The Ark Stanley

Loved our stay at The Ark. Great location & beautiful accommodation. Rhonda & Chris are great hosts, very friendly & helpful. Breakfast was an unexpected treat & thoroughly recommend anyone to anyone looking for an enjoyable stay.
Alan Mathews

This is my first review being a frequent traveler for years and it’s not gonna be a positive one.

I was not expecting a contactless check in as it was not communicated in advance. But there was literally nobody onsite when we arrived in a late afternoon. I had to make an overseas call to the number on the door to learn about the check in procedures, which was obviously not friendly to international travellers. The call quality in my room was far from ideal - I had to come down to the front door after going upstairs per advised, so that I could be heard by the owner on the other end.

My room was on the second floor with no elevator. The parking space was also quite limited so parking could be challenging.

Instead of advising the WiFi password directly upon my inquiry, I was told to refer to the handbook on the table. After I found it and connected to the WiFi, there’s still no internet connection. It took some time for the owner to come to the property and reset the router before the internet access became available.

Unlike the other places I stayed for my Australia trip, there was only one drain in shower space and no drain in the outer part of the bathroom. Outside the bathroom there was this carpet that covered the rest of the floor. Everything was pretty much on the same level. So when the only drain didn’t work out as expected, even just for a couple of minutes, the water could easily flood the bathroom and flow out directly onto the carpet.

I was in the middle of a morning shower so didn’t realise the flood until someone in the bedroom found out that the carpet was wet. I stopped the water immediately, cleaned up the clogged drain and absorbed the flooded bathroom floor with the provided bathmat and towels before leaving them in the corner of the shower space. I even opened the window in the bedroom for ventilation so that the carpet could dry up quicker despite it was cold outside.

I had clogged drain before, however this was the first time that I encountered a flooded bathroom this bad and I had done everything I could to mitigate the situation. It was rather inconvenient to my busy morning. But no trip is perfect and I could have let go all of the above if it wasn’t for the reaction of the owner.

Surprisingly, none of my efforts were appreciated by the owner or met her expectations. I was accused of not having the decency to mention the issue when leaving (which I did apologised, was leaving in a hurry and got something else on my mind so forgot to bring it up) and misuse of the bathroom (apparently the bathmat and towels that were used to absorb the water were considered as the cause instead of the malfunction of the drain and the flaw in bathroom design). I spent plenty of time clarifying the situation afterwards during my trip in the mountainous area under instable internet connection, “but to no avail”, just like what the owner commented on my steps taken.

An extra AUD 400 was charged by the owner as compensation.

This is extremely disappointing and I’ll never coming back.

Book at your own peril!

Chris and Rhonda are excellent hosts and made us feel very welcome. Lovely location, comfortable room with high quality linen, nice bathroom.all wonderful. We finished off with a great home cooked breakfast. Thank you for making our stay memorable.

Every single detail was impeccable. The location was divine, the views breathtaking. The room was incredibly well appointed, the hosts were lovely, and the breakfast fantastic. The absolute highlight of our first trip to Tasmania. We are already panning a return trip - The Ark will definitely be somewhere we will stay again.

Very quaint town and fantastic place to stay overlooking the beach. Great breakfast and fantastic staff. Fully recommended

Room was comfortable and warm but not very large. We don’t believe it is 5 star as stated but nice all the same

The Ark Stanley is the most outstanding B&B we have stayed in Australia. The property is beautifully and lovingly built and decorated. This is luxury Accomodation with the all the luxury mod cons. My wife and I were just finishing a circuit around Tassie and slept on may beds in the process. The Bed at the Ark Stanley was amazing and the best night's sleep I had during our 24 days in Tassie.

Hosts Rhonda & Christer are fastidious and the small personal touches in the rooms were widely commented on by other guests at breakfast. Speaking of Breakfast, their lovely home cooked meals were delicious.

If all this wasn't enough, you have panoramic view of Bass Strait and can walk to all other shops and restaurants in town.

I rate our stay a 6 out of 5.

If i could rate this place as zero, I would. The owners are not only incompetent, they're down right rude. Stay away from this one!

A great place to stay, great location with a great view! Friendly and helpful hosts.
My wife and I only stayed for one night but really wished we had more time there.
We loved our room (Weatherly), well appointed and spotlessly clean with a great attention to detail (TimTams and milk in the fridge!) all topped off with a tasty generous breakfast!
Loved it! Will definitely book again if we return to Stanley.

As soon as you walk into the Ark Stanley, wow, attention to detail unbelievable. So clean and comfortable and what a view. Thanks for being great hosts Christer and Rhonda. Beautiful cooked breakfast and information sent prior to booking in with phone numbers to local business, advising to book, as to not to miss out on a good meal.

Extremely well appointed, large rooms. Hosts Chris and Rhonda very friendly and helpful. Excellent good value breakfast. Would definitely stay here again if in the area.

Chris and Rhonda are lovely people, very friendly. They have thought of everything to make anyone's stay relaxing.
So comfortable and clean. The breakfast was wonderful. Would recommend The Ark as a place to stay.

Great base to explore the Tarkine and a very lovely BnB. Stayed at the Weatherly suite, which was slightly separate to the main house and had fantastic views of the sea. So many lovely little touches here and there. The bed and pillows were oh, so comfy. The bathroom was large and had not one, but two shower heads! Good tea and coffee (coffee pod) facilities with a small jar of Tim tams in the fridge in case you get peckish. Breakfast was delicious with lots of home made goodies (yogurt, jams and stewed pears). Would love to come back again!

Beautifully appointed with lots of extra touches. Spotlessly clean. Floor heating in bathroom was very welcome on a cold Stanley day. Very Friendly and welcoming hosts

Beautiful location, very comfortable, well appointed in all aspects & very friendly owners A real credit to them

The absolute epitome of bed and breakfast accommodation. Friendly owners, delicious choice of breakfast, exceptional rooms. Perfect location! Not much more you could ask for.

Rhonda and Chris are gracious hosts of this beautiful guest house, they make you feel welcome and pampered. Book direct with them and enjoy the perks of a discounted stay and a complimentary cooked breakfast. The rooms are impeccably clean and every thing is of the highest quality giving you a feeling of opulence. We will be back and will be recommending to everyone we know.

Great location with superb views. The place is immaculate. Very comfortable and very well decorated interior. Chris and Rhonda are amazing hosts. You will love breakfast time. Highly recommended the Ark

Awesome place to stay.very clean and comfortable.chat wirh the hosts over breakfast bar whilest waiting for breakfast to be served.super.

I've traveled a lot over the years, I've stayed at Grand Chancellors, Hyatts and Hilton's but I've never stayed anywhere quite like The Ark. It is elegance and oppulance combined with a huge splash of friendliness. The rooms are well appointed, beautifully decorated with both feminine and masculine elements and the heated bathroom floor and towel rail was a nice little touch as well as the in room coffee machine. Wine on the patio in the afternoon overlooking the bay was a nice way to unwind after our drive.