Illinois Hotel

The beds were clean and very comfortable, and the bathrooms were nice enough. The staff also tried to fix the damaged door handle after we reported it. We stayed for one night over a recent weekend, and the rooms weren't what we expected: the walls needed cleaning, and there were no hooks or cupboards for hanging things. The website photos look quite different from the reality. It was fine if you're used to staying in a pub hotel.

The bed was good, and the food was absolutely magic. The $14 burger special on Saturday was great, especially the Angus beef burger. The room layout was disappointing and not planned very well. There was only one double PowerPoint, at the wrong end of the room, so I could use the bedside lamp only if I unplugged the fridge. There was no bedhead, and with a 200mm shelf behind it, the pillow kept falling off the top. At $188 for a room with a shared bathroom in Five Dock, it felt very overpriced.

It’s a comfortable place, and the renovation has been done really well. There’s a lot of potential here, but the small details need attention. I had to walk through the whole venue to find a staff member, and when I ordered a beer she had to fetch it from the other bar. It was flat and tasted off.

We arrived on New Year’s Eve as a family of four, with two children under 18, and found a very different setup from what we expected. The rooms were small and dark, right above a noisy bar. The shared bathroom was outside the room and used by everyone on the floor, which felt like misleading wordplay in the listing. After we raised this, staff wouldn’t take responsibility or offer a full refund. Their response felt dismissive and unethical, and we were left trying to find somewhere else at the last minute on New Year’s Eve. The experience left me feeling the property was dishonest and showed no care for its guests. Avoid it, and don’t rely on the advertising.