The name itself should have been a tip: a motel called 'Destiny' with the restaurant attached called 'Rendezvous' screamed '80s vintage and never ever renovated'. This place near the Nambucca river, looks like an oasis from afar, but when we picked up the key and entered our room we were hit in the face with the stench of mould and damp. Several spots were evident beneath a hurried mismatched paint-job. We opened the doors and turned the aircon on full in the hope of dispelling the eye-watering smell, but it did little. Another warning sign: the towels and washers were not hotel white (you know how hotels use white as a guarantor of cleanliness? maroon is a good colour for hiding stains, and that's the colour of the towels at Destiny); the toilet, despite wearing a paper 'cleaned' sash, reeked of urine, and had pubic hairs and grime around the base; there were stains and holes from termites along the bottom of the loungeroom wall. We looked at each other in horror -- could we actually sleep here? The town was clearly full due to the time of year, so it didn't look like we would have much choice. Perhaps if we pointed out the stench of mould, the owner would apologise and give us our money back? Wrong. We don't like complaining, we never do it usually. More the kind to put up with things, but at $140 a night we felt the condition of the room was beyond the pale, and a health-hazard. The elderly man at the front desk looked at us kind of balefully and said "impossible! can't be mould! we've had the rooms sprayed for bacteria and what-not" to which we replied "well it really stinks and that's what it smells like". "well I'll get them to spray it again with a room freshener". we couldn't quite believe what we were hearing, but we just went back to our room. In ten minutes another much older man shuffled up to our room with some Glen 20 in hand, walked through the door, claimed he couldn't smell anything but with a resigned air at our apparent fussiness, sprayed the place down with sickly sweet room freshener to mask the odour, then shuffled out again. Being mid Xmas and NY in a coastal town, we stayed, as there was nowhere else to go, inhaling both the chemicals of the freshener and the mould, and trying to just laugh about it. Woke up with a terrible headache though and got out of there as soon as we could. No wonder the owner has a Mercedes (which he pointed out to us when we first walked in). he's saving a fortune on cleaning and renovations, and charging suckers through the nose to stay in his dump. Its a health hazard. Avoid at all costs.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
12 January 2011
Firstly, with the claim that Destiny Motor Inn has never ever been renovated is far from the truth by any means. Serveral rooms have been updated and as anyone in the Accommodation industry knows that this takes time and money, it is a slow process. Our Rendezvous restaurant is A-La-Cart and has been renovated with our outdoor eating area being enclosed to allow more floor space. As for the name Rendezvous screaming 80s vintage, our restaurant is know across NSW for quailty and service. There are a number of restaurants and cafes who carry the name Rendezvous, does this mean that they are from the 80s vintage also?.
There are numerous motels out there that do not supply white towels etc, we like to coordinate the towels with the decor of the room. We also do not supply white sheets, we supply bright crisp pale blue and pale green printed sheets, the linen that is supplied to motel rooms is the owners perference and is by no means an indication of poor hygiene or cleanliness. In saying that we do supply white towels to our deluxe rooms.
The room in question had been occupied for the previous 3 nights and not one complaint had been made about the state of the room. The Nambucca Valley had had alot of wet weather in the weeks leading up to the Christmas period, everything smells damp even my own home smells damp because of the wet weather, people walk in with wet footwear on, umbrella's dripping etc. It is unfortunate that the air freshener didn't despel the damp smell as it has in the past, had you returned to the reception office and informed us that the room still had no change then we would have relocated you and your guest to one of 3 rooms that we had vacant, by you not returning to the office we assumed that everything was fine and that you were content. I would also like to add that this room has been let out almost every night since your stay.
Im sorry but what a person chooses to drive is not an indication of saving on cleaning and renovating. You do not know the curcumstances behind the ownership of the Mercedes, this vehicle could be privately owned or under contract such as a lease. The owner proudly state that he owned the Mercedes when you asked who owned it. What ever vehicle that a motel owner drives does not reflect on the status of their motel.
We are aware that you are entitled to your opinion and we thank you for you taking time to writing this review but to use slanderous words such as dump and health hazard is unnecessary, if Destiny Motor Inn was such a hazard then we would not have been rated 3.5 star from the AAA. To be rated by the AAA you have to follow their guidelines and terms and conditions.
Thank you
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC