Penola Holidays from £2,263

Marketed as five-star, but the rating seems to ride on the location and not much more. Interiors feel tired, and the rooms lack luxury. Towels are rough and carry a lingering smell of cooking grease—more budget motel than premium stay. Coffee is reduced to a kettle and sachets; no pod machine. There’s also no visible effort toward sustainability—no recycling bins in the room or anywhere obvious in the hotel. Sleep is a gamble - noise bleeds in from every direction: promanade maintenance crews blasting music from their vehicles through night/early hours, late-night bar crowds, and poorly sealed balcony doors that do nothing to block it out. Ocean view rooms you can see planes flight path, loudly passing every few minutes. The balcony has no furniture, unless you’re dragging chairs back and forth as nothing supplied appropriate to be left outside. Overall stay was not a 5* experience—it wasn’t even close, I won’t be returning.

This is one of the best stays in Adelaide. If you want the ultimate experience with exceptional facilities then The Oval Adelaide is your place. I loved it and will be back. Thank you

This hotel is centrally located, and the heritage and historic elements are very interesting. However, it is way overpriced for the experience. We arrived quite late (about 9pm) and had a less than enthusiastic welcome from reception staff, which I would describe as professional but chilly. The room was spacious but the decor is depressing; I recognise they are trying to retain the historic aspect but the furniture is dark and uninspiring. One of the bathroom tumblers still had toothpaste marks on it (had not been cleaned properly) and on the main television screen it still had the welcome message for the previous guests, which was not altered during our whole stay. My mother-in-law was also staying at the hotel and being 88, she asked for a bathroom non-slip mat for the shower. Despite saying they would provide this, it was never delivered. A pretty disappointing stay overall.

A great experience!

We regularly make a dinner and mini staycation over night. Always top quality experience with food, ambience and accommodation.