Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas

Not Impressed

Staff was very friendly and facility was very nice however the room service as far as how the rooms were cleaned each night was pathetic at best. I have never seen such poor cleaning of rooms, they basically made up the bed and put clean towels in the room but no more, Ran out of Toilet Paper, shampoo etc. floors never vacummned, counters not wiped off. Also there were little ants everywhere in our room, on counters in the sick etc... If I pay the same for each night of stay I expect the room to be serviced as if it was my first night. This was the worst cleaning I have ever seen at any hotel that I have ever stayed at. We even saw a maid cleaning another room and she swept off the counters in the room with the same broom that she used on the floors which is completely unsanitary.

Rydges has potential...

The Rydges is in a great location and looks beautiful as you arrive. The rooms are new and modern, however ours wasn’t cleaned very well and the bathroom hadn’t been cleaned at all! THe manager was nice about it, apologized and had it fixed right away. We were even sent a fruit basket the next day as an apology. We ate at the restaurant and it was nice - food was good, just slow service - like an hour for our dinner to arrive. With a 1 year old, that was frustrating. But this is also Australia where restaurant service is typically slow compared to the US. My only other frustration was not ever being able to have a lounge chair at the pool for the 3 days we were there. They definitely need more lounge chairs and should be willing to go 2-3 deep in some sunny areas like other resorts do. Its disappointing to pick a hotel based on their pool and then not be able to enjoy it very much. It was also frustrating to wait 10 minutes in line to order a drink and watch the staff run up to the bar and back down to the pool - not well managed in my opinion... The hotel location itself is excellent and a 10 minute walk to 4 mile beach where we ended up spending most of our time! Its a 5 minute car ride to town too which was perfect. Overall, we enjoyed our time - and would stay here again with more realistic expectations rather than some dream resort getaway in mind.

Traveler's tip on getting the most out of your stay

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Very Impressed

We had a beautiful stay here at the Rydges Sabaya. The check in service staff was very friendly and helpful, and responded to our needs properly. We had only a small issue that on a night it was raining heavily they did not provide in room dining and told us to pick it up- whic h was obviuosly not what we were going to do!!! There was some miscommunication with only of the staff that answered the phone and was not knowlegable about the process. In the main restaurant, it was delicious. The breakfast was very reasonably priced, and they set out a nice buffet, and for dinner we had a great meal, and for a very good price also. We were very impressed overall and would return without a doubt!

Traveler's tip on getting the most out of your stay

We ate a BISTRO 3 in the main shopping area of port douglas (macrossan St) and have an exceptional meal and cocktails. The Dishes were actually quite spectacular. We also enjoyed a nice meal at a more casual eatery called Mango Jam and the food was good and the service was very friendly. We also went on the QUICKSILVER Barrier Reef tour which was phenomenal and used the Tropical Horizon Daintree Tour which was incredible also!!!