Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas Hotel

, Port Douglas, Australia
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Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas Hotel

3 star
87-109 Port Douglas Road - Port Douglas - Queensland - 4877 - Australia Hotel Website | | 1800 777 630
238 Traveller

Reviews - Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas Hotel

10/10
Amazing Facility
Submitted by: Maya Drobiszewski in 07/03/07
  • Age Group: Under 18
  • From: Australia
  • Traveller type: Family Traveller
I absolutely loved the Rydges reef resort
it was the best accommodation I've ever visited
Check Rates and Availability for the Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas

Historical Traveller Reviews of Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas Hotel

Wonderful Front desk Staff

from East_aurora2007
Hi I'm from canada and stayed here the second weekend in May for four nights. The Front desk staff are well trained , plus their individual personalities make for an exceptional team.
I've been in the hotel management for many years and they continually impressed me. I didn't have the chance to fill out the comment card so please pass on my many thanks to your team.
Regards,
Peggy learning
Management Response from SabayaAsstManager
Dear East_aurora2007, Thank you for your kind comments on our fabulous Resort. I will be sure to pass your comments on the team and thank them for their outstanding service. Kind Regards. Management.
Management Response from KellieCairns
Dear Peggy

Thank you for taking the time to write about your recent stay here at Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas. We do have a wonderful Resort and team of passionate people that make the difference and focus on exceeding our guests expectations. I am delighted that you enjoyed your recent stay and I have passed your comments onto the team and specifically my Front Office Manager. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Resort.

Yours sincerely
Kellie Eustace
General Manager

Recently re-furbished (and it shows)

from EddieFGlasgow
Booked a stay here on the basis of previous visits to Rydges in the UK and am more than happy with the Sabaya. Other reviews had mentioned the refurbishment and this is obvious as soon as you arrive.

We found the staff to be extremely friendly and happy to help organise tours etc. We used the hotel to book a hot air balloon but chose to book trips out to the barrier reef in person - no reflection on the Sabaya, we simply wanted to have a look at the boats before making a decision.

The journey to / from Cairns Airport was made by shuttle bus which we found very straightforward and its a simple phone call to organise the return journey.

We knew before arriving that the hotel wasn't that close to the town centre but a couple of companies run a shuttle bus which pick up at the Sabaya's entrance and at 5AUD return is fine.

The hotel was pretty pretty quiet during our stay which sometimes meant it felt as though we had the place to ourselves. The Friday night BBQ brought out a few more guests and allowed Luke from the bar to get his guitar out - hats off to anyone who can turn his hand to a range of (acoustic) songs from Creedence through Counting Crows to Guns and Roses.

Last point - I would recommend that anyone considering a booking with Rydges register with them - this gives access to better room rates and a 20% discount on food and drink in the hotel. Our booking was made via their website - dead simple!
Management Response from EAMSabaya
Thankyou for taking the time to provide feedback on your recent stay at the resort. I was delighted to hear that you thoroughly enjoyed your stay and will certainly pass your feedback on to the team. I would also like to take this opportunity to thankyou for joining our Rydges Priority Guest program, we look forward to welcoming you back to the resort again in the future.

Your sincerely
Peta Barmes Sarlos
Executive Assistant Manager

Dont Eat There... Go into town if you want a nice dinner/lunch

from Jdensk
Our weeks holiday was not as we expected from Rydges Sabaya hotel.
The staff were freindly to us & the rooms were nice, but the constent travels into the town ship in order to eat somthing nice ended up driving us all mad.
The simple lack of dining facilitys was surprising for such a company. The menu was terrible with nothing appealing or tast nice, boring home style meals, and a horrible selection of deserts, not what i expected in Australia.

A kitchen reveiw is much needed for me to return.

Janz,Denmark
Management Response from EAMSabaya
Thankyou for your feedback following your recent stay at the resort. I was disappointed to hear that were not impressed by the resorts food and beverage offerings. I have passed your feedback onto the Executive Chef, however since your visit we have made some amendments to our menu including new desserts and modern twists on classic menu items using locally sourced produce.

I would like to take this opportunity to thankyou for taking the time to give us this valuable feedback as it is only with feedback such as yours that allows us to improve our products and services.

We look forward to welcoming you back to the resort in the future to give us the opportunity to show case the regions flavours through our menu.

Yours sincerely
Peta Barmes Sarlos
Executive Assistant Manager

Felt like a ghost town

from Kas_f74
we stayed at the Rydges Sabaya for a week in February 2008. We hired a two bedroom self contained apartment.

