Hi I'm from canada and stayed here the second weekend in May for four nights. The Front desk staff are well trained , plus their individual personalities make for an exceptional team. I've been in the hotel management for many years and they continually impressed me. I didn't have the chance to fill out the comment card so please pass on my many thanks to your team. Regards, Peggy learning

Booked a stay here on the basis of previous visits to Rydges in the UK and am more than happy with the Sabaya. Other reviews had mentioned the refurbishment and this is obvious as soon as you arrive. We found the staff to be extremely friendly and happy to help organise tours etc. We used the hotel to book a hot air balloon but chose to book trips out to the barrier reef in person - no reflection on the Sabaya, we simply wanted to have a look at the boats before making a decision. The journey to / from Cairns Airport was made by shuttle bus which we found very straightforward and its a simple phone call to organise the return journey. We knew before arriving that the hotel wasn't that close to the town centre but a couple of companies run a shuttle bus which pick up at the Sabaya's entrance and at 5AUD return is fine. The hotel was pretty pretty quiet during our stay which sometimes meant it felt as though we had the place to ourselves. The Friday night BBQ brought out a few more guests and allowed Luke from the bar to get his guitar out - hats off to anyone who can turn his hand to a range of (acoustic) songs from Creedence through Counting Crows to Guns and Roses. Last point - I would recommend that anyone considering a booking with Rydges register with them - this gives access to better room rates and a 20% discount on food and drink in the hotel. Our booking was made via their website - dead simple!

Our weeks holiday was not as we expected from Rydges Sabaya hotel. The staff were freindly to us & the rooms were nice, but the constent travels into the town ship in order to eat somthing nice ended up driving us all mad. The simple lack of dining facilitys was surprising for such a company. The menu was terrible with nothing appealing or tast nice, boring home style meals, and a horrible selection of deserts, not what i expected in Australia. A kitchen reveiw is much needed for me to return. Janz,Denmark

we stayed at the Rydges Sabaya for a week in February 2008. We hired a two bedroom self contained apartment. The hotel was very nice, and the room generously large. We attended the hotel during the off peak season associated with North Queensland Wet Season, and the hotel was next to empty!. This was good in that we had the pool all to ourselves but not so good in that service from the hotel restaurant was very bad- i don't think they even went out and did the shopping for the food they were going to serve the hotel guests! The room itself was equipped OK, a main TV and a smaller LCD TV in the two bedrooms. My only gripe was that in room movies did not work and also the clothes dryer did not work properly. The hotel sourroundings were also nice, my little one especially liked the fish pond and the frogs that made there way onto the hotel grounds at night.