Peppers Gallery Hotel

I’ve been staying at this property since it was The Diamant many years ago. It has remained very similar in style ever since, and in some ways is showing signs that it’s becoming dated. Being that the property od very likely to be Heritage listed, there’s only so much that can be done and probably needs time to get certain approvals, etc. but I can imagine this hotel being a stand out. In saying that, the staff are friendly, the rooms are clean, and the location is peaceful. There are restaurants close by - currently the on site restaurant is closed for renovations and you are directed to the QT next door - I didn’t actually have a need for it. Canberra centre is within walking distance, although I didn’t realise that there was substantial road closures and much of the centre is being redeveloped for the light rail extension. Even the maps feature on phone couldn’t keep up with where to go. It probably took an extra 400m until I figured out the way and then going back from the city I chose a different route to avoid the works.

From reading the reviews it is clear that this property has some work to do in getting it up to the standard ‘Accor and Peppers’ brand are known for along with some serious training of their staff. As Accor members we were so disappointed during our 3 night stay however, we do want to say a huge thankyou to Odea, Front of House Manager who did everything he could to try and ensure some of the problems we were faced with were rectified , he is certainly an asset to the Accor Group and we thank him sincerely. It is disappointing that the owners haven’t taken on board the reviews of their guests who take time to offer feedback and to date I’m still yet to receive a response from the General Manager to an email I preferred to write rather than outlining our grievances in a review. I’m still hopeful (so is our party of 8) that we may receive an apology for ruining our NYE! We certainly won’t be in a hurray to book another stay at any Accor properties.

Underwhelming at best, definitely not worthy of the Peppers brand. So many peeves, where do I start... The receptionist at the check-in was an arrogant, patronising youngster clearly out of his depth when it comes to customer service. The heating system in the room took hours to start heating anything - eventually it did, but I had to keep it at 27-28C for several hours before it started producing any results... I even resorted to filling the bathtub with hot water in order to keep the room borderline warm. Window blinds were bizarre - the semi-transparent light blind was permanently fixed at half-height, so you were completely exposed to any pedestrians walking past your window (my room was on the ground floor). The alternative was to draw the blackout blinds, but then you had no daylight in the room at all. The restaurant service was, shall we say, highly variable. The dinner on the first night was fine - nothing to write home about, but perfectly acceptable for a hotel restaurant. However, the breakfast the next morning could make John Cleese want to revive Fawlty Towers. From what I could gather, the breakfast was run by a completely different business, and their previous hospitality experience must have been a suburban Indian corner shop. The Maitre'D (if one could call him that) was a sulking, utterly unfriendly guy who obviously wanted to be somewhere else - e.g. he was chatting on his mobile phone at length while staffing the restaurant reception. The breakfast menu was very basic. The food took ages to arrive despite there being only a couple of other customers when we got there. This was our first and last breakfast at the hotel, for the remainder of the stay we had breakfast elsewhere. It also transpired that the room rate I booked did not include housekeeping. The reception made it look as "caring for the environment" (of course!) I don't remember the room rate being particularly discounted, and looking at the booking, the name of the rate was "STAY LONGER AND SAVE RATE" - nothing about "no housekeeping". The absence of housekeeping certainly wasn't clear at the time of booking. Had I known this, I would not have booked this hotel. The final touch was the morning of the departure. As an Accor Gold member, I was given a late check-out (12 pm - would have preferred slightly later, but this was the best the hotel could do). But obviously no-one told the housekeeping - they knocked on my door at 9:45 am to start getting the room ready for the next guest. I told them I was checking out at 12, but despite this, they barged into my room again at 11:45, just as I was in the toilet. Hardly an acceptable level of service for a brand Accor markets as "Premium" (as per the ALL website).

The hotel itself feels old, tired, and in need of serious refurbishment. Unfortunately, the on-site restaurant was just as underwhelming. The experience was made worse by the manager’s attitude. When I placed my order, I asked for a glass of orange juice. I could not see the buffet as it is hidden behind a wall, so I had no way of knowing it was self-serve. Instead of simply explaining that, the manager brusquely pointed me in the general direction of the buffet. Moments later, the next couple walked in. He proactively asked them if they would like orange juice, they said yes, and he personally went to the buffet and fetched it for them. I want to be very clear that I had no issue getting my own drink. The issue was the obvious contrast in how I was treated versus how they were treated. Things went downhill further when I presented my Accor Explorer card. He visibly rolled his eyes and behaved as though my membership was a personal inconvenience, which is completely unprofessional. I will not be returning. The only positive was the reception staff, who were genuinely friendly and very helpful when I realised I had left something behind.

Very disappointed to see a beautiful hotel in decline. I stayed at this hotel 15 years ago and it was wonderful. The good bones are still there, but it let down by being incredibly dirty and dusty, and in desperate need of a refresh. Everything was dirty - from the front desk which was covered in greasy finger marks and needed a good wipe down, to the desk and side tables. The curtains, which bizarrely did not fit in our room and had to be pulled over the top of a large couch, send clouds of dust into the air when we tried to close them. The bathroom had marks up the walls that could be easily wiped away and the sink had mould at the back of it. Glasses in the room had lipstick on them, and our room just smelled mouldy and damp. The staff were very nice, and hotel could shine again with some decent cleaning and airing out of rooms.