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.

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.

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.