Reef Island Surf Lodge

I was unfortunate enough to stay at the Reef Island Surf Lodge for a long weekend this month (Aug 08), I will certainly never be returning and could not reccomend the place to anyone. A fair amount of money has obviously been spent on the decor of the building and the electricity consumption of the place must be huge considering the hundreds of lights and dozens of pointless wall mounted mini lcd tv's which are installed throught the building and are turned on a full24 hours a day! (Absolutely pointless and very bad for the environment). However, all the money seemes to have been spent on everything apart from the room interiors and on wages for decent staff. I stayed in the lodge with a group of friends and we had three rooms between us, all were incredibly cramped, where there was room for only four beds at the very most, there was six beds. The beds were bunks, which you would expect from a surf lodge, but they were the cheapest bunks money can buy, (Mine was covered in teeth marks, nice!), some had slats missing and the bedding was cheap, nasty and smelt really bad. The bathroom was badly designed, nowhere to put your towels and no decent drainage. The shower was the type you used to endure after school PE lessons where you have to hold a button down to keep the water going, I find it strange that in a building which must consume enough electricty to power a small village the owners decided to give such tight fisted consideration to water consumption. The website boasts of wide screen tv's in every room and yes this is true, but in one of the rooms there was no remote control meaning that we had to climb onto one of the top bunks and lean over to turn the tv on, (An accident waiting to happen), and in another there was a remote but it was broken. Furthermore, because of the prison camp arrangement of the bunks in the overcrowded rooms only two people could actually see the tv! The bar was flashy and there were huge tv's playing most of the time, however during our stay it looked to be empty most of the time, this is not surprising considering the negative atmosphere created by the rude and totally useless staff. The man behind the bar was particulary rude and unhelpful, I found it hard to see how on earth he had got a job working there, he spent most of his time staring at us with a face like a slapped behind. The blonde girl on checkout was obnoxious at thoroughly useless, furthermore she actually verbally insulted one of our group without provocation and in the most common and shocking of manners. In all fairness the Australian security guard seemed to be a nice bloke and was honest and helpful throughout our stay, it's a shame the rest of the staff didn't take a leaf out of his book. During our stay our rooms were 'raided' by staff when we were out, this really added to the prison camp atmosphere and although from reading other peoples reviews I was aware room searches would be made I didn't expect them to be conducted whilst none of us were present and I did not expect the staff to leave our rooms unlocked with the doors ajar all night after they had done their dirty work! The search was done on our last day at the lodge and was blatantly done in an effort to try and catch us out for breaking one of the lodges long list of rules so they could take our "good behaviour bond money", (Needless to say we behaved ourselves, broke none of their rules and managed to get our money back at the end of the stay from the surley blond receptionist). All in all I would not reccomend this place to anyone, I have never stayed in such poorly run and cramped accomodation in all my life and never wish to do so again. The owners of this place claerly have no idea how to run this sort of establishment and have never even heard of the concept of customer satisfaction, it deserves to get shut down and lie empty like the empty ruin of the lodge next door!

Just a quick one but i really feel sorry for the staff at the lodge. I went last weekend and they were so nice to us and you could see how busy they were trying to get the rooms ready quicker for us and the poor girl in recpetion just had a full grown drunken essex man shouting at her! I can see why they would snap being spoken to like that is was awful. I believe that you get treated how you treat others and this man was noit very nice to her! But anyway yeah the rooms arnt huge but they are not small either. They are bunk beds but i got told that when i booked so i wasnt really suprised about that also likewise th the bond money. Its only £30 and if your not going to smash the room up what you worried for. I stayed at a camp site last year and thet wanted £50 per person! I noticed in a review someone was moaning about not have a kettle in the room. Im sorry but thats just sad yiur in newquay go out and have fun there is loads of coffee shops not to mention the bar downstairs anyway! I just think people like to moan alot when the island is actually a really nice and friendly place to stay. please read this. reef dont lie about anything they have everyone just seems to be miserable. Please dont be put off i had amazing time and i will be booking for next year!!!!

