Sofitel Reef Casino Cairns Hotel

We stayed for 2 nights at the Casino in Sep 06. The room was on the 3rd floor overlooking the pool area. The balcony was huge. The bed was fantastic (you could even buy it if you wanted to) and there is a pillow menu that you can order whatever sort of pillow you like! About the only complaint about the room was some of the furnishings were starting to look well used.

We went to go to the Casino for dinner. We had been out for most of the day and tried to walk into the Casino with one shopping bag. We were stopped by the bouncer who said it was far too busy to be taking that in. We dropped the bag at our room and went in and was suprised to see only about 50 inside so wasn't sure where the masses the bouncer was talking about had disappeared too.

When we tried to order from the budget restaurant inside the Casino we were told they couldn't take our order as it wasn't yet 6pm. When I enquired what time it actually was I was snapped at and told 2 minutes to 6pm. I find this sort of service really irritating when you are travelling so I stood and stared at the cashier until 6pm and she took my order. The meals there are all under $10 and very nice if you are happy to put up with the rude service staff.

Finally the only other thing that irritated me was we were offered with our hotel booking a free "$5 Match and Play voucher". I assumed this to be for some sort of game they had there. When we were told the idea was we had to spend our own $5 to use there $5 voucher I was a bit miffed!

Overall, we were very pleased with the hotel. We stayed for 3 nights. Our room was on the 6th floor with a view of the harbor. Very nice bedding and a great bathroom with double sinks, a soaking tub with jets (fancy soaps are $4.50 and are put on mini-bar tab), nice separate steam shower with a bench to relax on.

The pool was very nice and I think it was heated too. We ate breakfast one morning at the buffet - $60 for two people, so I'd say it's not worth it. The food was decent, but that's expensive for a breakfast.

My husband of two weeks somehow dropped his wedding band down the elevator shaft. It would have cost us $500 for the elevator company to come out on a Friday night, so the concierge told us they come every Monday anyways for scheduled maintenance and they could get it for free at that time. We would be gone by Monday, but he is sending it to us via courier. They found it! Not sure if I should have expected them to somehow get it out. I'm indifferent about the situation. I suppose it's our fault.

I'd say the Sofitel is the nicest of the hotels near the Esplenade. Our stay was part of a package, so I'm not exactly sure what the cost breakdown is, but overall, it's a great 4 1/2 -5 star property with a great location.

best hotel at our 4 week trip to australia, very nice room, very good service, very friendly staff and concierge service, location is perfect, only breakfast could be better

Only spent one night in the hotel but the room was large, clean and well appointed. Casino seems to cater to Japanese and other East Asia package tours. Having said this, we weren't interested in the casinos and chose a restaurant along the seashore boardwalk - feel is like a large seaside town -lots of touristy shops and restaurants open to the air. All in all - not bad . Service at hotel was friendly and attentive.

We visited the Sofitel for one night during our honeymoon. We had been staying at the Kewarra Resort and found it to be too quiet for us after 3 nights. So when we visited the city of Cairns, we explored different hotels and decided the Sofitel is where we wanted to stay.

We arrived for check-in around 1pm and it took us nearly 3 hours before our room was prepared for us. The receptionist wouldn't give us any break in the price or vouchers for breakfast, but she did send up champagne and fruit to our room once we did settle in. The room we had was on the top florr, floor 6 in a Junior Suite that was amazing! We had 2 beautiful balconies, a huge shower and tub, 2 sinks, and the bed was heavenly. If you stay here, I would recommend having breakfast on your balcony, it was so beautiful, as our room overlooked the ocean.

The pool area is very nice and relaxing, nice place to just chill-out! We ordered food at the pool and it was reasonably priced. Other than that, we didn't have any meals at our hotel. I suggest you walk to the Esplanade for breakfast and dinner, lots of great places! We did want to try Tamarind (asian cuisine) in the Sofitel, but it was closed on Sunday's.

The casino is big, but if you are used to Las Vegas then this doesn't really compare. The games are the same as the US, variations on them are common.

We stayed at the Sofitel for two nights as the starting point for our honeymoon, and I enjoyed the room very much. Our patio overlooked the pool area and was huge. The room, and the hotel, has a Key West kind of feel to it, with slatted doors throughout, even for the wall between the tub and the rest of the room. The steam shower was a nice touch as well. There are a few flaws. The breakfast was lousy, and the breakfast service was spotty at best. When we arrived and ordered coffee, it had been cleared by the time we returned with our plates. Don't eat the things they call pancakes, if you are inclined to eat the breakfast at all. Also, the casino was tacky, as everyone else points out. I am in my mid-thirties, and was carded to get in! The age to enter is eighteen, and it was a bit annoying to have the casino gatekeeper card me just so he could comment on my looks. That, and there were 2-penny slot machines. The gaming tables weren't much better. I'd advise skipping the casino and check out Cairns or surrounding areas instead.

We booked this hotel as the Sofitel brand is one which normally means very high standards. Upon our arrival in mid-January we were very pleased with the superb accommodation and the wonderful staff throughout the hotel. The only minus point in terms of the hotel proved to be the ridiculously tacky (as stated by another reader) casino attached to the hotel. I can only assume that the Sofitel group is low on funds and for this reason feels compelled to operate such an awful, tasteless and utterly tacky operation.

Just been to this hotel as part of a trip to Australia. Lovely hotel, really nice rooms and pretty good allround experience.

The concierge will happily arrange trips for you and suggest restaurants. I had a great time. There is a rather strange casino attached to the hotel which totally changes the atmosphere of the hotel. However, the hotel cannot really be faulted. If you like to gamble, why not. The hotel is not tacky but the casino is (but fun!)

Avoid the breakfast however, better to go along the Esplanade and pick up a breakfast there! Breakfast at the hotel is a waste of money, pretty horrid. There are seafront cafes and restaurants which are open from 6:30am for breakfast - so don't panic.

There is a swimming pool half-way up the hotel which looked nice but I was too happy using the in-room steam shower!

I've stayed in many hotels in many cities, but the Reef is absolutely my favourite. I've stayed here three times now and everytime, the room is beautiful, service is stunning and the whole hotel is wonderful. I've stayed in a junior suite on two occasions, and it's fab - spa bath, balcony overlooking the Trinity inlet, huge bed, soft linen... If you live in Cairns try to get a local's special, advertised in the paper - on the last two occasions we got a junior suite room, two Crown Lagers, bottle of sparkling wine, chocolates (from the chocolatier in the casino lobby) and a chip for the casino. Another time, we got a package of accomm with a show in the observatory, which is really beautiful. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone.