Review of Rydges Bankstown 4*

I wish I had something nice to say. I have stayed in my fair share of hotels, as well as many, many hostels — so I know what bad accommodation is — and all I can do is laugh at what I was charged for this nightmare of a stay in a hotel chain. I spent two nights at Rydges in Bankstown while attending a weekend seminar there. I encountered a number of problems during this visit. To list a few: — Every staff member I encountered was unfriendly. Except for one — but she turned out to be unknowledgeable about her own industry. — I was charged twice on my credit card for my stay. Am awaiting the cancellation of one of these charges. — The flush button on my toilet in my room got stuck down several times so it kept running loudly and I had to fix it each time. — On the first night I was woken by a loud, high-pitched buzzing noise which lasted for an hour, from 5am to 6am. Never worked out what that noise was. — The temperature gauge to my room was not working, which resulted in uncomfortably restless nights. — The shower head was ridiculously spitty. My intentions to not wash my hair by tying it up were thwarted by the nozzle that sprayed everywhere. — An attempt at enjoying a relaxing bath was destroyed due to the bathroom fan not being able to be turned off so the water was reduced to lukewarm prematurely. — This bath got even more unpleasant when I attempted to remove the bath plug — it was the inappropriate size for that bathtub. It took me no less than 45 minutes to get it out — plus a bruised hand, broken pen (attempted stabbing it out), two bent spoons (the ones provided by the hotel were rubbish, so just as well I had my own spoon made of adequate metal), and a soaking bathroom floor. — The seminar room had the air conditioning on at a very uncomfortable level — fricking cold. On a day that was 28 degrees outside, everyone in the seminar room was wearing long pants and a jumper/jacket. — There were 5 female toilets available during the seminar. This resulted in a long line during the breaks from the seminar as there was approximately 50 people attending, predominantly female. Additionally, by the end of the weekend, 2 of these 5 toilets were out of order. — There was flaking paint in my room, in hallways and in the seminar room. — The parking lot is scattered with signs saying that visitors may leave their car there at their own risk — thank god parking is at least free. — There is nothing in the way of restaurants in the near vicinity (I do not count Maccas or Hungry Jacks to be real restaurants) Those are some of the issues I encountered. I am flabbergasted that this Rydges has a generally positive rating. I have visited the Rydges at World Square in Sydney before and maybe I was expecting something of that level at Rydges in Bankstown. So very sadly let down. I would rather stay at the caravan park across the road next time.