We stopped in the lodge, in one of the apparent penthouse? suites. This would be ok for two adults and two kids, but 6 guys? No way! It aint as spacious as they would like you to think. Anyway upon arrival we were met by the receptionist, who took our £30 each bond money and read us the rules. The main rules which we knew we may come unstuck with were, No food to be brought back to the premises at any time if someone was caught then £5 is removed from your bond money, no warnings. The same applies for alcohol with random room searches on the agenda, although alcohol can be bought from their bar which we were told on check in was shut and wouldnt be open until saturday night, it was now only wednesday. The accomodation consisted of 4 rooms. The bathroom- Large, with good shower, wc, sink and two man suana, No towels or complimentry toiletries here. Bedroom- Medium size with a double bed, no where to hang clothes, no drawers. Sitting room/second bedroom- Large with double pull out sofa bed, table and four chairs, large plasma on wall ( no dvd's available to rent etc) nintendo game cube (no games to rent or use and the local blockbuster doesnt stock them either) and a cd player ( no reception for radio) no where to hang clothes no drawers. Third bedroom- small with single bunk beds, a small plasma and a cd player. and a noisey cooling fan or something on the roof above which drones very loudly pretty much constantly. No where to hang clothes no drawers. During our 5 day stay here the room was never cleaned, we were charged £5 for bringing back a pizza box (empty!) and also £30 for having non paying guests in our room, this was two of our friends who were flying back early and had came back to say goodbye to the groom before leaving they were there for 3 to 4 mins maximum when informing reception of this and trying to tell them that hotel security is surely their responsibility (since non of them were challanged upon entry) the attitude was "tuff". We were also charged £5 for loss of a key card. Overall I would say the reef island is just not worth it! I know this review sonunds as if it is written with sour grapes but unfortunatley this is how it was. I am a 29 year old married man with an 18 month old daughter not once were we loud, or loutish, I wouldnt stop here again with out major attitude changes.

A group of about 6 girls and 6 boys (aged 16) stayed at the reef ISLAND surf lodge not long ago. It was good. You get exactly what you pay for, it was a cheap week in Newquay! The best thing about the hotel is the location, a minute walk to the beach and equally a minute to the town. After we had herd about this 'bond' you have to pay, we were thinking oh [--].. never going to get that back! but to our surprise we did! And to be honest we didn't really have to tiptoe too much. you just have to be quite when outside the hotel, which i think is reasonable. The staff were a bit touchy but we hardly saw them so it was ok. The rooms were a bit small but as i said, its what you pay for. It wasn't packed though. The bathrooms are ok too, yes they have showers where u have to press the button when it stops (like at school changing rooms) but it wasn't that bad! At least it was clean! There were a few alcohol checks towards the end of the week, but you just have to be clever about hiding it well (and they do check under the beds). So it's not as bad as some people make it out, i do agree that the tv screens in the hallways are pointless!! I WOULD ADVISE THIS 'LODGE' TO GROUPS OF TEENS ONLY. It is not a place for adults or little children. but it is perfect if you have just done your GCSE's!! I would say that this place is the best place your gonna get on budget. Trust me it is a lot better than some other places in Newquay. Another bonus is that it is so close to the train station. It's not that bad! It'd just a place to crash after a heavy night ;-) Would recommend it. PS. newquay is THE BEST.

Tiny rooms, no storage space, treated like children, made to sit in bar area upon arrival for ages until we signed our lives away. they seem to have spent ridiculous money on stupid things such as mini tv's in the walls along corridors and flashy lighting but forgotten the very basics such as decent staff and wardrobes!!!! for £45 pp a night i would expect more and its well overpriced for what it is - especially as the B&B's opposite were bigger rooms for under £20!!! the one good thing was the location and the lodge was very clean.

Website looks good but the hotel was poor. Sleeping accommodation was adequate but did not live up to the standards portrayed by their website. Surf storage facilities were small and cramped and the service was among the worst I’ve experienced.

