InterContinental Sorrento Mornington Peninsula, an IHG Hotel

Hi me, my husband and my 18 month old just stayed at a king terrace room and we were extremely disappointed with the service provided. Firstly the pool is not at all as nice as they make it sound (the water was very cold and no one was in the pool because of that - on their website they say it’s heated which is a lie). Secondly, their breakfast was also not up to the standards we had expected (they did not even have an option of providing us with things such as avocado, a basic omelette etc). This is all after paying $750 per night! We will never go back and we will make sure that anyone we know will not go there either!

We stayed here last night as a weekend getaway.

My fiancé does a LOT of travel with IHG - he is a Diamond Elite club member…so knows a thing or two about hotel accommodation.

Firstly, I feel the decor of the hotel is lovely - it was really beautiful and very capri!

We had dinner at Audrey’s - again, a lovely atmosphere. I did feel the dinner was rushed between courses - especially given there was 15 of them! At one stage it was 6 minutes - which just felt really rushed.

Breakfast - I feel that’s where there needs to be a major improvement. One toaster is NOT enough for the amount of guests that can stay. I gave up waiting as I had 5 people In front of me - all standing around waiting to use the toaster. I went back a 2nd time - still 3 people waiting and NO FOOD! I get you need time to replace it - but for a hotel with your price tag…. People should not be waiting for breakfast food. Selection was not great either….

Ultimately, this isn’t a reflection on the hotel itself - but more how it’s been marketed and priced. Did I enjoy my stay - it was ok…would I come back here - probably not.

For $700+/night, I’d expect the patio to have… well, patio furniture. We literally carried patio furniture from one room to another because we asked twice to bring patio furniture (they brought one dining chair…) and were told by TWO staff members that they “didn’t have enough” patio furniture for all the rooms … so you built a hotel and didn’t even buy the minimum furniture for a balcony…?

This is after we booked three rooms (one with two portacribs) and the portacribs were in the wrong rooms, so we moved them to the right room ourselves.

Also, FYI… our 7-year-old needed to sleep on towels on the floor because they won’t allow a trundle. (And if you ask for a blanket, they’ll tell you they have “one” you “may” have. One.) And advise you that you should just have the kid sleep in your bed.

Nice hotel, but many little annoyances.
Nobody to help with bags up on arrival until asking at the front desk. When we arrived two luggage handlers were not busy and standing around.

Restaurants staff was great, but kitchen took two hours to complete chicken and lamb dish for lunch.

Bathhouse entrance is extra 95 Australian dollars, even though the room is 1,864.22 Australian dollars per night. A bit tacky for a luxury hotel in my opinion.

Basically it's a nice place, but a bit more attention to detail wouldn't hurt.
Rooms are on a smaller side. Not tiny, but pretty tight.

This place is the stuff of nightmares. Everything you can imagine is just bad or off. True what others mentioned. It is as if no one had a brain when redesigning this place. Happy to pay the price tag if the hotel delivers. Seems like the staff was not trained up and overwhelmed. Room was dirty and a shoebox. Breakfast was not very good. Layout was confusing. Just awful. Take your money elsewhere. Does not match the intercontinental brand. Beware. Food at the restaurants is terrible.

Stayed in a 1 bedroom King balcony suite.
Maybe the GM should spend a few nights as a guest & get a firsthand feel of the pros & cons as there are many!
PROS - Rooms are cleaned to a very high standard. The bed, towels & linen were
what you would expect of a 5 star establishment & decor was lovely.
BUT - The couch in the lounge area as impressive as it looks is so uncomfortable
you just go & lie on the bed to watch tv, so its actually a futile excercise paying for the extra space which quite frankly is unusable.
Reception staff were very professional so you get a great first impression - then its downhill from there. Unfortunately its difficult finding staff & it shows in many areas.
CONS
The buffet breakfast is a disgrace for a 5 star establishment & I wouldnt even bother with again. In fairness the morning the a la carte breakfast was served met with approval.
If I was GM I would drive a couple of hours down the road to the RACV resort at inverloch to see how a Buffet breakfast should be done.
The food offerings & service in these areas are disappointing & overpriced with Audreys pretending to be fine dining & the Atrium an overpriced bistro meal so unfortunately we remember Sorrento for the wrong reasons with no real appetite to return

Stayed and dined. A one stop precinct with all the bells and whistles! The Conti delicious fresh oysters with the tastiest bangers and mash. Audrey’s was an incredible and unforgettable food experience. Atrium breakfast loved that it wasn’t a buffet. Pastries and fruit platters are nice touch. The accomodate was perfect! Mini bar included. The room was contemporary and comfortable. Staff and service top notch! I will definitely return!

