I have enjoyed staying at Spicers for a number of years now. Over the years, I have been very impressed with the quality of the hotels and the quality of the service. However, I decided to stay at Spicers Guesthouse over Christmas and something seriously has happened, where this hotel appears to have taken a real dive for the worse.
The rooms are okay, but everything else was substandard for a Spicers ‘Relaxed Luxury’.
Breakfast was included BUT… now there is a two tier breakfast system where the one that is included is a very basic and poorly cooked, bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. If you want a normal breakfast (which was previously included) which is available as ‘a la carte’ (such as eggs benny, full australian/Italian, etc), you can order it, but it is extra. I am generally okay with a buffet breakfast, but this was more fitting for a backpackers - a travel lodge breakfast would have been better. So anyway, I ordered the additional breakfast ( which was just ‘okay’) and had to pay for this, even though breakfast was included. But anyway.
Christmas lunch was a a let down. It consisted of a fresh seafood plate, which was okay, They there were two mains that came out, this included a very dry fish that was inedible and then a pork belly dish which was again substandard, it had not been cooked properly, so it was just like eating gristle, yuk. Then we finished with a dessert which was okay. This was no way close to a decent Christmas lunch and I am so sorry to say this, but a maccas would have been a step up. The price was about $225 pp, which was way overpriced for what was presented.
In addition, after Christmas lunch, the hotel shut everything down. No bar, no restaurant, there was actually no one at reception. Now I appreciate people who work on Christmas and I have a lot of sympathy for anyone working on Christmas Day, as they should be spending it with their family. However, I just can’t understand why a hotel like Spicers Guesthouse is open on Christmas Day for accommodation, but all of the hotel amenities are closed. There was no mention of this at the time of booking or when we checked it. In addition, there was no consideration of a reduction in payment given the reduction in service. It was just simply a let down, plain and simple.
I did manage to speak to some of the staff members, and they mentioned that recently the hotel has been under new management and they’re treating it more like a budget hotel now and cutting so many corners. Not sure why they’re doing this, maybe to save money, but it is more travel lodge than relaxed luxury.
The main reason why I am writing this review is not just because of the above, it was about the integrity of the management of this property. I had a $642 credit note at the property (this was my real money, not a gift) and I was settling the bill for about $350 and so asked to pay using this credit note, and the response was yes that should be fine. However, a couple of days later I received an email with a demand for payment, and I again, explained I had a credit note and they can take from that, but they said the credit note had expired and they needed more money. I explained that it was real money and they didn’t care, they just explained that they had ‘absorbed the credit’, I will use my words, they stole the money from me, and they wanted an additional $350, which I explained that I would not pay for obvious reasons. Anyway, they then proceeded to take an unauthorised payment from my account, so I am now going to have to go bank and explain that a fraudulent payment has been taken.
Spicers, I really don’t care about my experience. It is what it is. However, you need to really need to take a deep look at how you’re running this hotel now and hopefully look deeply into what’s happened, why and see what you need to do to improve.
For me, I have now written you off as a bad experience and I will not be coming back, but wanted to give you this frank, and honest feedback as I am hoping there is someone left who actually cares. You had such as good hotel.
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