Arabella Motor Inn

I asked to see the room before making a decision, and that was enough to put me off. I couldn't imagine feeling comfortable breathing in there, let alone sleeping on the bed, for that price. Sorry, but the motel needs an upgrade and refurbishment.

We were spoken to very rudely for arriving 20 minutes after checkout time, after getting the one-hour time difference between NSW and Queensland wrong. We had booked because our flight into Goldcoast was landing late, but when we arrived at 10:30 at night, they shouted at us. They hadn't sent late check-in instructions through the booking platform, as other hotels had done. Instead, they blamed us for being unreachable by phone, even though we'd been on a plane. We'd travelled all over Australia, including Tasmania, and had never been treated this way.

The room was dated, with stained carpet, a broken cracked hairdryer, and a couple of lights that didn't work. We paid a decent price over the recent long weekend and expected a reasonable standard, so we were extremely disappointed. At check-in, the owner said the eftpos machine was down and she could only take cash. We found that odd, since card details could still be used. There were no allocated parking spots for the units, just first come, first served, and everywhere was full for the long weekend. The owner could use some customer service lessons. I wouldn't recommend Arabella Motor Inn.

The room felt a little stuffy, and the air-conditioning was noisy. It had been renovated, but it was still pretty basic.