Cradle Mountain Lodge? A few questions including A|Club Benefits?

[mr_osborne]

Hey, I am Looking at Cradle Mountain Lodge in Tasmania
Cradle Mountain Lodge :: An Iconic Wilderness Experience - Hotel site
Hotel in CRADLE MOUNTAIN - Book your hotel Cradle Mountain Lodge - Accor Site

I am A|Club gold, and as they are MGallery, I should receive A|Club gold benefits as such, however, when I got to make a booking in early January, they do not show any availability, despite me supposedly being able to have guaranteed availability 5 days in advance. I emailed them 2-3 weeks ago re gold benefits, but have not heard back from them:evil:.

Another question, has anyone stayed here? I am also looking at cradle mountain chateau, as I stayed at Freycinent lodge recently and was quite happy with it. Or are there any other suggestions? I see that drron has stayed in The Wilderness Village, which looks like a possible alternate.

Also, I wasn't sure If this was the right place to post it, It may be better suited to Hotel experiences & reviews section, but I thought this was a better fit. sorry in advance if I'm wrong.

 

[AdMEL]

I've stayed at Cradle Mountain Lodge twice in the last 3 years, both in winter, both in a Pencil Pine Room - once in a modern standard studio type room and once in a family rustic style room, with separate bedroom and a coonara type wood heater, rather than a gas heater. I haven't stayed in any of the other room types.

I loved Cradle Mountain Lodge both times I stayed, despite hating the cold. It snowed both times, which was magic! In my opinion, Cradle Mountain Lodge is more suited to winter, than summer, with its comfy lounge with leather chairs and open fire places. I would like to stay in summer though, just to see what it's like.

It's significantly cheaper in winter - it could be argued that if you pay full price (you will in summer), it's expensive. There is elements of the rooms that are tired, but because of its nature, it doesn't seem too bad.

Included buffet breakfast is pretty good, with everything from fruit to yoghurt, porridge, eggs, bacon, etc.

Restaurant is reasonable and pub isn't too bad if your expectations aren't too high. Good cellar too.

When I stayed, it was owned by Voyages (which was owned by GPT), but has since changed owners and the prices have gone up. As an aside, the guy that put together the Voyages portfolio of properties (which, if I remember correctly, was on the market a couple of years ago for $900M!), now is putting together another portfolio of similar style properties, in awesome locations - Anthology, which owns Wilpena Pound Resort, among other properties.

When I stayed, there were no tv's in the rooms, only a cd player, with relaxing cd's, which is one of the reasons I liked it. I understand the new owners have retained the no tv policy and have the cd players (possibly with different cd's, given they were branded Voyages!).

I haven't stayed at Cradle Mountain Chateau, but the reviews I've read suggest you either like Cradle Mountain Lodge or Chateau.

I haven't stayed at The Wilderness Village or Freycinet Lodge.

 

[thewinchester]

I am A|Club gold, and as they are MGallery, I should receive A|Club gold benefits as such, however, when I got to make a booking in early January, they do not show any availability, despite me supposedly being able to have guaranteed availability 5 days in advance. I emailed them 2-3 weeks ago re gold benefits, but have not heard back from them:evil:.

You need to call A-Club's national customer service number (02 8023 8787, 9 am - 6 pm monday to saturday AEST/AEDST) and do two things:
1) Ask them to check available room inventory on your Gold force privledges, and
2) Ask them for the email address of the property manager to lodge a complaint about the properties failure to promptly respond to email enquiries.

If you're on the twitters, you can also drop @frostabelle a line (She's a Snr. Marketing Exec for Accor/Sofitel in Australia) and she might be able to put you in touch, or have them contact you.

With due deference to the OP, there's no point complaining about poor service on here unless you've actually told the company/service provider in question so they can fix it and learn from it. And if you have, it's a good idea to state what you've done so far to short-circuit comments like mine. It's just one of my key frustrations. </rant>

 

[drron]

We have stayed at both the CM lodge and the Wilderness village.Different types of properties.There are other alternatives such as the CM Chateau.
The lodge is nice.We stayed in a King billy room.Thoroughly enjoyed it but this was before the Accor takeover.
We did go to the Lodge for a lunch(in the pub) and a dinner(in the restaurant) earlier this year when staying at the Wilderness village.We thought the prices were higher,standards lower.Although an extensive wine list we ended up with about our 4th choice.Thought the Chateau was better value for dinner-reviews of the accom there though didn't inspire us to try it.It did appear to us that they were playing down the Accor connection.
The Wilderness village is a self catering place-not a bad idea as we brought in a few goodies to consume.And Tasmania is a great place to get good food.Was very comfortable.
As to things to do-there are many short walks starting from the Lodge.A short walk from the old visitors centre.
The Wilderness Lodge is much closer to the new Visitors centre and the Devil experience if interested.