I've never had the same experience at any other hotel. Previously I've stayed at hotels like Shang gri la but it didn't feel as good as the brand entices. The intercontinental exceeded my expectations right from the exterior, followed by friendly front desk staff who introduced my wife and I to the room.

I've never had a hotel room this good, it just feels so luxurious and lovely.

We went to the attached beer garden for dinner and it was lovely.

The breakfast room was a restaurant that prides itself in cleanliness and class, the atmosphere is amazing and staff just as much. After being seated, a selection of fruits and pastries were served on our table, offered tea or coffee and selected a meal from the menu. Every other hotel I've had to do all that myself and I've paid more money for less.

Although it's winter, we looked at the pool, it's not a huge pool but it's heated, surrounded by an abundance of chairs and tables and yes it has a bar there too. The scenery is amazing

The gym at the hotel is something you'd expect to be paying a members fee for. Equipment so clean, new and actual good quality. The dumbbells only go to 22.5 or 25kg but that's still really good. Honestly the best gym at a hotel.

Give it a go, at least for the night (hint, join the rewards club), I plan to come back many times

Amazing hotel and service. The rooms were clean, and the staff were helpful and polite. The food was delicious but i wish there were more options for in room dining. Can't wait for my next visit!

Impeccable stay. Rooms are great, service and food second to none and the spa is probably the best in the country

We had a spontaneous urge for a change of scenery and decided to visit Sorrento for a two night stay. Treating ourselves for a birthday celebration, we picked the Sorrento Intercontinental. What a marvellous stay we had - the historic property had recently undergone a complete revamp and was beautifully presented. It is located right on the fringe of the Sorrento town centre, close to all eateries, shopping and amenities. Our room in the Riley’s Lane wing was sensational, no view as such, but very spacious, private, quiet, tastefully furnished and finished. The hotel amenities (not that we were personally inclined to use the heated roof-top pool/terrace and gym, etc) were fantastic, as was our dining experience for both breakfast and dinner. One thing more than anything made our stay so memorable and that was the absolutely lovely, friendly and incredibly helpful staff. Thank you for being so hospitable, we will certainly be back.

Really disappointed. We love Heritage buildings and so will stay Heritage every time that option is available. Booked a Heritage room but was moved to a standard room with no consultation whatsoever so feeling very disappointed as we really didn't achieve what we were after from the stay

It did not meet our expectations F&B leaves a lot to be desired. The service is not five star. The room service menu does not have the times that the all day menu is available, no night service though not sure from when.

In the afternoon the Bar food menu had run out of about half the items. Dismal.

We stayed in the one bedroom suite for two nights for which we were charged 2328.00 (just room and breakfast).

In the ‘Lounge Area’ there are two separate uncomfortable dysfunctional chairs, no proper table and no functional table to sit to eat. The first morning we ordered breakfast from the room menu, (instead of attending the restaurant which has poor service, leaves plates sitting there and requires the wait staff to be flagged down to get service), We were charged again even though we did not have the breakfast in the restaurant.

We booked last year we were charged 300 extra than the current price, on a so called book in advance special rate. The room service menu is dismal in variety, no cocktails. When I went to the bar to order a cocktail I was told the wait would be at least 15 minutes so I didn’t bother. In the morning on the second morning I ordered a Bloody Mary off the menu and was advised by staff they were unable to make it, as if they didn’t stock tomato juice, they managed to say this with a straight face as if they don’t have a supermarket across the road, just shockingly unaware, nonchalant bad hospitality service, does not go above or beyond or even come close to meeting expectations.

The rooms are clean, shampoo, conditioner and body wash were all beautiful products, curtain was broken at the top and did not block out light.

This place is a management shambles, unprofessional, far from five star and way overpriced given the mediocre experience unfortunately the staff just don’t get it.

Stay at a pub. This place is five star prices at 2 star service. Nothing special about this hotel experience. Save your money it’s stressful.

