The Lord Forrest, Bunbury
category: accommodation,a Quality Hotel,
We stayed there one night, in July 2010
My strongest memory of The Lord Forrest is the alarm which rang at quarter to five on the Sunday morning.
Just one of those things, I suppose. One guest wants to wake up early. The alarm stays set... for the next guest. Is there a point in the star rating for, "Turns alarm off between guests"?
At a quarter to five, I was annoyed. I hit out in the dark and must have hit a button.
At five to five -- when it alarmed again -- I was even more annoyed. More hitting. I could neither see nor feel buttons but thought that they would be somewhere at the top or front of the alarming device. Whatever I hit had a more permanent effect on the alarm.
By nine thirty, when I handed in the key and commented on the alarm, I was more cheerful about it... But I was well and truly crook with a cold and it probably showed. I suspect that my cheery comment about being "a bit annoyed"... would have looked and sounded more like a stormy customer about to explode. Sorry about that!
The Lord Forrest is a fine hotel. In star ratings it is one or two stars above our usual away-from-home accommodation. Was it worth the extra cost? As a special treat, Yes.
The Forrest is an "atrium" hotel: rooms run off narrow balconies which all overlook a central open area, or atrium. The atrium includes reception, restaurants and swimming pool. Open spaces, smell of chlorine, something to stare out at.
The atrium view makes me think of goldfish in a bowl. But it is far more pleasant than the alternative, of narrow, blank, closed-in corridors.
The room itself -- the cheapest, "standard" room -- was spacious. Not huge but big enough. It felt larger because the usual extra single bed was replaced by a couple of comfortable chairs and some empty space.
There was also a balcony -- which more than made up for the closed-in feel of the atrium. The view was... okay... it was Bunbury. With ocean. Whatever the view, an outside view is always better than an internal atrium.
An aside
Why is an outside view always better than an internal atrium? Let me try to explain.Years ago, the latest hotel in Perth was called The Merlin. I visited...
My first thought was, Wow! this could be a first-class hotel anywhere in the world!
My second thought was, What a pity.
Meanwhile, back in Bunbury
The quality of room facilities was mixed...
An excellent kettle, quicker boiling that our home kettle.
Not enough lights to read by. Entry/kitchen area light, light over the mirror next to the tv, two bedside lights. The bedside lights were so dim that it was uncomfortable to read. (Luckily, with my cold, I did not really want to read.) And that was it! No ceiling light in the main room. No standard lamp beside the comfortable chairs. Very dim indeed.
The tv was good. Except that the remote control did not work. The controls on the tv itself barely worked.
Good, firm pillows on the bed, thank goodness. With a doona, so you had a choice of being too cold or too hot... Sure, a doona is probably great for sleeping under a snowdrift -- but useless for any other climate. "Shake the 'feathers' somewhere else"? Oh, sure, if they move at all. Shake the feathers down so that your feet get even hotter? And what do you do when your partner rolls over and shakes them all back again?!
Of course, being a hotel, we also had the sound effects of our neighbours.
There were the children, having a game as they settled down for the night. The young women, having a loud giggle. The long and satisfying midnight visit to the toilet, from a nearby fellow-guest. The showers, as early risers prepared for a Sunday outing...
We ate breakfast in the atrium buffet. A good variety of good food. The scrambled eggs were either overcooked or had sat too long in the bain-marie, nothing unusual in that. We agreed that the hash browns had been deep fried and preferred this to our more common experience of just fried hash browns.
It was quite pleasant, eating breakfast in the open area. There was, indeed, a pleasantly spacious feel -- better than the usual cramped conditions of breakfast in the room. The balconies had a good growth of greenery. There was an air vent, very high up, with a thick coat of dust, but the air itself was fresh and at a good temperature.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay at The Lord Forrest. It was convenient to be right in the centre of Bunbury, with parking beneath the hotel. It was perhaps 40% more expensive than our usual country-WA motels. It was clean, comfortable and offered some benefits for the extra price.
For our one overnight stay -- not enough extra benefits to justify the price. For an occasional more upmarket bed & breakfast -- acceptable value for money.
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