we were on a stag doo here upon first impressions the building looked nicely decorated, upon arrival we were told of a bond we had to pay of £30 each which had to be paid cash which seemed a little suspect but we were happy to pay as we knew we were well behaved an wouldnt cause any damage or problems! the staff here were very rude and told us off straight away for standing round waiting to check in in reception which took forever we were talked to like kids which was very patronising as many of our party were old enough to be there dads even grandads!! we then had a telling off session of basically the 6000 ways we could lose our bond which im pretty sure was a certainty as soon as we handed over approx £1500 in crisp notes, little did we know the owner prob put that money in their ISA as soon as we handed it over and would never see it again!! anyway after 2 trouble free nights in newquay which was a fantastic place the people were extremely friendly apart from the ones who worked in this lodge, they obviously had no enthusiasm for there job and quite clearly had no idea of what customer icare is and were what can only be discribed as well balanced employees ( a chip on both shoulders"). the rooms were tiny with bunk beds crammed in doors could not be opened fully as there was no room its a real fire hazard, yes there was a flat screen tv, and a cd player which encourages one to use them and break rule 5421 section5 (c) of the how to lose your bond act! but there were no basic facilties such as towels, hangers, kettle and the bunk beds were something that a umpa lumpa off charlie and the chocolate factory would sleep in as they were tiny! and smellt of stale urine! by the way bringing a chocolate bar into your room will lose you and your friends theyre £120 deposit also!! after a great last night which we spent a fortune in the hotel bar at the end of the night we all came home and were greeted by the security guard who was courtious to us and we all were exhausted and went straight to our rooms and passed out despite the noise from a group of girls on a hen nights room but we werent bothered as unlike the hotel staff we know people are human and come to newquay to have fun, we all woke up and went to check out we were told that we had lost our £120 bond because the security guard said we had made too much noise when we came in which was a blatant lie as we all went straight to sleep, after having our room inspected and was passed as good as we left it immaculate with no damage or even dirt we asked to speak to the manager to rectify this situation but were told the manager was unavailable (probably to busy counting the cash they had defrauded from us) we asked could we see cctv evidence as there as it is like big brother in there but were told we couldnt, we asked could we have a copy of the security guards report, we were told we couldnt, in the end we asked could we write a note for the manager which we did only to see the receptionist throw it in the bin as soon as we walked out the door!! it totallyspoilt a fanastic weekend in newquay we are gutted we ever stayed in this lodge as in total they took approx £600 in bond money all in all from our party which is something you expect to see abroad in some dodgy country not here in a nice freindly place like newquay!! i thought people have rights over here and proof would have to be produced of why we lost such a hefty chunk of money, the lodges rules which are clearly displayed say that a verbal warning would be given before any bond money could be lost but the security guard could have come and knocked on our door if he thought it was us making the noise which it wasnt and he didnt! its quite clear that this is underhand tactics something this hotel have resorted too to boost the revenue which isnt fair and should be stopped!! PLEASE DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS WE DID AND STAY HERE YOU WILL REGRET IT THIS HOTEL IS A DISGRACE THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF!!! THESE PEOPLE SHOULD BE STOPPED WE ARE SEEKING LEGAL ADVISE IF U DONT WANT THE SAME STAY DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND STAY WELL CLEAR GO AND STAY IN A FRIENDLIER HOTEL WHERE THE OWNERS VALUE YOUR CUSTOM AND RESPECT YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS!!

We arrived and were staying for new years eve in Newquay and saw Reef Island Surf Lodge to stay. I had previously read reviews on this place and was worried about booking here but when it came down to it we had to in the end as it was the only place with Vacanices. When we arrived from a long journey down we were met with smiley faces which was a relief the reception and security staff were a good laugh. Yes you have to pay a security bond when you arrive but this is told and included in your confirmation slip so i dont agree with others who say they never knew about this. It is a pain checking the rooms and the form you have to fill out but from what i heard from staff this is no suprise due to past guests breaking and damaging property. I got my security deposit back when i left which is fine im sure no one minds handing this over when they wont be causing damage in the first place. My room was bunks but it was clean and tidy the bathroom was really nice...every other lodge i have stayed in while traveling around has never been this clean. I stay in this knowing it is a surf lodge not a hotel and i was really pleased with it concidering from reviews i read told me different. i really think you shoud concider this review which is the actuall truth and not exagerated from the truth. All in all we had a great New Years eve in Newquay we had a laugh in the lodge with the staff. The beds were clean and comfy, we were right in town, right by the beaches we had a great time and would recomend anyone to stay there. Thanks again

