WT Chan

Review of Stamford Plaza Adelaide, Austr...

I would have given this hotel a 3* (its ok) to 4* ...

I would have given this hotel a 3* (its ok) to 4* (liked it) rating if not for certain issues that made my stay unpleasant. First off, the room we were first allocated was right next to the side of the elevator shaft. I don't know if they have poorly maintained lifts, but it was really loud. Each time any of the lifts went up or down, it disturbed us. It was difficult to get good sleep as each time you nearly fall asleep, it wakes you up. So much so that the guy in the next room screamed and cursed at the noise at 3am on our first night. Which brings me to the next issue - you can hear occupants in the adjacent rooms if they were louder than anything above a reasonable conversation volume. Advice to light sleepers and those that require a low-noise environment: avoid room 1815. This hotel retrofitted an extra layer of glass over the original exterior windows with an air gap of 1 foot between the two glass panels. It is a relatively effective method of double glazing to reduce external noise. The problem with this room is that both exterior & interior glass windows didn't seal well and allowed noise to come through. You can hear the sirens of emergency vehicles clearly throughout the day and night. The sealing sponge weather strips had fallen off on one full length of the window so it should be an easy fix for hotel maintenance. Next issue was the bathroom. The shower stall is 2 feet 4 inches wide, which is a tad too narrow if you have broad shoulders. It is of the "half glass" design where you don't have a door so water splashes out into the dry side of the bathroom and soaks your floor mat. Pros: the room was a north-facing room so it had a decent view of the oval, parliament house, the river and greenery.

After requesting a room change, the hotel graciously obliged and we were moved down a few floors to a nice quiet corner room (1508 if my memory serves me). This is where the "pros" of this room end. The air conditioning was unable to bring the room temperature any lower than 25 deg C no matter how low you set the temperature at. The previous room would easily drop to 20-22 deg C. The floor in the shower stall had a poor gradient such that water will pool in the centre of the stall and then half of it will flow out to the gully trap outside instead of going down the drain in the shower. A proper floor gradient and a glass door would solve all the problems in this hotel's bathrooms.

Breakfast is good and I felt it was reasonably priced (especially if you inform the front desk the day before so as to receive a small discount).

Car parking in this hotel is horrendous if you arrive in a large car. I hired a Holden Commodore to experience the last of this great Australian-made car. Driving up the ramp, I had to be very careful not to scrape the walls. The down ramp appeared wider. Navigating around to find a lot was challenging due to the narrow paths between pillars. Many of the lots were labelled for small cars and when you do find lots long enough to fit, they are still too narrow for large cars or utes. You also have to be comfortable at reverse parking because that's the only way to get in if you have cars parked all around your lot. I became a nervous wreck trying to reverse into a lot between a Commodore sedan and a Falcon ute and other cars parked behind and in front of me, while the front, rear and blind spot sensors beeped angrily. It didn't help that a queue of cars trying to leave started forming because of me.

Although the location of this hotel is excellent in terms of restaurants, shopping and places of interest, you need to be aware that there is a resident group of homeless people that will start taking up their positions outside the hotel even before the sun sets. They become rowdy and aggressive amongst themselves. They target certain races to spare them loose change and can get aggressive and abusive. It is best not to engage them.