ibis budget Newcastle (previously FORMULE 1)

"rooms carpet drenched with water"

4th March 2013, ilacqua, Sydney, Australia

ROOM 128I did not have a pleasant stay as the room stunk of wet carpet ,the entire room had a wet floor the wall as you walk into the room on the right hand side was covered in wet mold,also the inconvenience of only have one 240v outlet which was already being used for the fridge made it difficult to plug in and operate my laptop.

Management responseDear Guest, Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle. I am sorry that your experience did not meet your expectations; please allow me to express my sincerest apologies. The weather in Newcastle over the past month has brought on some water leaks within the hotel and we greatly apologise that your room was one of those that were effected. Again we humbly apologise that this was your experience and it is our hope that you will give us the opportunity to better serve you in the near future.Kind regards,Management
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"you get what you pay for"

22nd February 2013, SKDrooster2013, Sydney, Australia

A clean room, clean sheets & toilet.Not much to the room or the hotel itself, but for a stopover, its perfect.The little one enjoyed sleeping on the top bunk! We had a decent sleep, but there was some noise outside, which sounded like a laundromat or something?

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle and we are glad you had a positive experience during your stay.Thank you for complimenting the cleanliness of your hotel room, we aim to deliver service that allows guests to relax and enjoy their sleep. We do want to apologise for the noise coming from the road works and look forward to them finishing in the next few months. We are also very happy to advise that we will be carrying out a full refurbishment of the hotel mid 2013 and all our rooms will be the new Cocoon Concept. Once again thank you for the kind feedback and we hope to see you again in the future. Kind regards,Management
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"it is what it is"

19th February 2013

my wife & I had spent 3 weeks traveling in Oz and stayed overnight in Newcastle before flying from Sydney at noon the next day. The motel is what it is , a budget motel & very good value , particularly by australian standards. The room was just fine for an overnight stay , clean & very quiet , which meant we got a surprisingly good nights sleep.A couple of things that could be improved..... I booked online at the hotels website 3 weeks prior but it took 15 minutes to find the reservation when we arrived to checkin ie unacceptable in this day & age . The hallway carpets were very stained & dirty, as well as lots of chipped paint allover . A little bit of maintenence to keep things fresh & bright would create a much better " first impression " .

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle and we are glad you had a positive experience during your stay.Thank you for complimenting the cleanliness of your room and value of your stay, we aim to deliver service that allows guests to relax and enjoy their sleep. As you mentioned first impressions are very important especially to us and we want to ensure that guests have arrive and leave with a positive impression. We are very happy to advise that we will be carrying out a full refurbishment of the hotel mid 2013 and all our rooms will be the new Cocoon Concept. Once again thank you for the kind feedback and we hope to see you again in the future. Kind regards,Management
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"Improved Sleep Quality"

22nd January 2013, RobertDeniro_13, Sydney, Australia

I had a history of staying at Formula one Wallsend for many years and stopped going two years ago due to the inability to get a good night sleep caused by the introduced policy of plastic protectors over the mattress which made it unpleasant / uncomfortable. I voiced my opinion on two occasions with the desk staff and by the third visit I didn't return. Thank you for return the sleep quality to the motel.

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle and apologise for the previous experiences you have had with the hotel. We were happy to hear that you enjoyed your sleep as this is part of the ibis budget brand to improve the quality of sleep for all our guests. Please know that over the course of the following few months we will be completely refurbished with all new bedding which will once again be a great for your sleep. Thank you again and we hope to see you again in the future. Kind regards,Management
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"In my worst 5 stays ever"

21st January 2013, TiggsR82, Sydney, Australia

There were mini and small cockroaches on the walls and carpet floor ALL night.Found that leaving the light on was the only way the cockroaches were going to stay mostly hidden for my to get a comfortable enough sleep.Given that it was Formula1 previously, I was unaware there was no foxtel...dissapointment there. On top of all this, at 9am there was a maintanence man with a wipper snipper outside the window...not only making noise, but I could smell the petrol smell in the room.If I were Ibis, I would be ashamed to own this motel...or motel chain if others are the same.

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle and we apologise that you did not enjoy your stay.You noted a very important pest concern, we are doing all we can along side our pest control to solve the issue. Currently, they are servicing our property fortnightly and we will definitely discuss with them other options in order to improve the current standards. In relation to our maintenance team, we apologise for the noise and will discuss with all our contractors from here on commence works after 10am (check out). Again we want to apologise and thank you sharing your feedback on the hotel. It is our hope that you will give us the opportunity to better serve you in the near future.Kind regards,Management
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"Worst Place Ever Obvious Infestation"

26th December 2012, cupcom, Sydney, Australia

Actual first time in a hotel in my life. Brought my partner along. Worst experience of our lives. We found human hair in the room and bed, roaches crawling around everywhere. roach eggs in the sheets, lice in the bed. staff ready to pass the buck. Avoid...

