BreakFree Great Sandy Straits Hervey Bay

I’d been an Accor Plus member for 18 years and expected a certain standard from Accor Hotels. After this stay, I cancelled my membership. Accor basically ignored my complaint, and I don’t think BreakFree Sandy Straits should remain part of Accor’s stable. Shame, Accor. Shame! My family and I stayed in July 2025. We spotted construction notices on the apartment next door as we walked to our room and asked straight away to move, but were told there were no other rooms. They gave us a $50 meal voucher for the inconvenience. Once inside, the apartment was in awful shape: cracked tiles, a deteriorating ceiling that created a lot of dust, worn out furniture that looked like it had come from a council clean up, peeling bathroom surfaces, and oddly sized appliances blocking the hallways. The beds had those polar fleece blankets that basically never get washed. There was also a strange little mezzanine with a too-small staircase, and the finishes and paint were worn throughout. The tennis court was in appalling condition too, as the photos show. After a day there, we got the impression that most units were permanently occupied by single mothers or older people, judging by all the washing hanging across the balconies.

The stairs were manageable, though a lift to the third floor would have been handy. We could walk to a couple of cafes and the boat club, so the location suited us perfectly. Our spacious, self-contained apartment looked out across the marina, and the comfortable beds and clean rooms made for a relaxing long weekend.

The pools, games room and tennis court are all worth a visit, and the view and location are great. We love coming here, it feels like our home away from home, right by the beach and marina. The rooms are always well appointed. There’s no lift, so expect to use the stairs. If you need wheelchair access, make sure to book a ground floor room or one of the specific accessible apartments.

The pool was great, and we used it a few times. The views and location were fantastic and helped make the holiday enjoyable, but the room was a letdown. It was clean, just very dated and in need of repairs. There was only one small air conditioner, with fans in the bedrooms, so we had to sleep with the doors open. I wouldn’t want to stay there in peak summer. There was no Wi-Fi despite it being advertised, and phone reception was poor. We also kept smelling weed from the permanent residents below, including when we walked past their room. We had a young child with us, and it’s a non-smoking building. I’m not a Karen, but that wasn’t great.