Swell Resort Burleigh Heads

The staff at Swell Resort were great, location perfect, apartment was nicely furnished and clean. The air conditioner was working intermittently then it stopped completely, we reported it, reception told us the owners lived in the building and they would contact us. We waited and no call came, we are home now and still not a word from them. It might not have been so bad if the ceiling fan in the second bedroom worked without having the light on, making it impossible to have it on at night. Surprisingly we discovered the sliding window in that room opened fully, no fly screen or barrier between the window and the ground three floors beneath. It completely spoiled our time in the apartment.

Swell resort is a huge complex of apartments, each individually owned and rented through the central company. We arrived just after 5 pm on a Friday, to find that reception closes at 5. Obviously most of the travellers arrive after 5pm on a Friday so when we arrived the were at least 8 families trying to locate keys via an intercom on the wall connected to a call centre. The system was terrible - a piece of paper to direct us to the car park maze where spaces arent numbered in order. We spent over an hour trying to locate a car spot only to find that the garage door was open so we couldnt see the number. The apartment was generally in poor condition. The towels were frayed with holes in some and the bright red leather couch was old and badly coming apart at the seams. The cleaning was average - a dusty baby toy was lodged between the bed and the side table which I’m surprised wasn’t picked up when the bed was changed. My biggest issue was a faulty bathroom door handle which repeatedly locked and we couldn’t open from the outside. We had no access to the bathroom for most of the Saturday until my husband arrived and was able to ‘jiggle’ it open. Later that day my 8 year old daughter became locked inside the bathroom - she was distressed and trying to get out - my husband was shaking and pushing the door to try to get it open and it suddenly opened quickly, hitting her on the head, causing a nosebleed and bruising to her face. I reported this via the intercom to a lady who took the details and then hung up on me. I assumed that someone would be called to fix the lock but no one contacted me again during our stay. We were also only provided with one set of keys between 6 people which was problematic - all of us trying to coordinate getting in and out at separate times was very hard. There were at least 3 gates between the room and the exit, all of which needed the keys to enter / exit. Having teenagers who wanted to walk into town or come home later at night was very difficult and resulted in others being woken by phones or doorbells and having to let people in and out. Once again I was advised by intercom lady that she couldn’t help. Reception hours are very limited (2 hours per day) and therefore we weren’t able to attend in person to request more at a time we were free. All in all, we were disappointed with our stay. Guest services were essentially non existant - the intercom lady wasn’t helpful at all. I found it very surprising that so many people were arriving after 5 on the Friday evening and no one was there to assist. At one point I saw at least 10 people queuing to use the intercom to request keys. The visitors car park was full overnight with many cars parked overnight and exceeding the posted 2 hr limit. The apartment was dated and dirty and the entry / exit with one set of keys / adults and teenagers was very frustrating. I did email Swell twice after our stay but nearly two months later I havent had a reply. I also called t

Good location, pool area great. However Reception checkin procedure/welcome/lift floor security lacking. Bathroom terrible, no extractor fan, shower narrow over high bath with degraded slip mat in bath, no rack or support hold. Marked walls needs paint. Overall disappoints for a 4 star rated. Would not visit again.