Cosmopolitan Apartments 74 Tudor Street, Hamilton, New South Wales 2305

"Absolutely do not book to stay here. Booked for Christmas in September only to have our booking cancelled in the first week of December. No other accommodation available in Newcastle and when I asked the guy on the phone to help me find something he laughed. Cannot describe how after two terrible years in Melbourne our hopes of a Christmas at home are ruined. Shame on you."

"It's a long review and bit of a rant but worth reading if you don't wan tot get taken advantage of. We recently had cause for some employees to stay in Newcastle on successive weekends. Accommodation for the first weekend was booked through Air BnB in a self-contained apartment at the Cosmopolitan Apartments. The day before we were due to check-in we received an email, not from Air BnB, confirming our booking but for a different property. I called them immediately only to discover the property was managed by a group called “Jesmond Executive Apartments”. Or maybe it was “Newcastle Executive Apartments”, it’s hard to say given the company name on the emails we received is “Newcastle Executive Apartments” but the weblink for the property takes you to a website “Jesmond Executive Apartments”, and email address for reservations is an @jev.com.au Sounding a little dubious yet? Everyone we talked to was polite and seemed helpful but getting resolutions and answers to basic questions was anything but simple. The initial booking was a 3-bedroom apartment at the Cosmopolitan Apartments in Hamilton. The new property was a 2-bedroom property not a 3 bedroom one and although it was less expensive it was not what we booked. We called the contact number from the original booking but were instructed by recorded message to call a “main reservation” number, which we called. This number was for Newcastle Executive Apartments. When questioned about the change we were told that the Cosmopolitan Apartments had suffered some weather damage and the room was no longer habitable. We were told by a different employee in a later phone conversation that the property had been booked out with no vacancies until December. Conflicting accounts when speaking to the reservations office seemed to occur all too often. So with less than 24 hours before we were schedule to check-in we grudgingly accepted the different accommodation. When queried about the cost of the substitute accommodation compared to the money we had already paid for the original booking the staff we spoke to said that they couldn’t see any details of that booking as it was an Air BnB booking and not through them. I would have to discuss that with the Air BnB host. When trying to contact the host of the original booking we were again directed to the main reservation number, this time we were told to ring the reservation number again and they would not pick up the call and then it would go through to the mobile we had just tried and would be picked up. We did this and it was answered and the host was happy to credit, but not refund, the difference between our original booking and the substitute property and apply it to a future booking. As it happened we were needing accommodation in Newcastle the following weekend as well but now seemed tied to this company. The rest of this review is more about the people and not the Cosmopolitan Apartments but it's worth knowing who's behind the property. They did credit the difference and apply an additional discount for the new booking. It took 5 phone calls and 3 days to receive any paperwork so we could confirm and pay for our booking and the only accommodation they could supply was a 2-bedroom apartment. The property was the Bluegum Apartments in Jesmond. Again with such short notice we grudgingly accepted the property but was very disappointed with the quality of cleanliness of it. The most severe of the shortcomings was a cockroach infestation. The accommodation was definitely sub-standard. The bathroom shower drain is partially blocked and a large amount of hair had to be removed from the drain before any of our staff could have showers, the excessive hair in the drain did not seem to be the problem with the blockage as water was still very slow to drain out of the shower recess and a very unpleasant smell emanated from the drain."

"Cancelled our booking 2 days before a very busy weekend in Newcastle with no availability, even after we booked it over a month ago. They say due to a "glitch", but more likely that it's just a pure money grab to get more money from last-minute bookers"

"Worst experience ever!!! 3hr late checkin still to find no keys available. The cleaner gave us her keys eventually. Three men who previously stayed had keys to the apartment and walked on in. Felt very unsafe with a small child. Lucky we where there and they didn’t steal our stuff. The bathroom taps were broken and didn’t work, the couch was broken, stains everywhere. Was offered no compensation at all!!"

"Hot nd very noise place to be with family. Hate it"