Echoes Boutique Hotel And Restaurant

“Echoes Boutique Katoomba - careful of the booking small print!”

Booked a night at Echoes Boutique Hotel based on advertising displayed on the Qantas booking web site. The view from the "balcony" room photo looked spectacular and we had stayed previously at Lillianfels, so thought we would try this hotel which offered better scenery of the valley below. Received… more

Booked a night at Echoes Boutique Hotel based on advertising displayed on the Qantas booking web site. The view from the "balcony" room photo looked spectacular and we had stayed previously at Lillianfels, so thought we would try this hotel which offered better scenery of the valley below. Received an email from Echoes the day before advising that there is no one manning the Reception desk and check in would be at Lillianfels across the road. OK, not a big issue so we parked at Echoes and checked in across the way. One of the receptionists then accompanied us back across to get our luggage and take us to our room which surprisingly was down a flight of stairs. Not the balcony room as advertised on Qantas, but a "garden view room" that had access to the cliff edge to look down the valley. Mind you we could just make out a sliver of the view from our bedroom but not the panoramic view promised at the time of booking on Qantas. I contacted Reception to enquire whether our room had been allocated incorrectly and was advised that the booking was "subject to availability" and obviously was notified somewhere in the small print conditions. Apparently there is no price differential between the Ground Floor and Lower Ground Floor - luck of the drawer I suppose! I have included a room map in the photos so that if you are able to book direct, you will know which rooms to request. Apart from the disappoinment of the room allocation the hotel provided excellent service, a clean quiet room, and access to amenities at Lillianfels (pool, spa, games room etc).

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“Faded Glories .”

As an ex Guest House owner in the Blue Mountains myself, I can vouch that Echoes Guest House has arguably the best views of all Hotels in the Blue Mountains. This was my first stay at Echoes. The Guest House its self is a wonderful experience the breakfast was very good and the service excellent. T… more

As an ex Guest House owner in the Blue Mountains myself, I can vouch that Echoes Guest House has arguably the best views of all Hotels in the Blue Mountains. This was my first stay at Echoes. The Guest House its self is a wonderful experience the breakfast was very good and the service excellent. The views are to die for ( on a clear day ) The swimming pool facilities at Lillianfels Hotel next door are excellent. Overall the staff were friendly and very helpful. That's the good stuff ! On the flip side the there is a need for a lot of upgrading of of furnishings and fittings. The wonderful lamp shades in the breakfast room are stained and dirty, window ledges have peeling paint, the canopy over the upper floor is dirty, canopy heaters are rusty. The bedroom carpets are quite worn, bedroom furniture is old and scuffed, internal drawers in the wardrobe are damaged , the bathroom air extractor fan did not work, the balcony floor had not been swept and badly needs pressure cleaning, the hedge and bush on the balcony required trimming . The Guest House requires a very keen eyed maintenance manager and cleaning manager to do a full audit of what needs to be done plus a substantial budget no doubt to rectify the issues . If this actually happens then Echoes will continue to be a much sought after destination in the Blue Mountains, until then , its just hanging in there by its finger nails as a 4 star location, if that. I still enjoyed my stay there as I could see what what potential it can return to, but I'm not sure many international guests would be as kind as I am being ! Spend the money guys, make it current, make it clean and current. its an amazing Guest House, it just needs a keen eye and the right money spend and it will again be the number one Guest House in the Blue Mountains.

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“Loved our stay before but not this time”

Having really loved our stay here before, we didn't hesitate to rebook on our visit to the Blue Mountains this time. I had a few communications with the hotel prior to our stay with them and so it came as quite a shock when we arrived to be told that there was ongoing work and that workmen would ne… more

Having really loved our stay here before, we didn't hesitate to rebook on our visit to the Blue Mountains this time. I had a few communications with the hotel prior to our stay with them and so it came as quite a shock when we arrived to be told that there was ongoing work and that workmen would need access to our room during the day to replace the sprinklers and that breakfast would be served at their sister hotel across the road. None of this was mentioned in advance of our stay, as if it had, we would perhaps have looked into other accommodation. We had breakfast at the sister hotel on our first morning, but found it very below par and 3 star at best. There was also no view, which is the main reason we stay at Echoes. We decided to get breakfast elsewhere after we had checked out on our final morning. Dinner, luckily wasn't affected so at least we had two meals in their restaurant with that breath-taking view. The food was all as we remembered, superb. They also had a fantastic pianist playing both nights, Annie Burbank. We loved her selection of tunes and both myself and my wife found it fun working out the tune (classic 80/90/00's tunes but played in her style on the piano). Our stay this time, whilst in parts was great, didn't leave us wanting to return, so will look elsewhere on our next trip to the Blue Mountains.

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“A substandard experience from a 5 star hotel”

We were moved from a valley view room in Lillianfels hotel upon arrival as they said that several rooms, despite recent refurbishment, had been damaged by water ingress the previous night. The room at echoes hotel had a reasonable valley view but the bathroom was very small. It did not match up wit… more

We were moved from a valley view room in Lillianfels hotel upon arrival as they said that several rooms, despite recent refurbishment, had been damaged by water ingress the previous night. The room at echoes hotel had a reasonable valley view but the bathroom was very small. It did not match up with the accommodation that we had paid for. We were offered ‘compensation’ of AUD 100 but then found out that the cost of the room in echoes hotel was nearly 270 AUD less than we had paid. Eventually the hotel offered 250AUD credit to our bill (note, not a refund). In our view this was a substandard response for a 5 star hotel especially as we found out that 50% of the rooms were vacant. A sensible upgrade offer would have been more acceptable, preferably to a slightly larger room. Breakfast at Echoes hotel was better than the buffet we had at Lilianfels- at least the food wasn’t luke warm. Dinner in the sister hotel Darnley restaurant did not live up to its culinary reputation. There were a few other substandard issues for which We have since received a letter of apology from hotel management. It is always a big disappointment when paying a premium price for a substandard experience.

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