Pullman Magenta Shores Resort 5 sterren

So I booked a three night stay at this hotel through Luxury Escapes. After booking I had a look at the reviews and I was a little bit worried I have to say…. There was plenty of negative stuff being thrown around there… so my expectations weren’t high… but we were very pleasantly surprised by the villa that we booked, the beautiful grounds that surround the hotel, the wonderful facilities available, and the fantastic staff at all the restaurants and the bars and reception. Now I believe this is a golfing estate and all of the buildings are privately owned. I believe over 60 of them are managed by the Pullman company. Which might explain why some people have a negative experience and others are really positive -like we did. So I’m guessing that a lot of it is to do with The owner of the property and how much work they are prepared to put into the apartment.. ? Our villa was extremely spacious, and spotlessly clean. It also had a small kitchen nook with a microwave, a toaster, a kettle, a coffee machine, a small fridge, and a cupboard full of crockery and cutlery and glassware. .. this all came in very handy for preparing lunches and a light meal .. We also had a lovely balcony . Which looked over to the pool area. We thoroughly enjoyed walking through the property through the beautiful trails and discovering other pool areas and tennis courts and walkways to the beach, and children’s play areas.. our unit was quiet and spacious and spotless as I said and we have no complaints. The staff at every place, be it at a restaurant or a bar etc ,Were friendly and went out of their way to look after you. In fact one staff member heard that it was my birthday and organised to get a desert with happy birthday written in chocolate on the plate brought over to me . we found the pricing structure for food and drinks pretty much the same as any other hotel that you would stay at.. as all of the apartments and villas had some sort of kitchenette It was easy to self cater if budget was a consideration.. . The breakfast that we had every morning was wonderful, there was a buffet with just about everything on there that you could require. Plus you could order à la carte from the wait staff. And the pizza we had last night was phenomenal.. as I’ve said, the staff were wonderful and we had a wonderful three days and can’t quite understand all the negative reviews.

Excellent friendly staff who could not do enough for us. Got welcoming drinks in room as Accor members which was appreciated after long drive. Extra pillows were provided on request. Breakfast was great in Diggers club adjoining hotel. Received room upgrade as Gold members. Room was quite spacious and very clean with lovely view of lake. Room had iron and board and hairdryer. Bed and pillows were very comfortable. Great location at The Entrance and coast line is stunning. Good restaurants and shops nearby. Highly recommend Indian restaurant - Shahi Mahal The Entrance. Great value hotel.

The following review will ID the pros , cons and tips for players if you are thinking of coming to this hotel. I was a member of the golf club here (amazing course) but sadly, the hotel management just doesn't cut it. Pros - You have everything here (pools / gym / tennis / beach) - It's a safe , nice little community vibe - one of the best golf courses in NSW/AUS - only 90 mins from Sydney Cons - Hotel management are super unorganized - we booked tennis but 3 groups were all booked at the same time on the same court (there are two courts) - No towels or cups in the gym to drink water from the cooler- 101 stuff, very poor. - Heated pool broken - and when it rains here, there is NOTHING to do besides the heated pool , coming into Winter you'd think this would be high priority - SPA booked out for days on end - Food is OK at best but def not 5 stars Tips for players - Book the SPA weeks before you come if you want that - Double check any tennis bookings - The kids meals are good value with ice cream and drink included Overall, the hotel has so much potential, but Management has a culture of near enough is good enough. They honestly need to pick their game up, hire a strong GM who can turn the culture around and focus on the guest experience. They have a lot of work to do but it starts from the top in my view.

This place has so much potential but it’s being let down by poor staff and excuses everywhere. So many things are broken and staff’s response is ‘oh it’s not Pullman’s responsibility it’s Strata’ Or ‘that’s the owners responsibility’. BUT we booked and paid Pullman based on facilities Pullman advertised! Not an owner or Strata?! List of broken facilities: Heating for indoor pool broken Gate for main pool broken Floor of main pool broken Spouts in kids pool broken Jets in sauna pool broken EV charger broken When we arrived our villa was beyond filthy, thick layer of dust and filth in every single corner. Dead bugs all over the floor. The patio table was rotten, broken and missing a slat. These Villas cost $700+ a night! When we asked for a new patio table as the one provided was unusable, the housekeeping staff screamed in my face that it was the owner’s responsibility and they couldn’t do anything. I asked them to clean the villa before we unpacked and they just threw bleach everywhere and mopped up the filth, in the bare minimum needed. It seems all the broken facilities have been broken for ages with no intention to be fixed. The ‘broken’ signs are old and tattered having been up for ages. There is a large black a mat on the pool floor to hide the broken pool floor rather then fixing it. All these poor reviews are honest and real. Beware. This place needs a serious revamp and rethink. So much amazing potential.

Outrageous pricing for drinks. Was charged $5 for a small glass of Sprite which was half filled with ice. Sprite was from a 1.25L bottle so likely they charging close to $50 a bottle. Outright greed and never returning. The two bar staff, one pouring and one taking payment, appeared totally uninterested. Very disappointing.