Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort & Spa

It's very easy to relax at Lilianfels. Comfortably sized rooms, a choice of excellent restaurants, a top rated spa and an excellent bar. Staff are cheerful and helpful. The location is perfect for visiting the Blue Mountains with many attractions within walking distance.

To say they are doing a ‘refreshment’ of the hotel spaces and that noise will only be taking place between 10.00am and 3.00pm is a complete fabrication. There was a great deal of noise when I arrived just after 3.00pm, indeed it was so loud the lady on the front desk couldn’t be heard even when she was shouting. The room I was first shown smelled too strongly of fresh paint to be able to remain. . The second room was thankfully better in terms of smell. But the fire alarm had to be replaced during my stay and then there was plaster dust that had to be cleaned up. Hardly relaxing. There was construction noise each day of my stay between 7.30am and late afternoon. The positives; an exceptionally friendly, polite and helpful (and apologetic) man on the front desk during my two night stay, a comfortable bed in the room and relaxing breakfasts at Darleys. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth to pay over $1100 for a standard room with breakfast not included for two nights at a construction site. If you need to have paying guests at your establishment during such extensive renovations, when you are offering significantly reduced services and amenities and when you know full well that there will be noise and disruption, you should at least be offering significantly reduced room rates. Or at least be truthful regarding the level of noise so guests can make more informed decisions before they book. I haven’t been to Lilianfels for a while and I won’t be returning on principle. As an Australian I find this bad business, and I was embarrassed on behalf of international guests staying at the same time I was.

We were extremely disappointed to arrive and then be told of the renovations going on and that would be noisy between 10am and 3pm each day. This was the case. It was very noisy in our room. The indoor pool was closed. (a draw card for us to book there.) Also, there was no dining in the main building due to the reno. The breakfast at Darley's was not good. The biscuits were very stale. It took ages to get a jug of hot water. At Darley's for lunch, a while after ordering a dish with muscles as ingredient we were told they'd run out of muscles. (We were the only customers there the whole lunch service.) Then I was served a meal that a main ingredient was supposed to be basil. There was no basil in it. When I asked about it, they said Oh, we ran out of basil." This is an expensive hotel that should be offering discount stays while the renovations are happening. And informing guests of the situation before they book.

interesting hotel but the refurb is very well overdue. one night more than long enough to stay - Katoomba town not very inspiring

This should have been a 5 star hotel but instead they put us in rooms 5 in the 500's (501-504 are the ones to avoid) - these are extremely cheap and average hotel rooms. If you get these you might as well be staying in a 3 star hotel. I had previously explained at booking that we wanted large beds, this is because we were downgraded due to refurbishment. In return they kindly offered us a free meal. What I didnt realised was that this would end up with us in the very poor cheap rooms. I have no problems with a 3 star hotel but not when paying 5 star prices. The management team has offered us a partial refund but it frustrates me that we had to go through with the complaining when they even admitted the rooms werent up to scratch. Why let them out then? The room was clean upon inspection but dusty overall. The aircon vent hadnt been cleaned in 5 years and some dirt build up around the fittings in the bath. Overall this could be an amazing hotel but it was frankly disappointing. The service at Echoes was pretty average and more could be made of the views there. The loungers restaurant was extremely slow waiting 30 minutes for a cup of tea. The star of the show was miss lilians asian restaurant - this was great food and well priced. There was the nicest staff member at breakfast who was extremely helpful. The spa is extremely dated and the tiles are coming off the wall in the steam room. The refurbishment seems just to be furniture improvement and a lick of paint so I suspect this wont last long. This hotel needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom not just a bit of new furniture. The pool was lovely and really comfy chairs in the sun plus the overall location was great. To sum it up, its not a 5 star hotel. The good rooms are probably 4 star and the bad rooms are probably 3 star. Overall disappointing and wouldnt stay again.