This place is downright shoddy - do not stay here under any circumstances! We had been booked to stay in the Palm Terrace by our travel agent. Having read the other reviews, I was worried by what I had read, but decided to brave it and pick the "budget" option anyway. Big mistake! Also, based on the other reviews, I had requested a ground room floor as we were travelling with our 4-month old baby and I didn't want to have to carry the stroller repeatedly up the stairs (no elevator in the hotel). When we arrived, we were given a room on the 3rd floor despite my ground floor request, but even this didn't really matter as we soon found out that you have to climb multiple levels of stairs just to get to the "ground floor" as the whole hotel is located on a hill. In short, this hotel is not baby friendly at all! However, the real disappointment came when we opened the door to the room. We have stayed in hotels (budget and luxury) all over the world and we have never seen a room look so shabby, especially considering the price that you are paying. My husband took one look at the room and declared that there was no way we were staying there with our daughter. The whole place strongly smelled of bleach and the furnishings looked like they had probably been thrown out by other hotels years ago. We decided to upgrade to the Reef View Hotel for just an extra GBP 25 per night. This is the best decision that we ever made! I cannot recommend strongly enough that everyone else do the same. For the bit of extra money, the Reef View Hotel is 100 times nicer. The difference in comfort level really is HUGE for the small financial difference. I know it seems like you are already spending a large amount of money (but you will find that same mark-up everywhere on the island), but the bit of extra money is so worth it! So don't debate a second longer - do NOT stay at the Palm Terrace and instead book the Reef View Hotel.

We really didn't want to go to Hamilton Island, but with an early flight from the airport it seemed a better idea than the first ferry from Shute Harbour. So, we booked the cheapest accomodation for one night (still $280, but this did include the ferry transfer...PS - check out last minute standby deals if in low season). Overall we didn't have high expectations of the island or the Palm Apartments from the reviews we'd read here (poor value for money, variable service, etc). In fact we were quite pleasantly surprised. The island was quite interesting, service was very good and although very pricey compared to the equivalent on the mainland, the Palm Terrace rooms were fine, and very well located to the waterfront and all the facilties. It's not our sort of place as a rule, but we were quite happy with our brief stay.

Absolutely loved our stay on Hamilton Island even though the weather was not great. We loved the spectacular scenery, the parrots and other colourful birds flying and swalking in the background, the beautiful swimming pools, the terrific choice of watersports, the restaurants etc.. It is without doubt a five star resort which, of course, has five star pricing. Once you accept that you going to pay at least 50% more than for the same item on the mainland, it is a great place for a holiday. We stayed in the Palm Terrace in an apartment on the third floor.It was a very big spacious room with a fine en-suite and all conveniances that you would expect. Our only negatives would be that the view to the sea was completely obscured by the trees in front of the balcony. You also have to keep your patio door closed most of the time because the parrots are brazen enough to come in and beg for/steal food. We also believe that the whole of Palm Terrace has been left without some care an attention for some time. It badly needs a lick of paint and a general improvement that you would expect for a five-star accomodation.

We caught a flight into Hamilton Island and decided to spend our first night in the Whitsundays on the island. The rooms at palm terraces a quite spacious, however a little run down. Location is not bad, however I would recommend getting a buggy to make your way around the island. Facilities at the resort are great. Pools are nice. Meals at the marina tavern are good value. A nice Island feel however I do think that for what you are getting the rooms are too overpriced.

We stayed at the Palm Terrace for our first holiday away with our 9 month old baby. I asked the travel consultant at Flight Centre to book a place which was baby friendly and he recommended the Palm Terrace. Boy was he wrong. When we checked in we were told that we were on the 4th floor and that there were no lifts. Our luggage was carried up the stairs by our porter while we struggled to take our stroller and baby up the entrance to the building and all four flights of stairs. It was ridiculous not to mention dangerous as the stairs were wet as it had been raining heavily. We asked to be moved to another room but we were told there were none available. So we spent the next 5 days carrying our baby + stroller up and down stairs. We asked for a baby cot which was promptly supplied but the baby high chair was covered in food and too disgusting to place our little girl in. Overall, we were really disappointed with our stay and wouldn't recommend anyone with a baby and stroller to stay here