Reef View Hotel Hamilton Island

The Reef View Hotel is not a four-star hotel. I’ll start with the positives: the view from the room is absolutely amazing, and the rooms are very spacious. However, the rooms are dated, worn, and have a strong damp smell. Unfortunately, the smell gets into your clothes, and everything needed washing when we returned home. The WiFi did not work in our room, which is especially frustrating for overseas guests who rely on internet access. Guests are encouraged to use the Hamilton Island app, but that is difficult when there is no reliable WiFi connection. The room cleaning was also below expectations, with only the bare minimum being done each day. In addition, some staff members seemed quite uninterested in the guests and service overall felt inconsistent. Overall, the hotel does not offer good value for money and did not meet the standard we expected for a four-star property.

My wife and I just spent a week at the Reef View Hotel. It is in a great position and is basically the heart of Hamilton Island. The hotel is large and is obviously very well built. I don't think I have seen a more solid building. We had a King Coral Sea room on the 18th floor. The view was amazing but that's where it ended. The room was in need of a full renovation as it appears has not been updated for many years. The bathroom was quite dirty with mould visible around the shower and walls. The cleaning staff were bluntly fairly slack and during the entire week floors in bathroom were never washed, carpet vacuumed and sheets never changed. I had to chase them up to change towels and empty rubbish bins. Apart from this the desk staff and concierges were great and the buffet breakfast was good with plenty of variety. During our visit Mother's Day was on the Sunday. I took my wife to the golf clubhouse restaurant for lunch. The food was great but there was not one acknowledgent or recognition of Mother's Day at the restaurant, the Reef View Hotel or anywhere on the Island at all that I could see. I found this a bit bizarre and frankly disappointing.

The hotel is located pretty centrally a short walk from the restaurants and shops. It has a beautiful view on the sea and the rooms are spacious. The hotel is rather large so it can be very busy around and you need to walk to another pool for find a lounger. It is not an issue at such but a good thing to know before booking. The rooms and bathrooms are a bit dated so I would say that it is nice but expensive for what it is.