6/10 Okay
Ian
Business traveller
20 May 2025
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Amenities
The Australia Hotel was undoubtedly a beautiful building in her 'hay day', circa 1900. Unfortunately, she's showing her age these days. However, she's not beyond recovery & could be a very pleasant place to stay.
The furnishings are about as tired as the building, & look like they may be close to the same age as her.
The shared ablutions are 'interesting'. The shower cubicles could do with shower curtains or doors to stop water ending up all over the floors of the drying/changing areas. The cubicle doors would work much better if they were hinged on the opposite sides, so they don't force you to step into the shower to get in/out. And some 'bench space' around the wash basins would make things easier.
The lack of cooling/heating in each room is less than optimal. She may be a 'Heritage Listed' Building, but many such buildings have modern facilities. The weather was fairly mild during my stay, so it was bearable, but a warm day or cold night in Fremantle could make things very uncomfortable.
There's a surprising lack of storage &/or hanging space in the rooms.
On this occasion she wasn't what I'd expected. In her defence, I'd completely missed the fact that she's more of a 'Backpackers Hostel' than an actual 'Budget Hotel', so to be fair, if I were 30 or so years younger & 'Backpacking', rather than travelling by necessity, I'd probably be less disappointed.
Got to say the staff were very friendly & helpful, which was great.
Ian
Stayed 5 nights in May 2025