We had an early morning appointment at the hospital in Murdoch so stayed here the night before (it's about 15-20 mins drive from Murdoch and has a free parking area on the grounds [many Freo hotels only have paid parking or on-street parking nearby]; there is no hotel accommodation near Murdoch).

We were told to use the Hubble St back entrance to access the free parking. Be aware that the bays are quite small and the turning circle is very tight. There's only one way in and out and if you get stuck at the end, you have to reverse all the way back and hope there's no-one behind you. There's also paid parking (off the Sewell St entrance?).

Check-in was quick and easy and we were told we'd been upgraded to a better room, which was nice. However, if our room was 'better' I'd hate to see what we were originally allocated. Unfortunately some of the issues didn't show until the next morning when it was too late to change rooms. A $100 bond is applied to your credit card on checking in, so be aware of that. I'm writing this just over 24 hours after checking out and it hasn't been released back yet.

We ate at the bistro - steak ($49) and fish ($27), with an extra side of chips ($12) and a bottle of shiraz ($55). The steak was meant to be 300g, but it was thin and 'ordinary' according to my partner, and certainly not worth nearly $50. The fish (1 large piece of snapper) and chips was good and well cooked. The bowl of chips was plentiful, hot and crisp with a fluffy centre, but they tasted strongly of the oil they were cooked in (my partner doesn't eat fish and he could taste fish in his, as could I). Service was good and cheerful. It wasn't until the next morning when we were packing up that I found the 2 vouchers for drinks at the bar tucked away inside a folded card on the coffee table.

Now, to the room (if Management reads this, it was room 103 and I made some of these complaints on checking out). Our 'upgrade' was to an accessible room. Even though the booking was for 2 people, we had a room with a king bed and a single. Both beds had black bases, on a dark carpet, and my corner of the bed base stuck out from the mattress. At night these bases were impossible to see and I hit my shin coming back from the bathroom in the dark. The pillows were all quite hard and we both found it difficult to sleep. There was a built-in sofa thing in the room, and it was also dark so the marks on it showed - it looked like it needed a good deep clean. TV reception was shocking for a place in the city - we tried to watch the free to air channels, and the reception continually dropped out, pixellating the image on the screen and causing the sound to jump. None of the HD channels appeared to be available.

Speaking of black, the side tables are also black and there are power outlets and light switches on one of them - also black and almost impossible to see. Black on black on black is certainly not very 'accessible' - silver mounts for the lights/power would've certainly helped.

It wasn't until early the next morning that I turned on the main light, which had a strobing effect (likely a bulb needs replacing).

And then there was the shower. First, the bathroom had a musty/mouldy smell. It's been completely renovated relatively recently, but yet we both smelt mould or damp - there was no obvious signs of either so I suspect it's hidden behind the walls. Second, the shower curtain fixture was secured to the wall at both ends, but the middle piece had come away from the ceiling. And finally, and certainly the worst, was the actual shower. It was a handpiece secured on a vertical rail. But it wasn't secure at all -- the piece holding the handpiece continually slid down the rail and someone had made an attempt to stop it going all the way down by adding a stopper, which was next to useless. This meant that there was no overhead stream of water -- it came at your body from the side, hitting, with luck, the middle of your body, or lower. Washing your hair required you to bend to access the stream of water. The handpiece also had no flexibility in the shower head --even had it stayed in position on the rail, the water would've gone out over your head. The water pressure and temperature were good, but flushing a toilet while the other person was in the shower caused the pressure to drop and a change in temperature.

Went for the quiz night and dinner.
Seated outside and it was freezing!
Another function going on inside which decamped to only bar and made it very noisy. Service ordering food and drink slow - no table service unless us order at table QR code. Wine I wanted wasn’t at bar. But had to get hard copy menu as only specials on QR reader. Staff couldn’t find table. Food prices didn’t match service or quality expected at that rate. Dismal.
Parking: should be a system indicating when full. Chaotic.
Toilet signs are unclear.