We had an appalling stay from the very beggining. As soon as we arrived we along with other new comers were yelled at by the manager (or just some bossy rude employee) to " [--] get in the bar and stop crowding the foyer". We all went into the bar area where me and my other 5 friends were spoke to like babies, dictating to us about alcohol and if we damaged anything then there would be serious precautions. We had already signed an agreement which told us this, so she was just being patronising. We had already paid the full of our holiday, yet still had to give a £30 security bond when we had arrive.. which we were not told about. Then we were told we could go to our room, we were not told where to find the room and the woman just walked away from us, very rude. We called the lift, but it was literally small enough for one person, so we then all had to lug our suitcases up 2 flights of stairs. Most of us had 2 cases as we were staying for a week, and us girls like to be prepared. We were offered no help what so ever, we were treated like children and all of the staff were extremely rude to us all. We finally found our room, and it was ridiculously small! my bedroom at home is average, not small not big, just ok. And the room we were given was smaller than my home bedroom. It was tiny and cramped. 3 bunk beds were squeezed into our room, and we had no storage. No cupboards, drawers NOTHING. 6 girls, 12 cases in a horrifically small room (see the photos). We all agreed that the size of our room was a fire hazard. The bunk beds were child size also, and every time I got up I hit my head. There was no room it was so uncomfortable. We are all small girls and it was a squeeze to fit through the spaces between the beds, thats how tight it was. We had 12 cases in our room, which couldn’t even fit under the bunk beds where they were so low. And so the only bit of space we had was full of cases. We all fell over them on several occasions, I left with a cut foot and a friend twisted her ankle. If that wasn’t enough, our bathroom door would stick, so someone from outside would have to open it every time!! This was a serious hazard, which when we complained about 3 times was still shrugged off!! One of my friends went to the toilet in the middle of the night, and couldn’t get out, the rest of us were asleep and didn’t hear her calling us. She was stuck in there for over an hour and a half until someone heard her banging on the door. When there was a fire a few doors down from The Reef surf lodge the weekend later, I was just thankful it wasn’t reef, as people would have been killed in there, especially if someone was stuck in our toilet!! Another time I was blow drying my hair – using the one socket that was in our room!! One socket for 6 girls…it was AWFUL. Then all of a sudden the fire alarm went off. We all went outside, where we were just told to “get out” we were outside for 15minutes without being told anything or no one even said “sorry guys you’ll be allowed back in soon”, some girls were outside in the rain in towels and wet hair. When we were allowed back in the man said “who’s in room 10”, it was us. When we found out that it was my hair drier that caused the alarm to go off, he yelled at me “why the hell were you using that plug, use another”, but we had no other plug!!!!! So then he bought in an extension lead and expected us to take it out onto the hall way and blow dry our hair there!! Any one could have fallen over the lead. It really was ridiculous. Our friends in the other room were also put with 2 strangers, they could have stole their stuff or anything! When we arrived our friends were told they’d have to share and they couldn’t even be sure it would be girls, they could even put boys in with them! That’s a disgrace, they could have been perverts or anything. Our other room of friends also had a broken radiator, which they were blamed for, they were told all 4 of them would lose their £30 security bonds and were to be evicted…this was on the Monday! Our friends wanted to talk to the manager as the handy man came and said it was a faulty fixing and a shoddy job, but the manager would still not see our friends and insisted they were evicted. One female staff member was told by the manager if she stood up for our party she would have to take the money out of her wages and would lose her job! By Tuesday we were ready to go home. So we changed our tickets from Friday to Thursday. By the end of Tuesday we again changed our tickets to Wednesday morning. Then because we were leaving early, we weren’t allowed our security bonds back, so had to be posted to us! It was a joke beyond belief. I would seriously warn people of the cramped prison that is reef surf lodge and its rude staff. I have only explained a certain amount of problems we encountered at this hell hole, if you want more, I can tell you lots more. STAY AWAY FROM THERE.

6 of us just returned from spending New Years' at the Reef Island surf lodge. Decided to check out a night early because it wasn't worth the hassle of us all having to have another shower in the morning when you have to press the button every 10 seconds to get water - like the showers you get at the beach! There is also no mirrors except the face sized one in the bathroom so you have to take it in turns to go and do your make up and you have to try and dry your hair without a mirror then trust your friends when they say you look OK!! We wouldn't have minded all this if the lodge hadn't made £720 out of us for the 3 night stay (£120 per person) but for that amount of money you'd expect more than 3 bunkbeds and a bin the room., I'm sure we're not alone in thinking that guests would much prefer a rail to hang some clothes, a shelf or bedside table to put some stuff on, a hook on the back of the bathroom door to put your towel when you're in the shower and a cheap full length mirror on the walls......rather than blue floor lights in the stairs and pointless tv screens all round the corridors. We were impressed with the cleanliness - no fault there - but seeing as guests have to be out by 10.30am and then you can't get in your room til 5, you'd bloody expect it to be clean if it takes them that long!! Luckily we did get our £30 good behaviour bond back, which you have to pay on arrival, but the 3 pages of rules they make you sign does mean that you're constantly on edge about doing something which will make you lose the money. The lack of facilities and not being allowed to eat or drink in the rooms would make it perfect for laid back surfers who aren't so fussed about these things but the way the marketing is done and the cost of the rooms means that they aren't attracting that type of clientele! If you're looking for an ideal location with just a bed to sleep in and the money doesn't matter to you then you'll be fine here. But if you want a clean room without all the pointless extravagence in the corridors then the Newquay Reef Surf Lodge is great for half the price.