Breakfree Aanuka Beach 4 sterren

Having stayed at Aanuka previously I was aware of the property, that it was dated but Aanuka acknowledged its Accor plus members with some loyalty. Fast forward to 2025, things have changed: The positives - the staff were very friendly, as a resort, Aanuka has a beach vibe like something closer to the Whitsundays, pools are great and the location is good being only a few minutes down the road from Coffs city centre and a short walk to the Big Banana and close to the highly rated Diggers Beach. The negatives - the rooms are still dated, our bathroom's grout hasn't been white in years, and the mattress is well past its use by date, with it making pinging sounds as you moved on or off bed or roll over, clearly too many have sat on the edge of the bed collapsing the springs in that area. Parking was so limited in the resort as there were so many people at the Beach Club in the evening hours filling all the carparks and we had to park on the street both nights rather than carpark 5 near our room. Coming back through the security gate with your key you are greeted with a camera tracking you and a voice warning you that you are under surveillance. The pools aren't serviced with dedicated pool towels and if you don't want to use your white bath towel, reception will issue you an additional white towel at $2 extra per towel, Really?? I mentioned staff were friendly, but they were not accommodating when it came to requests, early check in or late check out speaking with other guests are rare. Suggestions I made to reception were greated with 'that's a great idea, I'll speak to my manager about that' but then in the next breath, No! Staff have also said the $5-7 gift bag has been provided at a cost to Aanuka. Do they not get that loyalty has a cost for a long term relationship / benefit. The Beach Club - Aanuka made a decision to stop providing their own Food & Beverage and outsourced the operation to another company, but with that all Accor loyalty discounts are no longer honoured. Now don't get me wrong, the Beach Club is great, it has an incredible vibe, food is lovely and the ambience great. But Aanuka have made a decision to rake in the money from renting out their old F & B space whilst not providing the usual benefits that Accor members should be receiving, i.e. Complementary Breakfast for Platinum & Diamond, Free welcome drinks from the bar, discounts for dining etc. As someone who stays regularly at Accor properties, it is not unusual to find F & B run independently, but there is often an arrangement between Accor and that business to honour the member benefits, I've seen this with The Sebel and Mercure both giving vouchers to the members that can be redeemed or that in-house guests will get a 20 or 25% discount from F & B outlet. The bar welcome drinks could also be honoured like this with a voucher rather than what they choose to do now which is a bag with $5-7 value containing a water, soft drink and some fudge type bars. The Beach Club do offer a discount of 10% to locals but nothing to Accor members, focusing on repeat locals having catch up and events here but tourists can pay full price! So overall not great value for money now, but with the Beach Club bringing in the crowds and increased room occupancy, I can't see Aanuka putting Accor member loyalty ahead of increased short term profits (& I do mean profits as room rates have skyrocketed since Beach Club took off and has won awards). maybe it is time for the Breakfree part of the group to go independent rather than continue under the guise of being an Accor property who values it members. Accor promised many things when the Mantra group joined the brand, (Peppers (High), Mantra (Med), and Breakfree (Low)), members are not getting what they should compared to a real part of the Accor brand, with Mantra group only giving lower reward & status points, lesser benefits and then with Aanuka not much more even though Accor members pay a premium each year for some perks.

We have been staying here yearly for about 9 years. We love this resort. A lot of the rooms are really showing their age and need renovation, but we love the long walks through the tropical resort, spotting water dragons, brush turkeys and possums. The pools are great and the renovated restaurant is beautiful.

This is a shambles of a set up, so be warned !! Firstly, the good as the chalet is spacious and clean amidst the sun-tropical trees and plants. The bad - the restaurant is totally independent of the hotel and do not serve coffee after 3pm but alcohol is available - crazy !! It gets worse as you cannot charge any drinks/food to your room even though the hotel holds details of your credit card. Restaurant manager needs to learn some basic customer service skills & the hotel manager was dismissive of my concerns. Having widely travelled all over the world there are better hotels in the locality who would welcome your custom.

I have stayed at this resort quite a few times, however this time was by far the most disappointing. Guest service agents seemed very uninterested on check in. On check in i requested an invoice be emailed and nothing arrived. The room was dated, and dusty, and the large window wasn't able to be closed despite the sign on the door advising me that management recommends locking all windows and doors. This meant that as other guests walked past i was constantly being disturbed. When I went to reception seeking some bottled water, I was told they didn't have drinks, I then asked if the bar did bottled water and they said no. The guest service agent simply said we don't offer those types of services, very strange for a resort. The restaurant was good, the QR code ordering maybe a little impersonal for a restaurant at dinner time. The food was good and the staff friendly. On checkout again the guest service agents didn't care, I again requested an invoice which didn't arrive. Still needing an invoice I spent days calling the hotel, to have the phone ring out each time, no answering service, if you get through the the restaurant they take a messaged but you don't ever get a call back. On day five of calling finally someone answered the call, and then proceeded to tell me that they don't provide invoices, despite the fact that booking.com clearly states that tax invoices for bookings can only be provided by the hotel. I finally contacted Accor head office who were able to provide an invoice. There seems to be theme to the reviews playing out and its the staff, a lack of training, understanding and caring letting this place down. Its a shame as the location and grounds are fantastic, the management of this hotel are wasting their opportunity.

Expérience affreuse : chambre minuscule / wifi inexistant / piscine mal entretenue et pas de linge (je constate que les gens ont leur propre linge !!!)/ restaurant fermé ! Bref nous repartons plus tôt que prévu et tant pis pour la réservation déjà payée !