Cheapish and cheerful is what you will get at the Outrigger, not that there is anything wrong with that. Location is good as it is not within nightclub row but is an easy walk. Don't waste your time on room service or the restaurant though go through to this awesome little cafe in the attached building. Great food and coffee and not at hotel prices but still within the same building so if it is raining outside you don't have to get wet.

This is my third time staying at the former Holiday Inn now Outrigger. This time unfortunately was the worst and I will unlikely return as a result. This hotel is still good just not as good as before and a lot of this was due to transitional pains which they have clearly not mitigated sufficiently. So the highlights of issues are

1) check in: when I booked it was still holiday inn and upon check in was told that I may need to pay more than my agreed rate. This was ridiculous and the service reps command of English was very poor. Compounding this was the supervisor Bobby who stood there and watched the whole drama a metre away without intervening. Mate, I really do think when your staff is struggling and your guests facing a ridiculous situation you should step in. So a few hours into check in, front desk sends a note up go tell me it's all fine. Nice touch except the note written by the same service rep had such poor grammar it was unprofessional.


2) no one knows where Outrigger is: so our return shuttle to the airport was sent to the wrong Outrigger because service operators were seemingly less than aware that it is no longer holiday inn. Neither did the taxi driver know in the one we took. No doubt Outrigger has informed service providers but perhaps more could be done? We were literally 5min from missing our plane we were meant to have a hour to spare. Whilst this is no doubt the shuttle operators fault but the consistency in the lack of awareness on what or where Outrigger is a concern

3) wear and turn - they say a hotel goes through a refurb cycle very 7 years in general. This certainly needs to stand true here. They are about 5 years since last refurb and the quality of the rooms have gone down with every year I stayed. Nonetheless there are worse out there but you do brand yourself as a 4.5 star.

4) 10am check out sucks. Was 11am under holiday inn. Dont your clients don't notice. Standard policy or not it sucks. These small things do weigh on considerations. Judging by the number of business closures and economic climate at surfers paradise, now is the time to listen to your customers.

Overall was better when I stayed in 09 and 10 hence why I returned a third time. But I am now of the belief that there is better out there though in saying so there is certainly lot worse too.

Have stayed here when it was still the holiday inn,and enjoyed it thoroughly so we booked it again. Happened to be during the first week of the name change -we were not informed of this.
The check in process was long and painful for what is normally a quick process for a prepaid deal. The lady was confused and did not ask for help despite three others standing idle at reception.
Secondly, the room smelt and housekeeping did not bother changing the sheets once during our three night stay. Nor was the bed made well.
I wouldn't stay here again.
Outriggers failed to provide an enjoyable experience and did poorly to transition the new name.

The hotel has changed names from the holiday inn to the outrigger and the standard has dropped so far I am angered.

We stayed here about every 2-3 weeks over the last year and will NEVER stay here again.

1st room had no working air-conditioning, 2nd room the tv didn't work for 2 days. Room service did not supply clean towels but took ours away. Did not restock tea and coffee, did not replace the soap etc... Checkout after 10am in $20 per hour even though no one is checking in. Staff are rude.

Stay somewhere else.