instructions for the advertised hotel wifi, but Telstra 4G and 5G coverage was good in the room.

Absolutely disgusting. I’m now on my second night with no working power point in the room. There’s no refrigerator or television, and I can’t charge my phone, hearing aids or the laptop I need for work. I’ve contacted them numerous times, and apparently my request has been escalated to the contractor and property manager. Appalling service for a place happy to charge top dollar. The rooms look nothing like the website. I’ll add photos later, since I don’t want to drain any more of my phone battery.

The central location was good, but the place was painfully unprofessional. Self check-in got off to a bad start with incorrect codes for both the front door and key safe. The room was advertised as an apartment, yet it’s only about 18 square meters. Cleanliness was a real issue too: I had to dispose of my own trash, the air conditioning worked only some of the time, and neither my bed linen nor towels were changed for 12 days. It felt like luck whether the AC would work.