The hotel was very nice, and the room generously large. We attended the hotel during the off peak season associated with North Queensland Wet Season, and the hotel was next to empty!. This was good in that we had the pool all to ourselves but not so good in that service from the hotel restaurant was very bad- i don't think they even went out and did the shopping for the food they were going to serve the hotel guests!

The room itself was equipped OK, a main TV and a smaller LCD TV in the two bedrooms. My only gripe was that in room movies did not work and also the clothes dryer did not work properly.

The hotel sourroundings were also nice, my little one especially liked the fish pond and the frogs that made there way onto the hotel grounds at night.
Management Response from EAMSabaya
Thankyou for your feedback following your recent stay at Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas. I was delighted to hear that you enjoyed your stay and the newly refurbished rooms at the resort. I was however disappointed to hear of your dissatisfaction with the product and service offered at the restaurant and would like to take this opportunity to advise you that since your last stay we have made amendments to our menu incorporating seasonal local produce in our menu items that are modern twists on classic dishes.

I would also like to take this opportunity to offer my apologies for the issues you had with the in-house movies and clothes dryer during your stay. It is obvious we have fallen short of our service standards and it is only with feedback such as this that we are able to improve our product and service to ensure that we meet the high standards we set for ourselves.

I look forward to welcoming you back to the resort in the future.

Yours sincerely
Peta Barmes Sarlos
Executive Assistant Manager

Resort ok, service poor

from lj373
I booked a double hotel room at Rydges via a website for a rate of $98 per night which I thought was great value. When checking in I enquired about a pool view room however we were given a garden view room. When we got to our garden view room it was made up as a twin room not a double. I went back to reception straight away and was told by the manager on duty we would have to stay in the same room however someone would come to push the beds together to form a double. Given my earlier request for a pool view and that the resort was far from full, I thought it would have been good customer service to apologise for the error and move us to a pool view room with a double bed, but no. So to begin with I was left with a poor impression. The resort itself has been done up quite nicely and has a lovely looking open restaurant and bar with a water feature and pond in which we saw plenty of fish and a turtle, established gardens and a good sized pool although we found the pool depth quite shallow except for a bit just near the pool bar (which incidentally made quite good cocktails for $15 - bit overpriced but I suppose that's to be expected from a resort pool bar). The room was clean and modern looking with a large shower and the tiniest tv I have ever seen. The balcony was lovely to sit out on and enjoy the heat. There was no mini bar and a very limited room service menu. The cleaning of the room consisted of partly making the bed and replacing the towels. The resort is about a 5 minute drive from Macrossan St and does have free car parking although there is no shade or undercover parking. I probably wouldn't stay at this resort again given the initial check in process and lack of care / service however if you don't expect much in that way and get a cheap rate, the rooms and grounds are ok.
Management Response from KellieCairns
Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns and the opportunity to send through a Management response.

I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the inconvenience we have caused you due to the way in which your check in was handled. Unfortunately we do have a limited number of poolview rooms and I would highly recommend booking a poolview room at the time of reservation. I was disappointed to read your comments regarding the level of service you experienced and can assure you I have addressed the issues you raised in your letter with the Front Office Supervisor. In regards to your concerns regarding bedding our beds are designed to be zipped together to form a Zip King Bed.
I can assure you that we treat guest comments very seriously and take decisive action to correct our shortcomings. It is only through feedback like yours that we can monitor our levels and standards of service and we thank you for this feedback.

Yours sincerely

Kellie Eustace
General Manager

Good value family hotel with very good service

from cobalt60
My wife and I stayed at Rydges Port Douglas with our eight month old baby in Nov 2007, paying A$230 per night for a self-contained apartment. As this was the shoulder season, both the resort and Port Douglas as a whole were relatively quiet, with fewer visitors than at peak season earlier in the year. The resort is located along the main corridor road of the Port Douglas peninsula (as with most of the resorts) and is about 3km from the main Port Douglas shopping and restaurant area. It is about a 700m walk to 4 Mile Cable Beach, although we did not spend much time there as November is within the stinger (box jellyfish) season and it is not safe to swim in the ocean unprotected.

The resort has been recently renovated, and benefits from newly landscaped grounds and gardens. Design theme is Asian-influenced tropical Queensland, with lots of open rooms, and fish ponds with lotuses and water lilies. There is a large and attractive pool with pool bar and lounges.

