The Kurrajong is a part of Canberra's history - an institution. It is within walking distance of the old and new Parliaments and many of the major Commonwealth departments, the National Library, the High Court and the National Gallery. It has been home away from home for Prime Ministers and, despite its age, relatively modern in general style. The restaurant can be good (when open - not Sunday). But this trip the service behind the reception desk and in the restaurant was uninspired or non-existent. The rooms are large and comfortable, if a little basic. You will need a cab to the city or airport. When Senate Estimates or like events are happening, bookings can be hard to get.

It was a warm day, the air con in our room didn't work. I went to the desk, their response "we'll have to call maintenance" but couldnt commit to when it would be looked at... So I ask if we could change rooms - which I was told they were fully booked (Baloney!). I was feeling dizzy and heat stressed so I asked if they could offer me some cold water - to which their response "We might be able to help you with a cold face washer to dab your face..." Thanks buddy but I have friggen face washers in my stinking hot room! Close to tears, I had a cold shower to cool down, and managed to open stiff windows I had presumed nailed shut and by 1:30am it was finally cool enough to sleep.... Now for breakfast, firstly they don't do cooked breakfast on the weekend - WTF!! Anyway, looking past that, we signed up for the over priced $20 per head breakfast bar. What a mistake ! Fermented pineapple juice, stale bread, out of date yogurt and dirty cutlery!

To top it all off, the breakfast restaurant was near empty, which leads me to believe one of two things: a) they weren't actually fully booked and the guy behind the counter lied to me (I assume the air con was not working through the whole building and he was too embarrassed to admit it) or b) that everyone staying there knew how rubbish the breakfast was that they ate out...

I wouldn't waste my money staying at this joint!

We've stayed at this hotel several times over the last few years. Initially we loved the charm of the art deco hotel and the location near Manuka and the lake, but the last few visits have been disappointing to say the least. In particular, the reception staff really needs to learn a thing or two about customer service. The weekend staff are condescending and the hotel payment policies are draconion. There is nothing surprising about being asked for your credit card at check-in, but there was no question asked about whether or not we wanted to pay by credit card - we didn't! So we were very disappointed to discover on check out that the room rate had already been held from our credit card which basically meant that we needed to use our credit card rather than wait until the funds were released a week or so later.

There are lots of hotels in Canberra and we have decided to try them all before returning to put up with rude staff at the Hotel Kurrajong again.

Our family booked two rooms for a weekend event at the Hotel Kurrajong. It is very convenient to Manuka and Kingston restaurant and cafe precincts,walking distance to the national gallery and a reasonable cab fare into the city.
On our arrival we were impressed by the decor, in that their renovations kept to the original art deco style of the building which had been home to Prime Ministers and other important figures in Australia's history. But I digress - what are the rooms like? The room was a bit on the smallish side, but had enough room for the bed, desk, TV, etc, all that you would expect. The bathroom was well appointed, with a 'shower over the bath' arrangement. The king size bed was comfortable, and we had a roll - away bed for my 11 year old daughter, which she said was also comfortable. The room and the hotel were well maintained and very clean. I would very happily stay at the hotel Kurrajong on a future visit to Canberra.