Stayed in November 2009 actually. The place is a dump. I can't even believe they offer services. It is a joke. I was told I was staying during the busiest time of the year; an end of the school year party time for AUS kids. Yet, there were no extended hours of operation in the office and no extra staffing to maintain the place.
I was in a dorm room that had an extra girl in it because the reservations for this group of girls were messed up and no one was available to help them resolve it. Plus, I reserved a girl's dorm and paid the difference for it, and there was a guy in the room. There was trash all over the grounds, empty bottles of alcohol, the room was dirty with hair balls and dirt on the floor, the screens were coming off the windows and bugs were getting in, the kitchen faucet dripped water constantly, there were brown drips of something on the walls in the bathroom, the bedding had washing powder on it, air conditioner didn't work . . .I could keep on.
I had reserved three nights and paid for three nights, but decided to leave. I went to the office when it opened and the manager, Ben, was not working the weekend?! (The busiest time of the year?!) I asked the front desk person to call Ben and she said she would be "sacked" if she called Ben. I asked for a refund and the front desk person told me Ben was the only person who could approve it. I filled out their form, left my email to contact me and NEVER heard from Ben the manager.
I would never stay at any Koala location or affiliated entity. There was absolutely no professionalism or care or quality in this facility. It was ridiculous.

The rooms have bed bugs & dirty bathrooms. The staff were not so helpful when it came to tours, the boat I went on there was just as bad.

I'll make this review short and to the point. This Hostel is DIRTY. I wouldnt stay here if your planning your trip to Airlie Beach. ( I would try Beaches. its quite clean)
The whole city is known to have an infestation of bedbugs, but i can say that i got them from staying at this hostel. I went to one of the Chemists and asked them about the bites I had on my legs and one arm (weird i know) and they told me the bites come up after 2-3 days of being bitten.. I stayed at this "resort" for 4 days.... new bites came up for 4 days in a row and then started to disappear. You can do the math.
There were cocroahes in the shower, and crawling on the floor at night.. i even saw them on one of my room mates beds.. it was a top bunk.
Tho the whole stay at Koalas was dirty and disgusting , but it didnt ruin my time at Airlie Beach. Its a great city with great people. So basically, my point being...you get what you pay for..

This place is just not even worth it. yeah it comes across as cheap, but definitely not cheerful. The $15 a night got us in there, but once there, you pay a deposit for EVERYTHING, knife fork spoon pan plates. Thats if your lucky to get one. theyve usually ran out, so when we asked them what we were supposed to do to cook our tea, the staff were proper rude, and pretty much didnt care at all.
If you were lucky enough to get pots and pans, theres 2 hobs and a microwave in the kitchen which are supposed to cater for what like 300 oddpeople?!..Probably more.
Rooms in general a bit rubbish...but just not worth it at all.