Great thanks to the company, the hotel decors is nice, beds are comfortable but that is about it. You were better off with an airbnb of a luxury villa with heated pool instead.
The points that put us off:
- car park charges applies, but there is no other options except park on the neighbors spots (not sure how the hotel expects guests to travel to it? Car sounds the obvious way)
- outdoor heated swimming pool but no spa hammam / sauna. You do have aurora but it is a separate business so fees applies even for basic access. (that is not great, take the spa at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne, separate business but no charges for hotel guests) I don't understands how the hotel can have 5 stars ranking without a in house spa.
- please invest in a fully enclose door for your toilet, yes we were staying in room 1314, the door to the toilet is a cut off piece of glass, it may make some guest uncomfortable lol)
-over all service is very slow (in all areas) ; Audrey services was super slow 2+ hours, breakfast atrium is slow, just to get a table (be ready to queue 15 min) and than you need to plan for another 45min.
-Good luck if you aim to order from the lobby, just go to the counter directly.
To help the breakfast situation
We suggest the hotel management consider a grand buffet options as the a la carte things clearly don t work (make the a la carte optional instead)

- no room service after 9p.m, again hard to understand the 5 start ranking (imagine international travellers or business travellers arriving at the hotel in the evening good luck with it)

- entertainment bar conti etc, understand they are all separate businesses, so have your card or cash with you / yes you can leave it on the room but you will see the staff is not really train for it and you don t really want to order a beer in the middle of crowded bar and yell out your room number, name. Last name etc.

So conclusion until the above are changed. We don t see the benefits of the hotel services.
It is overpriced for what you get. I will rank it as a 3/4 start luxury bed and breakfast. (so no hotel service expectations here)
For us,
We will keep at airbnb, if you pay $1000-1250 per night, so similar the room we got.
You get a good house with a heated pool and spa and all the bells and whistles in Sorrento. You can add a daily fees for a daily House keeping there you go.
-You can book your dinner at Audrey and treatment access at Aurora, or go watch the footy at Conti.
You don t get treated differently.

All the best to the management, our advises, please don t try to reinvent the wheels just copy the best instead (look at the Park Hyatt Melbourne for services/spa /restauration-all day food - management benchmark)

Amazing Boutique Hotel located perfectly in the Heart of Sorrento with Amazing Restaurants and Spa within.

Highly Reccommend

This issue has now been resolved promptly by a helpful staff member (Mercedes) at Sorrento.
Thankyou.
Shandra

25 March 2023
Thank you for the response below.
As a follow up it appears that the refund of $89.00 I was to receive within 2-5 business days (taken from my account 12 March, for the item that I was charged for and was unavailable has not yet been received. I would be grateful if you could provide contact details so I can follow this up.
Regards, Shandra Coppard
-

Response from the owner
a week ago
Good Morning, thank you for the feedback, I am sorry for the issues you experienced. It looks like from the comments you have made that this relates to a restaurant experience, I will be sure to pass this on to the Conti team who manage these venues as part of the wider precinct. Regards Adam McDonald, General Manager
-
This establishment surprisingly needs a lot of customer service improvement. Customers are left unassisted to secure a table meaning everyone is hovering to pounce while diners are finishing their meal. On ordering via the QR scanner the first question is how much would you like to tip when up to this point the customer is already disappointed and has received zero customer service. Thirdly it is possible to pay for an item that is not available and then you have to wait days for the refund. Quite Extrordinarily Unbelievable! Suggest intercon get some advice from the management of Archies in Fitzroy about attention to detail relating to customers and securing tables for customers in a fair, orderly and professional manner.
Shandra

Had a birthday lunch with the family there. Very nice place to visit. The food was really delicious and well presented

From the moment we walked into this stunning hotel, we knew our stay was going to be amazing.
The facilities (pool!), the staff who were wonderful, the included breakfast (amazing!) and mini bar! Beautiful rooms and restaurants, we couldn't fault this place at all!

Appreciated the little details, like a complimentary mini bar and super comfy beds! The rooms however were a little small for our liking and there was no aspect of the surrounding area from the balcony. The hallways were also really noisy, which made for early starts and interrupted sleep.

The room wasn’t small it was tiny, for close to $800 (which is also questionable considering that room I’ve since found out others paid $450+ per night) There is a metal screen on the balcony that makes it so closed in and not appealing at all. Pool deck not open on a Thurs so why are we paying such excessive rates it’s a tourist hotel I would expect same facilities as the weekend.

Restaurant kitchens closed by 8.30pm.

Awake at 6.30am due to excessive noise from the hotel deliveries and the staff unloading. None of this is what I expected from a 5 star hotel. Excessive price with facilities lacking. Only positive is staff are lovely and very helpful. I complained in writing with no response, questioned my hotel charge and still no response 11 days later.

Would not recommend