Central Islington Apartments

We stayed at Central Islington in Townsville. We are a family of four. The room was disgusting, and the smell was extremely bad (Room 40). The room was very dirty, the carpet was filthy, and all the utensils were old and rusty. The toaster and microwave were particularly rusty. There weren’t enough cooking pans, and some of them were rusted as well. The bed was very old, and the couch was so worn out that even if you tried to sell it, no one would want to buy it. I even cleaned the air conditioner filter. On a positive note, the washing machine and fridge were in good condition. The bathroom is good. Good water pressure However, when I booked, the pictures made the place look much nicer than it actually was when we arrived. I would recommend that the owners or managers of this place visit Vinnies or Lifeline to find some decent furniture and appliances. This apartment is extremely dirty, in my opinion. You may get sick if you stay here, so I would advise staying away from Central Islington in Townsville. I have stayed hundreds of hotels and apartments all over Asia and Australia but this is the worst I stayed so far.

The view from our room was spectacular. The room was spacious and really great for our family. I love that you can look out over the river and towards the stadium. You could also pull the sheer and blockout blinds for privacy if needed. Sheets and towels were perfectly clean. The air con was cool and the room clean smelling. The pool and bbq facilities are amazing and beautifully kept. We loved staying here. The room could use a fresh coat of paint and the flooring and furniture could use some tlc but it was great value for the price so if it were refurbished would probably be a lot higher price bracket. Staff were very welcoming and friendly and fulfilled our needs. Under building parking is very secure and felt safely lit. Highly recommend we will be back!!!

Absolutely appalled. We booked our apartment months ago. MONTHS. We booked through Wotif and specifically selected a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 queen beds and 2 single beds. NOWHERE on the booking page or in any fine print did it mention the bedding configuration may be different. The day before arrival I received a text message asking me to confirm my name and my bedding “request”. I immediately replied with my name, and made a point of specifying “Bedding REQUIRED: 2 queen 2 single, this is what we booked”. So let’s jump forward to check-in day. First of all, finding this place is not easy. No signs out front to let you know where to turn in, and if you miss the turn in there’s no easy way to turn around and get back to it. Ended up driving around for 10 minutes just trying to get in there to where we thought it might be. When we finally found the place, check-in was a long process with a staff member who was behaving quite unprofessionally and whilst I wouldn’t go so far as to say they made me feel uncomfortable, I can absolutely see how other guests may feel that way. After all the mucking around we were then hit with a $150 deposit on credit card. Absolutely absurd in this day and age. These ridiculous, out-dated policies are deal breakers for people travelling on a budget, which we are, so you can be sure we will not be coming back here purely based on this alone. (Hot tip for others who feel the same way: Rydges nearby will hold only $1 on your card, and Madison Plaza also very close doesn’t hold anything at all. I’m sure there’s plenty of others around too that aren’t stuck in the dark ages). Moving on. IF ONLY those were the sole issues! No such luck. So, we finally get to the apartment, and wouldn’t you know it, the bedding is wrong. Despite booking months in advance, and clarifying very clearly what bedding was required the day before, they still managed to mess it up. 3 queen beds. We are multi-generational family so obviously cannot share beds. After multiple phone calls to reception requesting a trundle bed, being told that they would normally charge for this (and promptly explaining to them that there is no way in h*** we would be paying due to this being THEIR stuff up!!!) and having the staff member mentioned earlier carrying on like an eccentric character on a soap opera telling us that we’re gonna have to come down and help carry it because it’s way too heavy for them, we told them to forget it. The end result was that our youngest (not SO young at 19 years of age) ended up having to sleep on the couch!!! We made it very clear to them that we would be requesting at least a partial refund, to which they replied “we’ll see what we can do”. Once we finally got past the bedding issue, more and more problems started popping up. Firstly, out of 3 bedrooms in this apartment, two had lamps, and only ONE of those lamps had a light bulb in it. So one working lamp in the entire apartment. Another call to reception only to be told that

Spacious apartment (3bedroom) in a great location, walking distance from the city and the stadium. Unfortunately maintenance is required. Lights in BBQ area were not working and a resident reported to us they haven’t been working for a little while. Our unit was missing a sink plug so we couldn’t wash our dishes and basic kitchen utensils such as a chopping board. The air conditioner in the main bedroom rattled all night and when I went to plug my phone charger in to power point behind bedside table my hand was covered in cob webs and dust, it didn’t appear to have been cleaned behind there for a long time. The coffee sachets were not usable as the had moisture inside them which ruined the coffee (possibly have sat there for too long). These apartments have potential to be a great place if they were maintained and cleaned better.