We booked through Wotif. Great location for Sovereign Hill. No restaurants/food close. Nowhere to walk. View of run down houses and a drain. We booked a studio and when we arrived it was incredibly small. We could barely fit a small portable cot beside the bed. We rang to see if there was an upgrade available as we weren't aware that it would be so tiny. We frequently stay in studio apartments and they've always been fine. They said no but after we had unpacked they rang us back and gave us a 2 bedroom apartment which was very spacious, which was very nice of them. The building is quite new but very dirty. Everything was covered in dust and my crawling baby was black from the floors. Each day just before we went out I washed her hands, feet and knees before taking off her pajamas. The shower did not work properly. There was little water pressure and barely any water. I could not get the temperature right and ended up on the floor shielding my baby from the too hotter water. You had to take your rubbish downstairs to the bin and clean the dishes etc. What's the point in leaving home?

We have travelled around Australia staying in self catering apartments & cottages but never have we had to put out our own rubbish, nor have we ever found just 3 tea bags and 3 satchets of coffee and a similar amount of sugar! The rooms are clean but unimaginative, the heating is good which is a must in Ballarat in the winter but the service is appalling - arrived to check in at 2.00 Reception unattended (as it was most of the time) and no-one answered the phone! Went to do some shopping and returned at 2.45 still unattended, but this time, there was an answer and someone came to check us in.

I booked a large group booking here months ago. We had several families staying and booked rooms of various bedding configurations to accomodate. I have made several phone calls in the meantime to ensure we had exactly what we needed and was told about a week before our booking that they given one of our larger rooms to another long term booking (apparently they have preference even though we had booked first), therefore we had 2 queen beds instead on 1 queen an 2 singles. This was the first inconvenience, meaning 2 people had to share a bed that really did not want to. As our guests were arriving separately I advised the receptionist very specifically which names were for which rooms as I was concerned guests arriving earlier may take the wrong rooms leaving a larger family without enough beds. Sure enough, they stuffed up and gave the wrong room to someone else (claimed they never got the message) so my 86yo grandmother was left sharing a queen bed with someone she didn't know and having to travel upstairs to go to the bathroom even though she has a walking frame. Initally they refused to help us - said they had no other rooms and were not prepared to give a refund. Eventually the matter was resolved and we were given another room but it was a headache to get to this point. The rooms are nice, but I would not stay here again as they have a very relaxed approach to admin and happily give away rooms booked by someone else.