A nice location is spoilt by the unprofessionalism of the Managers of this resort.
Their unscrupulous behaviour and lies have left a very sour taste in our mouth.
We secured our booking with an Amex card and were never informed that additional charges would be incurred for the use of this card. When attempting to checkout at approx. 7.30am, the male Manager advised that he was unable to process the account, he did not know how, and he would arrange for the girls to process the account when they arrived later from the booking details. Again no mention of additional charges. We have challenged the additional charges to which they will not relent. The male Manager has also now accused us of leaving without paying. How these people continue to operate a business giving false information and making false accusations is totally beyond comprehension.

I had read the reviews on this page before we went to Illawong beach and was very worried about what it would be like, however was pleasantly surprised. We stayed in a cabin right on the beach front with a grassed area for the kids to run around safely. The beach was approx. 10 metres away, at low tide there are 1000's of soldier crabs for the kids to catch. There was lovely new linen on the beds and everything we needed for our week long stay. I would definately recommend Illawong Beach Resort to other families, but make sure you take plenty of insect repellent as there are alot of sandflies.

The name sounded promising but when I got there, it was a bit of a disappointment. The place looks a bit dated and slightly run down. The new owners were lovely and did all they could to accommodate me but it was not very organised - they didn't have a room for me even though they had documentation that I was booked in, so I had to swap from one room to the next. They also had a bit of problem with their septic system, which they are trying to fix. The restaurant 'Muddies' was also closed due to the lack of a chef, which was disappointing as I was looking forward to the mub crabs. However, the rooms were clean and breakfast (if ordered) was plentiful. Packaged lunch was also available if requested.

Staff were extremely friendly and nothing seemed to be too much trouble. I should have read the reviews before going though, as the airport was extremely close and the noise was horrible. The spa wasn't heated and was too cold to go in, the pool wasn't heated either but the water was slightly warmer than the spa. The beach was lovely but the low tides were a pain with the water going out at least a couple of kilometre making for an extremely long walk just to have a swim. The villas were tastefully decorated with all the essentials. We ate at muddies restaurant on our final night there and wished we had of done the first night rather than going into town to other restaurants. The food was extremely good value and absolutely superb. The kids meals were HUGE.
It rained most of the time we were there though making it extremely difficult to keep the kids amused. We didn't find a kids playroom, am assuming it no longer exists as there were a lot of children there with parents as exasperated as us trying to keep them amused. Overall the resort was fair, although mackay itself was a big dissapointment with very few things to do when its raining.