Staff were friendly and helpful, and very accommodating with our baby, providing us with a high chair on request as well as a drying rack to hang our laundry. Service in general was informal but very positive, helpful and "can-do".

The apartment was a spacious one-bedroom apartment with combined lounge and kitchen area. The lounge could be converted into a pull-out double bed. The kitchen was somewhere between a 'kitchenette' and a full residential kitchen, containing a two-pot stovetop, convection microwave, small fridge, toaster, kettle, as well as a supply of cookware and utensils. We found it quite adequate for breakfast and lunch, but slightly limiting for a full dinner. The lack of a kitchen vent was particularly noticeable the only time we tried to use the frypan to cook a small steak -- steam and smoke quickly filled the main room of the apartment, requiring all the doors to be opened.

Overall, the apartment was well supplied with appliances -- airconditioners in both rooms, TV, DVD player and satellite TV in the main room, with an LCD TV in the bedroom, and a washing machine and dryer adjacent to the bathroom. Everything was clean, well-laid out and in excellent condition -- probably a result of the recent refurbishment.

There is one restaurant on site. We ate breakfast and dinner there once, as well as eating lunch at the pool bar. The menu is fairly standard Australian fare, with an Asian theme consistent with the overall theme of the resort. Execution of the dishes was mixed -- my wife's whole baked fish was presented impressively and with a very tasty sauce, but my soy baked salmon was sadly overcooked and a little dry. The stir-fried vegetables had similarly been allowed a little too much time on a cool wok and were more stewed than stir-fried. Breakfast was a buffet, with eggs and coffee being the only a la carte items but reasonable value at $16 each. The lunch items we tried were compentently executed without being anything special. We typically preferred a mixture of self-catering and eating out at Port Douglas's numerous restaurants.

Overall, I felt the Rydges Sabayah offered good value for an informal family-oriented resort.
Management Response from KellieCairns
Dear Sir

Thank you for feedback during your recent stay at the Resort. In regards to your meals in the Restaurant I am delighted to advise our new Executive Chef has introduced new menus throughout the Resort which utilises locally grown tropical fruit, the freshest seafood and produce all available from our local suppliers. Our new Kitchen brigade pride themselves on exceeding our customers expectations and certainly the number of guests joining us for dinner on a nightly basis confirms this.

We look forward to welcoming you back to the Resort to sample our new menus and truly appreciate the time you have taken when writing this review.

Yours sincerely

Kellie Eustace
General Manager

gorgeous resort

from pollyanna33
stayed in this lovely resort for 5 nights with my husband and 6yr old son...we had a 1 bedroom apartment...initially we were given a disabled room...this did not suit but was quickly rectified by the front office manager who i might say was so polite and friendly quickly rectifying the problem without any fuss...the reception and bar area are stunning with waterfalls and beautiful gardens...the bedrooms in the apartments are big enough although kitchen area is quite small for cooking....the pool area is fantastic with a swim up bar and you can order your lunch and charge back to your room so you dont have to take money to the pool......rooms are very clean and have no hesitation in recommending this beautiful resort.........
Management Response from EAMSabaya
Thankyou for your feedback following your stay at the resort. I was delighted to hear that you enjoyed your stay and made full use of the resorts facilities. I will certainly pass your feedback onto the team.

Thankyou again for taking the time to provide us with this valuable feedback and I look forward to welcoming you back to the resort in the future.

Yours sincerely
Peta Barmes Sarlos
Executive Assistant Manager

Nice grounds and Pool

from Doylely
Well the hotel is nicely renovated(I was last there several years ago)and I live locally ( in Cairns)lovely bar area and resturant. The food was very good.Rooms were a little small but the bathrooms were nicely renovated but they could have done with the floors being cleaned and a general wipe down and dust. We had no bath towels and had to request them. Our fridge had not been switched on. The worst thing was the mould in the toilet bowl & all ove the rim. I have never seen that in any hotel. After we asked for it to be cleaned we came back but under the rim was still mouldy. It was obviously not the hotels policy to give toilets a good scrub. The barman at the swim up pool bar completely ignored us until we yelled out at him. Not sure where he was from but he had a little trouble understaning what beers we wanted as he was looking for them in the wine cabinet. Even then he gave us one wrong beer. I filled out the feedback form and they promised my complaints would be forwarded to management. I was also sent an email survey to complete. I still have not heard 2 weeks later. I would expect better for a Port Douglas hotel. Do want to be professional? What kind of clientele are looking to attract!
Management Response from KellieCairns
Further to our discussion I truly appreciate your feedback and thank you for staying with us again recently.