If spending a bit of time in Tassie then not a great distance from CM is the Corinna Wilderness experience-have done a review on TA(though forgot to log out from mrsdrron's account).We loved this place.

 

[kalboy]

Have stayed at both, with a young family i prefer the village.
Its much more private unless you count the possums on your balcony (or due to my daughter, all through the living room)
Food at the lodge is pretty ordinary. We will self cater next time.
Both times ive been there the Chateau was booked out with conferences but it did look pretty impressive.

 

[mr_osborne]

I haven't stayed at Cradle Mountain Chateau, but the reviews I've read suggest you either like Cradle Mountain Lodge or Chateau.
...
I haven't stayed at The Wilderness Village or Freycinet Lodge.

(emphasis mine)
Sorry, do you mean you like one or the other? or do you mean if you like one, you also like the other?

Does the lake freeze over in winter? I'm quite into my photography, and was hoping to get some nice shots of the lake. Also, what's driving like in winter? I have access to little hatchback in australia, but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to drive in that.

You need to call A-Club's national customer service number (02 8023 8787, 9 am - 6 pm monday to saturday AEST/AEDST) and do two things:
1) Ask them to check available room inventory on your Gold force privledges, and
2) Ask them for the email address of the property manager to lodge a complaint about the properties failure to promptly respond to email enquiries.

If you're on the twitters, you can also drop @frostabelle a line (She's a Snr. Marketing Exec for Accor/Sofitel in Australia) and she might be able to put you in touch, or have them contact you.

With due deference to the OP, there's no point complaining about poor service on here unless you've actually told the company/service provider in question so they can fix it and learn from it. And if you have, it's a good idea to state what you've done so far to short-circuit comments like mine. It's just one of my key frustrations. </rant>

Ok, fair enough... However, I'm based in NZ, but I managed to find the NZ number on the A|Club website. (I had thought it was meant to be done through the website)
The reason I hadn't complained, is I'm in NZ, so don't feel like ringing internationally, and it seemed like a waste of time to email a complaint about not responding to my email. But, fair comment, I'll try to make more effort in the future.

Also, thanks for the advice.

We have stayed at both the CM lodge and the Wilderness village.Different types of properties.There are other alternatives such as the CM Chateau.
The lodge is nice.We stayed in a King billy room.Thoroughly enjoyed it but this was before the Accor takeover.
We did go to the Lodge for a lunch(in the pub) and a dinner(in the restaurant) earlier this year when staying at the Wilderness village.We thought the prices were higher,standards lower.Although an extensive wine list we ended up with about our 4th choice.Thought the Chateau was better value for dinner-reviews of the accom there though didn't inspire us to try it.It did appear to us that they were playing down the Accor connection.
The Wilderness village is a self catering place-not a bad idea as we brought in a few goodies to consume.And Tasmania is a great place to get good food.Was very comfortable.
As to things to do-there are many short walks starting from the Lodge.A short walk from the old visitors centre.
The Wilderness Lodge is much closer to the new Visitors centre and the Devil experience if interested.

If spending a bit of time in Tassie then not a great distance from CM is the Corinna Wilderness experience-have done a review on TA(though forgot to log out from mrsdrron's account).We loved this place.

Thanks for the feedback... Corinna Wilderness experience looks interesting... and we were impressed with the food at freycinent lodge although not always the service (at the restaraunt, the service at the hotle was great)

Have stayed at both, with a young family i prefer the village.
Its much more private unless you count the possums on your balcony (or due to my daughter, all through the living room)
Food at the lodge is pretty ordinary. We will self cater next time.
Both times ive been there the Chateau was booked out with conferences but it did look pretty impressive.

Is it common for the possums to come into the room? I think it could be cool, as an experience.


Thanks for all the feedback and advice everyone, It's really useful and appreciated.

 

[AdMEL]

(emphasis mine)
Sorry, do you mean you like one or the other? or do you mean if you like one, you also like the other?

Does the lake freeze over in winter? I'm quite into my photography, and was hoping to get some nice shots of the lake. Also, what's driving like in winter? I have access to little hatchback in australia, but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to drive in that.

