Upon arrival we were greeted by a lady who seemed to be quite friendly. However, she soon told us that she needed to call her husband to deal with an issue regarding our reservation. The husband arrived and informed us in a very brash manner that they don't have any standard rooms remaining with two beds (despite the fact that we reserved this specific type of room and our reservation was accepted). He then tried to tell us that in order to get an extra bed we must either pay extra to upgrade to an "executive" room (I can't imagine a hotel of this caliber really has anything remotely along the lines of "executive") or pay extra to get a roll-away bed placed into our standard, single-bed room. Neither of these options were acceptable since we specifically reserved a room with two beds at a specific rate and they accepted our reservation without any qualms. After a little arguing he finally decided to give us a standard, single-bed room with a roll-away bed at no extra charge (which is what he should have offered to begin with). If staying at this hotel try to avoid dealing with the husband; he is a complete imbecile. The quality of the room was decent considering the price we paid ($90) and it was only for one night. Everything was clean and in good condition. Not much in the way of decor but then again for the price it really didn't matter much. Overall it is an alright place to stay for a short period of time. If they improved their customer service a bit it could be considered to be a very good budget hotel.

We are a family of four that booked a family unit for 5 nights during the school holidays. Our main reason for being in Townsville was for our daughter to compete in the North Queensland Athletics competition being held over the weekend. We were therefore part of a group of other Development Squad athletes and their managers/parents. Upon our arrival we were told we had a family unit 'over the road' and not actually in the Best Western complex. This was not a problem and, on reflection, a better deal as we had a two-storey unit in a block of approx 6 flats. Unfortunately when we moved in, there was someone elses belongings in the bedroom. The bedroom had been serviced with new towels and bed linen etc but the previous tenants clothes, books, shoes where packed and piled up on the bedroom floor. We had to get the receptionist to come over the road to remove the items. Secondly, in the kitchen there is a dishwasher which when opened revealed a full load of dirty dishes. Now as there was no 'knob' on the doorwasher door to actually select a wash cycle and there was no dishwash detergent for the dishwasher I had to remove all the dirty dishes and wash them by hand. Not a pleasant start to a holiday. The next day we had a knock at the door and the manager and an electrician came in because the stove didn't work and then the dryer didn't work either so they had to get a repair man in to fix that. Not that we ever needed it as it was hot, hot, hot. There is a full kitchen, dining area and lounge, laundry and toilet on the lower level (street level) and upstairs there were two bedrooms and one bathroom/toilet. Air-con and fans provide adequate cooling and there is a sliding door to the rear of the flats where the washing lines are strung about metre away against a breeze-block wall separating you from the neighbours. Overall, not a bad unit. The rest of our group had units in the Best Western complex. We joined them several times for a BBQ and get-together. We were told that it was $5 to use the BBQ and that they had forgotten to charge us the first night!!!! Too bad I say. The pool was very small and in a concrete enclosed area behind a wall right next to the main road so expect traffic noise. Unfortunately, one of the rooms (containing teenage boys) was entered into by a person unknown during the night (the boys forgot to lock their door) and laptop and ipod was stolen before the person was disturbed by the boys waking up. The managers/staff weren't that friendly and when I asked about a particular activity that was promoted in their brochure rack they weren't particularly knowledgeable about it suffice to say that it was "new" and "not opened long" so they didn't know anything about it and they weren't prepared to phone up and find out. Positives: walking distance to Esplanade and walking distance to the athletic track.

My husband and I had booked a holiday for a week for us and our two little girls when on our arrival they tried to tell us that we had booked the wrong dates. Now the dates that they said I had booked had us checking out on the day that I was due back at work. This could make things very difficult as we had to travel two days and 1700kms to get home. As I had to apply for work holidays I am possitve that I did not give the wrong dates but that they had made an error. This left us 1700kms from home in the middle of school holidays with nowhere to stay. Lucky for us there were a lot of other very helpful motel people who were of great help and saved us from having to sleep in our car.