I stayed here in November for 3-4 weeks due to the apartments proximity to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital which was 5 min walk away.
I do understand I was lucky to have got a reservation as most places in Sydney seemed to be quite busy for some or part of our intended stay.
Check-in was smooth and we were directed to our apartment which smelt like someone had been sick there previously. Generally the apartment was clean on the surface, but they don't clean the inside of the dishwasher or oven, so we had some left over crumbs. We bought a scented candle, cooked a few meals, used our own purchased disinfectant and cleaned up after ourselves and were quite comfortable thereafter.
The apartment layout and space was very comfortable and suited our requirements. Nothing special, but suitable.
What was seriously disappointing, however, was the level of service from the Front Office and seemingly inexperienced Maintenance and Housekeeping departments.
On the 2nd night of our stay, we learned that a garbage truck collects rubbish at 5am and then again at 6am which was quite a disruption to our sleep, especially since I had a 2yr old with us. When I asked the reception about whether they were able to offer us an alternative room, the Property Manager actually said 'she did us a favour' by having accomodated us and that this was the last apartment available. We were not warned at the time of reservation that we would be disturbed like this should we take the apartment available. As we were not able to find new accomodation, we decided to stay on and learned that if we used the ceiling fan, we were less disturbed. The occasional ambulance and traffic didn't bother us too much as we do come from Asia; the garbage truck however, was seriously irritating.
They service the room once a week and remove garbage daily. We had to remind them often and sometimes when we returned to the apartment it had not been done. The Front Office informed us most times that the staff had left and therefore we had an overflowing bin for a little longer.
We had requested a rollaway bed for 3 nights of our stay and although the Front Office was informed 2 days prior to our requirement, we had to remind them again on the night required. In fairness, it was delivered quite promptly thereafter. However, when we reminded the Front Office that it was due to be collected, they informed us that they were 'too busy' and therefore it remained in our room for an additional 2 nights.
Although it was to be supplied, we purchased our own toilet paper, but when we requested an extra roll, the Front Office staff seemed quite offended to be asked to arrange the supply of one !!
We had a car park space for most of our stay and it seemed they had over booked their limited availability, as on the last 2-3 nights of our parking space requirement, there was almost nowhere to park.
The last straw was when items were removed from our apartment (which were located in the Laundry) which had been sitting there for at least 2.5 weeks untouched during room cleaning were suddenly removed one day by staff during garbage removal. Usually staff only took items which were in the 2 rubbish bins supplied, one in the bathroom and other in the kitchen. This time they decided to take our collection of a box which was required for packing later on and a neat pile of shopping bags for our possible re-use and plastic bags which were knotted and used by us for general clearing when we tidied up. When I promptly complained, the girl at Front Office seemed quite disturbed by it, but no one corresponded with us thereafter. I called the Reception when we returned in the evening and the new girl on duty said that she 'expected us to check in with them' and that 'we had lodged the complaint with a different member of staff' !!! She explained to me that we needed to lodge the complaint in writing for them to take action and this was done the following morning. I am still to hear a response and apology and felt quite disturbed and violated that items were removed from our apartment without our approval.
On my last stay in Sydney on leisure, we stayed at Fraser Suites, which I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Quest Camperdown is not in the same category at all and it would be unfair to either to begin to compare!
Overall, I would possibly stay here again should we require accomodation for our next visit for medical treatment, due to convenience of location we would possibly stay again, but I sincerely hope that the staff will brush up their hospitality and service skills !