Sorry, I meant if you like one, you don't like the other (so I've read).

Do you mean the lake at CM Lodge? If I remember correctly, the lake was partially frozen, but not totally. You will get some great shots, especially in winter!

The first time I stayed, it snowed lightly for about the last 20 min. before getting there. I was driving a hired Mitsubishi Lancer (Front wheel drive) and it was fine - there was enough other cars and it wasn't snowing heavily enough that the road was okay (there was still snow on it, but no loss of traction if you weren't silly). When we arrived, it was snowing and there was a wombat wandering across the drive, being snowed on!

The second time I stayed, I drove from Launceston airport on Friday night in the dark. I was driving a hired Falcon XR6 (rear wheel drive) - there were lots of animals to avoid! It was kind of like in the cartoons when all the eyes are looking at you! It snowed on the Saturday afternoon and night - when we went to head down the mountain on Sunday morning at about 8 am, it had stopped snowing, but the car and road were covered in a couple of inches of snow (it was -4C!). We were pretty much the first ones to drive on the road down the mountain, so it was very slippery - my mate was driving this time and was doing approx. 20km/r. Any faster and there was no traction.

One thing to note - technically, you are not covered in hire cars when it snows, unless you purchase their snow cover. Falcon was an Avis car - they don't offer snow cover and although they don't cover you for driving in the snow, they were the preferred car hire company for CM Lodge!

 

[mr_osborne]

Sorry, I meant if you like one, you don't like the other (so I've read).

Ok, that's how I read it, but I wasn't sure... how does that work? Maybe I'll discover when I go...

Do you mean the lake at CM Lodge? If I remember correctly, the lake was partially frozen, but not totally. You will get some great shots, especially in winter!

Cool. I was under the impression there was 1 cradle mountain lake, but I could be wrong(read: probably am).

The first time I stayed, it snowed lightly for about the last 20 min. before getting there. I was driving a hired Mitsubishi Lancer (Front wheel drive) and it was fine - there was enough other cars and it wasn't snowing heavily enough that the road was okay (there was still snow on it, but no loss of traction if you weren't silly). When we arrived, it was snowing and there was a wombat wandering across the drive, being snowed on!

The second time I stayed, I drove from Launceston airport on Friday night in the dark. I was driving a hired Falcon XR6 (rear wheel drive) - there were lots of animals to avoid! It was kind of like in the cartoons when all the eyes are looking at you! It snowed on the Saturday afternoon and night - when we went to head down the mountain on Sunday morning at about 8 am, it had stopped snowing, but the car and road were covered in a couple of inches of snow (it was -4C!). We were pretty much the first ones to drive on the road down the mountain, so it was very slippery - my mate was driving this time and was doing approx. 20km/r. Any faster and there was no traction.

One thing to note - technically, you are not covered in hire cars when it snows, unless you purchase their snow cover. Falcon was an Avis car - they don't offer snow cover and although they don't cover you for driving in the snow, they were the preferred car hire company for CM Lodge!

Yea, the reason I am restricted to a compact, is that is my GF's car. I assume there aren't similar issues for a personal car insurance policy.

 

[drron]

If you are into photography and winter here are some great shots-
Simon Olding Photography | Intimate Landscapes | Cradle Mountainn and Dove Lake, Winter

I dont think Dove lake freezes over.There is a small lake next to the lodge stocked with trout-that is not the main lake by any means.
We have been in april and december-snowed both times.
April is a good time for photography with the colours of the fa_us.
I did a report on the Wilderness village with a picture of the possum on the balcony.Dont let them in they can do a lot of damage.
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....wilderness-village-cradle-mountain-26814.html

 

[mr_osborne]

If you are into photography and winter here are some great shots-
Simon Olding Photography | Intimate Landscapes | Cradle Mountainn and Dove Lake, Winter

I dont think Dove lake freezes over.There is a small lake next to the lodge stocked with trout-that is not the main lake by any means.
We have been in april and december-snowed both times.
April is a good time for photography with the colours of the fa_us.
I did a report on the Wilderness village with a picture of the possum on the balcony.Dont let them in they can do a lot of damage.
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....wilderness-village-cradle-mountain-26814.html

Amazing Pictures...

I saw the trip report (did a search for cradle mountain first), and was amazed when I saw the possum picture...
(coming from nz we take a slightly different approach to possums)
I didn't realise they did a lot fo damage... useful to know. but they are cool to watch...