Reflections Coolangatta Beach

We’ve stayed at Reflections for the past three years and had intended to make it an annual family tradition. Unfortunately, this experience has been incredibly disappointing. Our group of four families booked back in January after 2 previous great July Holidays staying there. Just seven days before our arrival, after the cancellation period had passed, we were advised that the pool would be closed. We completely understand that maintenance and unexpected works happen. Our disappointment is not that the pool was closed—it’s that guests were only notified at the last minute, leaving us with virtually no opportunity to make alternative arrangements during the busiest school holiday period. The suggested alternative was to walk to the neighbouring tower’s pool. While this may sound reasonable, anyone travelling with young children knows it is not the same experience as having the pool within your own building. Carrying towels, toys, prams and everything needed for a day by the pool between buildings is a significant inconvenience and not what we booked or paid for. Throughout our discussions, management maintained that they could not offer compensation because they manage the apartments on behalf of private owners and the pool is controlled by the Body Corporate. While I appreciate the explanation, from a guest’s perspective our booking was with Reflections, and we expected them to take responsibility for delivering the accommodation and facilities that were advertised. To their credit, they ultimately offered us the option of a full refund or a breakfast voucher. However, by that stage we were only days away from travelling during the school holidays with four families, making it unrealistic to find comparable accommodation elsewhere. A partial refund or goodwill gesture that allowed us to continue our holiday would have been a far more customer-focused outcome. It’s a real shame because we’ve genuinely enjoyed our previous stays. Unfortunately, the way this situation was handled means we’ll be looking elsewhere for our future family holidays.