Ahhhh Exmouth, paradise!
The backpackers is at the rear of the Potshots Hotel and Resort. You can use all the resort facilities, pool, bar, restaurant etc but there are BBQs and a communal kitchen (take your own plates/ cutlery/crockery).
The twin rooms (double bunk with a single on top) have ensuites, a bar fridge, AC and a TV. We stayed in 84. Linen seemed clean, the rooms were basic but that is what my father and I were expecting given the budget price in an expensive destination. My father had travelled from the UK and driven straight to Exmouth with me on a trip that we had spent years talking about and were so excited for. What they don't warn you is that these twin rooms back DIRECTLY onto the large communal BBQ area. We were expecting some noise from the bar in the hotel but assumed that would stop when it closed. NO, it got worse. Even on a Monday night, the noise right outside our window was so loud we could not sleep at all. Bearing in mind most people are visiting Ningaloo to be up early on whale shark tours or out and about doing physical outdoor activities, not sleep in bed all day, this made us very angry! Very confusing information (a number of signs had different times) say the outdoor communal area closes at 10 pm and that the comfort of other guests must be respected. At 11.15pm I went outside to confront the people and ask them to turn the music down, was met by an apathetic attitude from a number of girls and a guy, who said they were staff at the resort and said they'd turn it down after midnight. I am surpised no-one else had got up to tell them. There was no answer from the on-call number listed in the room. I had to then walk across the resort to find another out of hours number to call. This man was very nice and helpful and he called me back 5 minutes later to tell me he had called the bar manager to tell them to move. (!!!!) to be fair, that was it for the noise but it was the fact it was the live in STAFF who did not care one bit about paying customers. I get it, you're a backpacker living in a beautiful place and want to party- do it elsewhere! Not right outside the rooms of the guests paying your wage, no matter what budget my room was. We were 'upgraded' to a room the other side of the carpark (73), which was quieter as it was much further away from the communal area, however, the next night there was a carpark party and someone a few doors down got up to tell people to quiet down at midnight. It doesn't seem there are many responsible, caring night management staff around to oversee these things. If you have a multi-purpose resort backpackers you need to keep a lot of people happy and not all of your guests want to listen to parties all night every night.
The 70's block is refurbished and clean and more modern. The 80's block is old tired, dirty and next to the communal area. The front desk staff of the resort were very nice and helpful, the kitchen was not very clean at all. The facilities were OK and we cooked every night using the BBQs. Luckily we were not there to hang out and were out enjoying the National Park all day every day. It would be so easy to make this budget option so much better- I can see your awful reviews date back a long time with no improvement or response so I highly doubt this will happen. Next time we will spend more money and camp out at Lighthouse.
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