The Hastings Beach Houses

It’s late August and the weather is excellent. Noosa is a great place to escape winter. The Beach House we have has 3 levels. The lower level has a full laundry and a rumpus room. The next level has a very well appointed kitchen, dining and lounge area with access to a balcony, which is great to have breakfast on in the morning sun. This floor has a separate toilet. The top floor contains two bedrooms, two shower rooms and another separate toilet. One shower room is adjoining the main bedroom. All floors have air-conditioning and ceiling fans. The WiFi is excellent, the rooms are very comfortable and nicely decorated and to top it off, the location to Hastings Street is excellent. We are here for a week and it has cost us NZ$2,800. This cost has apparently been discounted due to other Beach Houses being renovated. Little did we know the ‘renovation’ meant knocking down two beach houses and replacing them with a building site constructing a 4 story block. This building site is right next door to our location and means the builders are there during the week from around 7am to 5pm. The beach house itself also has a down side. There is evidence of shoddy workmanship with, for example, a toilet doorstop falling off, not once but three times. I don’t know why they keep screwing this to the door where it gets knocked off. Why not screw it to the wall? There are clothes hooks in the main bedroom that look as if they had fallen off in the past, they are loose and I certainly wouldn’t hang anything like an overcoat on them. This unit is coming close to needing some maintenance before it gets bad. The bottom floor appears to be incomplete because apart from being used as a laundry there is a clear area with a coffee table and a large TV hung from the wall. There is no other furniture and the floor is bare concrete. The back door opens up to an undeveloped garden area. All in all, the beach house is very clean but the shutters could do with a dusting and a little repair in places. Because of the placing of furniture on the top level it appears that the windows cannot be opened and it seems that the windows themselves are going to be replaced at some time with aluminium joinery. Lastly, noise, I’ve mentioned the building site next door but there is another problem. At 5.30am one gets woken by the rumble of someone moving rubbish bins along the cobbled driveway. I really wonder if this is a necessary thing. I did mention this to the management and this practice has now stopped. In general, this is a nice place and is worthy of a repeat visit especially as by then the building work should have finished.

The houses were great value, nice size, comfortable and perfect for our group of 3 families. The location allowed us to walk everywhere leaving the cars at the houses, a big plus as parking in Noosa is difficult. I read a few reviews about run down houses, and saw a couple in renovation while we were there so I guess these were the run down ones as ours were both well maintained, clean and well set up.

After we booked this accommodation we read several negative reviews so were unsure what to expect and arrived with some trepidation. Firstly, we were upgraded from a superior 1 bed unit to a superior 2 bed two bathroom (No 20). We found it roomy, well equipped and in an acceptable state of repair with a nice private balcony overlooking the garden. The Beach Houses have a perfect location on Hastings Street and a short walk to the beach, there are strict rules concerning noise levels and the site feels very secure especially at night. There was building work taking place close by at the time of our stay but did not spoil our time there. As for the negatives the standard of cleaning was very minimal, I had to wipe down all the doors, light switches, handles and remote controls on arrival. Upstairs, the air conditioning units, fans and windows were all covered in a thick layer of dust which was a shame. The pool was nice and warm with plenty of sunbeds just a pity that some of the mosaic tiles were missing around the edge of the pool. We could hear the early morning deliveries at the nearby shopping centre but when the rebuilding of the house behind this one are complete we think this will considerably reduce the noise levels.

I typically do not write reviews and had somewhat forgotten about our stay at Hastings Beach houses until I started looking again for next year's holiday and felt like I had to write a review which I have NEVER done in the past (good or bad) with any hotel. The location really was quite good, there was a bit of noise from the night club next door but you could overlook this given your were right in the middle of hastings Street. This is where the positives for me end. The unit itself was miserable, dated and in desperate need of a renovation. We stayed in House 9. We were told by management that the owners are aware of the state of the house and that they plan to demolish and rebuild (btw this house is still being advertised on ***********). Even knowing the state of the house was sub- standard, they were still quite happy to charge decent money for it. I would never stay at this place again unless they were renovated.

Positives The location is fabulous - right behind Hastings Street. The service - correspondence with the provider was great. Flexible and prompt. Towels - big enough for a plus size person (but no face washers and no second towel if you happen to wash your hair). Cleanliness. Climate comfort - both air conditioned and ceiling fans. The beach houses have a car park which is secure - a definite bonus in this part of noosa. Less positive Due to the location, there is constant noise from the surrounding accommodation and the nearby Bay Village shopping centre (cars and trucks). The provider is up front about there being stairs (which is good) but there two sets of stairs (one to get into the beach house and one to get up to the bedrooms and bathrooms) and they are narrow - I personally found it hard to carry up a suitcase. I also found the main bedroom small and the bed uncomfortable - but beds are a very personal thing. I also don’t like having to take out my own rubbish or be charged a fee - that’s not luxurious to me. I paid approx $500 per night.

Our booking had to be cancelled in 2021 because of Covid. I had paid in full. I was told they would try and resell it. I emailed them asking if they had and received no reply. Now, nearly 2 years later, I’m told I do have a credit for part of the booking which was resold, but have to use it by December or I lose the money. I have paid and so have the people who took over the booking. I think that’s called double dipping. We have to fly up from Victoria to use it which isn’t possible. I have only encountered rude, unhelpful staff with this company.