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Waterfront Lodge New Town Bay – reviews, photos

3.0 of 5
153 Risdon Rd | New Town Bay, Hobart, Tasmania 7008, Australia
Hotel amenities
Waterfront Lodge New Town Bay
Ranked #36 of 41 hotels in Hobart
3.0 of 5 stars 27 Reviews
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27 reviews from our community

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Sydney, Australia
Contributor
15 reviews 15 reviews
Reviews in 6 cities Reviews in 6 cities
23 helpful votes 23 helpful votes
“Better to sleep in your car than at this hotel”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 13 January 2012
5
people found this review helpful

Stay well away from this dank, worn out and depressing hotel with rooms that in summer have no fans and no air conditioning. Better to sleep in your car than at this place. The photos on the Waterfront Lodge New Town Bay website must have been taken when it was new 30 or more years ago, and the rooms still have the same fittings, just thousands of guests later.

Don't book before seeing your room as there are NO REFUNDS. Hubby and I made the mistake of booking into what was described online as a "comfort room" and paying online beforehand.
We were shown to small room with severely stained curtains and chair, filthy Laminex bench and bedside shelf and we both thought "Oh no we can't stay in this. It is disgusting" We sat in this horrid room on the smallest double bed in the world and stared at the bugs crawling in the worn and stained carpet, as cars passed 3 feet away from the window of this hell hole. We looked at the stained coffee cups, two small flat worn out pillows, and said to each other "We haven't worked hard to stay in a place like this."
We opened the window to let in some air, and a breeze filled the room with pollen carried from towering weeds in a large overgrown allotment 12 feet away. Then the noise above started as people moved around and we heard the the lady in another room cough and sneeze.
We realised, this was not just an uncomfortable, stained, tiny and worn out room, it was also a health risk from the pollen filling the room. We both knew we would not be able to sleep in this room.
We asked the manager for a refund as the room was nothing like what was on the website and the pollen was a health risk. Even though all we'd done was sit on the bed in the room for 20 minutes, the manager refused to refund the $85 we had paid online.
We left anyway as we both thought we'd pay $85 not to sleep in a this hell hole. Fortunately we were able to get better accommodation but if we hadn't been able to - we would not have gone back and would have slept in the car.

Room Tip: No good rooms in this place - don't book
See more room tips
  • Stayed January 2012, travelled as a couple
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Senior Reviewer
10 reviews 10 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
“Just ok”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 1 January 2012

We only stayed for one night during our trip around Tasmania. The room is decent, clean bathroom. There s a tiny TV probably the tiniest one I've ever seen hehe but we don't use it so no problems. You have to pay to Internet which is a minus point for the price we paid. I don't think I wanna go back there to stay but overall it's ok.

  • Stayed December 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Hobart
1 review
6 helpful votes 6 helpful votes
“A place of last resort for the truly desperate...”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 10 March 2011
6
people found this review helpful

The room was like a prison cell. Third party websites advertise the only room with adjacent space for bunk beds as the basic room... a total misrepresentation. The other twenty or so rooms are reminiscent of a down at heel fleapit. The fire alarm went off one night "after hours" (6:30 pm), no one answered the after hours phone number and after 45 minutes the Fire Brigade turned up to turn off the ear splitting alarm (something tells me this wasn't the first time that they had answered a call from here). As we all trudged from the car park we all had a laugh at how we had been royally screwed by booking a room at this "apartment style" motel. Staff were rude, arrogant and condescending... I got the impression that they were used to weary travellers being duped by this dump. The fact that this hole is owned by a major chain is disgraceful. I will never again book with a Leisure Inn chain hotel/motel after this shambles. This place has amazing potential as a decent 3/3.5 motel, but the way it is currently run I would only recommend it to hobos, drunks and the mentally disturbed. Shame!

  • Stayed January 2011, travelled with family
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Location
    • 2 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Reviews in 23 cities Reviews in 23 cities
73 helpful votes 73 helpful votes
“Reasonable value for budget travelers in a handy location.”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 17 February 2011
1
person found this review helpful

We stayed at the Waterfront 6 years ago and had an upstairs motel room and were fairly happy with the standard then and the views of Mt Wellington and the jetty of old boats at the waterfront were pleasing.
As a result we booked again this year Feb 2011 and were given room No4 in the "Cottage", which is an extension of the main motel and is an old "re-furbished" 2 story house adjoining.
Our room was adequate and had a new queen sized bed and repainted walls in the bedroom (only room, apart from a laundry alcove) and what looked like an attempt to clean up the tiles in the bathroom.
Microwave, toaster and fridge were adequate for our stay as we only had some breakfast and ate out. The room heater worked but we didn't need it in Feb.
One morning we were woken up early (5am ish) by the upstairs occupants packing up and leaving like a herd of elephants, but that's the inconsiderate rudeness of some people and not the motels fault.

Location is handy, easy to get in and out of the city (if you can follow Tasmanian signs and their weird traffic system??) and there are 2 big supermarts (Woolies & Coles) only less than 5 mins drive up the road as well as a 24hr K Mart. The views over Risdon Cove (or Bay) is lovely. However, the old 'character' jetty out the front of the motel has now been removed (sunk?) and all the nice boats have gone.

The room was adequately cleaned when we asked for it but you have to be at the office between about 9.30am and 4.30-5pm to catch anybody in reception. Worse on public hols and weekends!

Our bathroom had a very old badly chipped basin and paint peeling off the upper walls and the old shabby brown tiles on the floor made it difficult to see if the cleaner had done a good job or not. However, one plus, the HWS was excellent and we enjoyed scalding hot showers and baths.

Car parking here is a bit of a problem. We stayed 7 nights and most evenings the cars, mostly hire, we parked in every nook and cranny the hotel had. One morning early we had difficulty getting out as some dimwit had parked us out of our marked bay! Some cars were even parked across the front of the motel doors parallel to the walkway.

In a nutshell,
A handy place to stay just out of the city, moderate tariff ( if you want more luxury then I guess you have to pay for it) pleasant enough reception staff (if you can catch them) and just enough room facilities to get by for a few days.

If the owners would replace the grotty hand basin and repaint the walls in the bathroom and upgrade a few utensils in the kitchen (and a few spare clean tea towels and breadboard and dishcloths etc) then Cottage No4 would be pretty good value for money.

Apart from the "early risers" upstairs we always got a good nights sleep in a comfortable bed and lovely hot showers. The area is fairly quiet and security was not an issue.

We probably would stay again but the car parking issue would have to be addressed as well as the office hours.

  • Stayed February 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 2 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Melbourne
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
“Not worth more than $70 a night”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 13 February 2011
1
person found this review helpful

The rooms were clean, hallways and the shared kitchen were not. Several things like lights, powerpoints and hairdryer did not work. Staff were very friendly to my (male) partner but quite rude to me.
It is a nice.quiet location but not far enough out of Hobart to be a chore

  • Stayed February 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 2 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
Was this review helpful? Yes
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Additional Information about Waterfront Lodge New Town Bay

  • Waterfront Hotel Hobart
Address: 153 Risdon Rd | New Town Bay, Hobart, Tasmania 7008, Australia
Price range (per night):* INR3,344 - 5,740

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