Yours sincerely

Kellie Eustace
General Manager

had a great holiday

from A TripAdvisor Member
We are a family of 4 with two teenagers and have just spent a week staying at the sabaya. We booked a 2 bed apartment which consisted of a 1 bedroom with a smallish lounge and kitchen , nice bathroom with laundry facilities and a shower over the bath and an interconnecting door to a 1bedroom with large shower, and 3 small balconies, one off each room. The rooms are spotlessly clean and nicely decorated, the lounge was a little small for 4 people and not much room in the kitchen if you wanted to cook but there are many nice restaurants in port douglas. The pool is lovely ,very clean, its not huge but has a swim up bar and serves food and drink, we ate at the restaurant and the bar and found the food good, buffets were provided a few nights. Without exception the staff were very friendly and helpful. We had hired a car as it is a fair walk into town but they do have a shuttle bus. We found it a lovely relaxing place to stay and would recommend it to others
Management Response from EAMSabaya
Thankyou for taking the time to provide us with your feedback on your stay at the resort in October. I was delighted to hear that you enjoyed your stay and have passed the feedback on to the team.

We look forward to welcoming you back to the resort again in the future.

Yours sincerely
Peta Barmes Sarlos
Executive Assistant Manager

absolutely fine

from sraj
I stayed for 1 night with husband and 2 children in a 2 bedroomed apartment.
It has been aparently completely refurbished recently and you can tell. However you can tell also that it was previously a not so good quality apartment building. By that I mean that the outside of the accomodation is worse that the inside, being a bland row of doors 'butlins' style.
The aprtments themselves are small inside, particularly the bathrooms, but have been refurbed to a good standard. Everything is obvoiusly new, so the kitchen is good along with plasma tvs and new bathroom fittings. I would rate it as 4 *. Our jacuzzi had no hot water so had to be filled using the shower head.
The room service menu was sparse and expensive. We went to the bar to eat, only to find that the menu was the same as the room service and they stopped serving food at 6 o clock. I mean that's just silly, no food in the bar after 6?
So we had to eat in the restaurant when I just wanted to laze and relax and my son wanted to play pool. Needless to say it wasn't cheap either. Didn't use the pool but it had a bar and looked ok if a bit small.
Management Response from KellieCairns
Dear Sir/Madam

Thankyou for your comments in regards to your stay here at Rydges Sabaya Resort.

Having recently re-opened after a multi million dollar redevelopment it is feedback such as yours that will greatly assist in the development of product, services and facilities of the Resort.

In regards to the Food and Beverage services, we have revised our Food in a Flash menu and introduced an alternative all day dining menu in our Bar which is available until close. As a company we continuously strive to improve our product and service and it is through feedback such as yours that we can achieve this.

If you would like to discuss your stay further please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Kellie Eustace
General Manager

Top Local Tips for Port Douglas

Dont eat in the resot Eat elswhere as food in town has alot nicer and for the same price, there are lots of fine places to eat in port Douglas like Harrys. Sabiya resort is not one of them, very disapointed as eating out is one of my familys fav things to do.

You must try 2fish restaraunt you must try 2 Fish Restaurant Port Douglas at Shop 7/20 Wharf Street. Awsome

Booking a hire car in advance one way Make sure you can leave your hire car at Port Douglas after arrival without a fee, so choose a company that is available at both the airport and then Port Douglas. Only book it for 1 day. Drive into town the next morning and hire a local one that you can leave at the airport when you leave for no penalty. The local rates without pre booking the car are much cheaper. In 13 days at The Port, we booked at an expensive rate from the airport to The Port, then hired a cheap one for 3 days to see The Daintree, drive around and see the sites. Then just before returning booked another car for 1 day, visited Palm Cove on the way back to the airport in Cairns, and dropped the car at the airport. The cost of a shuttle bus or taxi from the airport is the same or more than a hire car.

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Other names for Rydges Sabaya Resort Port Douglas Hotel

  • rydges sabaya port douglas
  • rydges sabaya hotel port douglas
  • Address: 87-109 Port Douglas Road - Port Douglas - Queensland - 4877 - Australia
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"Amazing Facility" - Maya Drobiszewski

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