Cocos Cottages
Last Update: May 2022
Address | West Island,, Cocos (Keeling) Islands |
Phone | +61 8 9201 9391 |
Website | www.cocoscottages.com |
Categories | Self-Catering Accommodation, Hotel |
Rating | 3.8 4 reviews |
Cocos Cottages Reviews [2022]
4When choosing a business to work with, it is always important to do your research in order to make an informed decision. Today, this is especially true, as there are countless companies competing for our business and trying to convince us that they offer the best products and services.
Charming wood high ceilings with lovely open air pavilion with daybed, big rooms, nice shower, open air, so insects do get into everything, but manageable. Comfy beds, great kitchen big fridge cooking utensils very useful as we cooked daily. Aircon only in bedroom as is not effective, rooms still warm needs update of new functional aircon as humid days breeze not enough. Has to provide own toilet paper was disappointing. But the layout was great for family with two kids, could add third trundle. Lovely managers, service good.would stay again if pillows were upgraded, all too high, need flat options and aircon upgraded.
We booked through Bookeasy Cocos Cottage & are met at the airport by Rose, no shoes & a beer in hand. Yes, I do have standards but certainly understand a relaxed sandy feet scenario expected on an island, oh pack your umbrella as one is not supplied.
Cocos Cottage has a very dirty ceiling fan, there's a void over the bed, I assume that they don't clean here, whilst sitting in bed we had dust & insects, fall on our faces, in our eyes & mouth. What you think is sand, I feel perhaps isn’t & in theory was more remnants of years of dead bugs littering our bed. Cobweb littered walls & dust on picture rails needless to say made our dust allergies scream out for a reprieve. We both suffered terrible responses. All the dishes with the exception of the plates were dirty.
Beds are futon type mattresses they are very hard, traditionally futons are thin & placed in the sun regularly to be aired, these ones are thick & not aired & smell mouldy. Linen is blood stained amongst other stains not distinguishable. Torn cushion covers & smelly towels.
The cottage had two bright lights in the bedroom, it was so bright you couldn't comfortably read or watch a movie without feeling you were in a 1940’s interrogation. We covered one with a towel, it was still too bright & it reflected in the mirror placed opposite the bed. Sunrise comes in bright & early & no curtains to abate this. The portable air conditioner filter was heavily dusty & smelt mouldy, I worry with legionnaires making a comeback that this air conditioner may cause illness in the future.
When they say overlooking a golf course & lagoon don't get your hopes up. The airport runway is outside your door & runs between the golf course & the lagoon. The lagoon is so far away & what they don't tell you is, to access the lagoon you need a car as you can't cross the runway, you have to go up to one end of the island, again I am not certain but I don't believe you can be on that side due to permission requirements from the airport.
During the mini tour Rose mentioned that she is partnered with Mr Clunies-Ross (a descendant of a well known family) & she had given up a corporate job & BMW to move here, totally irrelevant to us, so felt perhaps that she wanted notoriety. Rose also said that they're not going to do 3 day bookings anymore as they are troublesome (not sure if we were the trouble for her at this point). Rose mentioned she had troubles with our portable air conditioner & it will be replaced as soon as the deliveries arrived, so I mentioned the very grubby air conditioner filter could be the cause of it not working properly. Since then she has not been nice at all. Our last evening, Rose came by to let us know check out time was 7.30 am the next day, thought that was odd & checked our reservation on book easy it said check out was 10 am. I mentioned on check out day when they thumped on our door at 7.30am & shown to Rose & Mr Clunies-Ross he very abruptly replied "too bad you have to go NOW" no assistance to get us & our luggage somewhere sheltered, next cottage check in is at 2pm, it was raining & we dragged our luggage through the dirt to their BBQ area to pack the suitcases properly. We brushed our teeth in the BBQ area behind our cabin. We made our way to town in the rain & found out that the plane was 1.5 hours late. They knew this & made no effort to help & made us feel like we were an inconvenience.
The last night we bit the bullet & cleaned the fan, I asked Rose to help, Rose was reluctant but did help, however the whole time she was spouting "I have no words" what nothing Rose! How about I am embarrassed about the condition of the cottage & hey don’t get up there, I will arrange someone to come clean the fan for you.
According to some locals it appears Mr Clunies-Ross has this type of reputation, & I was surprised to learn that Rose & Mr Clunies-Ross know the major tour providers as friends & yet never recommend them. In all the descriptions of Cocos Cottages none of the above was mentioned anywhere in the advertising material, hence this review to help you decide.
Best accommodation on the Cocos. Love the open deck, kitchenette and outdoor shower. Its all so practical.