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle and we apologise that you did not enjoy your stay.You noted a very important pest concern, we are doing all we can along side our pest control to solve the issue. Currently, they are servicing our property fortnightly and are already in discussion with them to implement other options in order to improve the current standards. Again we want to apologise and thank you sharing your feedback on the hotel. It is our hope that you will give us the opportunity to better serve you in the near future.Kind regards,Management
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"Was Alright"

5th December 2012, Mikey1st, Canberra, Australia

This place was ok.Decent location for what we were doing, pretty much in the middle of every where.The room was ok, a fridge would have made it ALLOT better as staying for 4 days without a fridge is pretty hard.Showers are a bit strange (Similar to a portaloo or what you would find in a Bus/Plane)The BIGGEST dislike about this hotel is the fire alarms......... The alarms go off allot (I was actually told by their employee it occurs approx 10 times a week do to an old and crappy system)

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the ibis Budget Newcastle and complimenting the location of the hotel.We apologise we could not put you in a room with a fridge at the time of your stay but we would like to advise that we have recently had a delivery of mini fridges that we have installed into a small number of rooms in order to accommodation guests who may require a fridge. We would also like to note that we will be completely refurbished in mid 2013 which will include an upgrade to our fire panel and will reduce the number of fire alarms throughout the year. Again we want to humbly apologise and thank you sharing your feedback on the hotel. It is our hope that you will give us the opportunity to better serve you in the near future.Kind regards,Management
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"My stay"

18th November 2012, Stay2727, Queensland Australia

We enjoyed our stay at Ibis Newcastle the staff was very friendly and helpful to us, the room and amenities were clean. Our only concern was with the location, the address saying Newcastle and it was so far away from the centre of Newcastle. The address could have said Wallsend, making it easier to find. As we had to ask for directions a few times.

"Nice budget hotel"

17th November 2012

Very nice budget hotel. Queen bed with bunk single bed on top. Enjoyed my stay at this nice hotel. Would stay hee again and take side trip into wine country called the hunter valley. Very nice. Would recommend this hotel for anyone on a budget

"worst night sleep ever!!!"

7th September 2012, Ava292, Port Macquarie, Australia

I have stayed here before and it was good however the bed in this room had what seemed to be a new mattress and it was like sleeping on a plastic covered brick! Also our room was near the main road and the traffic noise was loud all night !It was made so much worse by the window in the hall being fixed open so it echoed down the hall.

"Tick, tick"

10th July 2012, Sydney, Australia

I found staff polite and efficient. My booking was correct and without any complications. The room was very adequate for my needs. One issue that I had was, when trying to get to get to sleep, although the area was generally quiet, there was an annoying repetitive ticking sound that seemed to come from the the light fitting or close to it in the wall. It took me a couple of hours to get to sleep and I am not sure if I drifted off or the ticking stopped and if the noise was in the other rooms. This situation probably needs to be fixed for future clients.

Management responseDear Guest,Thank you for taking the time to write a review regarding your stay at our hotel.We were pleased to read that you found are staff polite and efficient.Thank you for notifying us regarding the ticking sound in your room. It is unusual and should not have occurred. Please rest assured we will be looking into this.Once again, thank you for your review and we hope to welcome you back to our hotel in the near future.Best Regards,Management
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"Not for the faint hearted"

4th July 2012, Dubbo

Cheap and good value for money but.......a little daunting per clientel. Fully booked out both nights we stayed so obviously popular, but we found the place to be overly basic, and first impressions were not good as we navigated the rabbit warren of corridors and stair cases to get to our rooms. We also had quite a bit of disturbance during the second night with raucous goings on in the corridor between 2am and 5am. The lady on reception was very helpful and friendly. Gave us extra towels for the girls' hair. Friends who live locally did not recommend this hotel and we probably won't stay here again, but we really did not have any problems. The rooms were very spartan even in comparison to other F1s that we've stayed at. There was only one power point in one of the two rooms we had booked. Our room had a power board attached to a mini bar fridge and that was it for extra power points. Rooms and linen were clean. The doors were locked and at no point did we feel unsafe, given our local friends' attitude towards the reputation of the place. I wouldn't not recommend this hotel, but some might find their stay a little daunting.

Management responseDear Traveler,Thank you for taking the time to submit a review regarding your recent stay at our hotel.We were pleased to read you found our hotel "good value for money" and that you found our Receptionist both "helpful" and "friendly".Please note, certain areas of our hotel will be under going a refurbishment in the near future, we do hope to welcome you back to our hotel in your future travels.Best Regards,Management
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"Wallsend disappointing"

28th May 2012, Note32, Melbourne, Australia

Room looked dirty, carpet is stained, there was hairs on the basin and crumbs on the shelf under the TV, the room was in good need of a thorough clean.