Hamilton Island offers guests an array of accommodation options including apartments, the ultra chic qualia Resort (in my dreams I’ll stay there one day) and hotel accommodation at The Reef View Hotel.
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to stay and review the Reef View Hotel’s accessible room on the last night of our stay on Hamilton Island. We’ve seen so many accessible rooms in our travels it’s hard to impress us, but the Reef View did just that. We walked into the room and were immediately taken with the amount of space in the room. The room is huge.
ACCESSIBLE ROOM
The room hasn’t lost any features to make it so spacious. There’s lounge chairs, a desk, flat-screen TV, mini-bar, tea & coffee making facilities and all the crockery at a lowered level.
The room even has the option of an interconnecting room, making it more versatile for families or for someone travelling with a personal assistant/carer.
It’s always hard to judge in photos exactly how spacious a room is, so I took a photo of BJ in his wheelchair to give you an idea.
I know many of our readers need to travel with a hoist for transfers so when I opened the wardrobe and found one provided, by the hotel in the room, I was delighted. This will make it easier for so many travellers with mobility restrictions.
The safe, iron and clothes rack are all lowered to wheelchair height.
ACCESSIBLE BATHROOM
Like the bedroom, the bathroom is large and well appointed for easy access.
The toilet has grab rails on either side which lift out of the way for transferring from a wheelchair. There’s room on either side of the toilet for transferring.
The sink has room underneath for wheelchair access, is height adjustable and all taps are lever taps.
The shower chair is moveable and also has grab rails that lift out of the way for easy transfer. The seat is also height adjustable and there’s a hand-held shower.
Hotel doors are heavy and often prove difficult for people with weakness in their hands or for wheelchair users. We were therefore impressed to find a button inside the apartment which operated the door. BJ could manage it. It takes a little while to close and with curious cockatoos hovering nearby we felt obliged to wait for it to close but it’s a great feature.
The balcony has a step-free entrance and offers glimpses of the reef and ocean.
FACILITIES
Breakfast was included for our stay and guests have the option of three locations around the Island to have breakfast. We heard that the Pool Terrace Restaurant onsite had the largest variety so we decided to stay at the hotel for breakfast. The kids enjoyed pancakes, cereal, fruit and hash browns. I had my favourite, a made-to-order omlette. Delicious!
Guests can also have breakfast with the koalas at Wild Life Hamilton or at Sails Restaurant which overlooks Catseye Beach.
The hotel has it’s own 35 metre pool which is popular with guests. The kids enjoyed swimming in the pool when we didn’t have time to go to the beach.
There are four glass lifts servicing the various levels of the hotel. They’re efficient meaning we never waited long for a lift.
The accessible room is on level 3 right near the guest laundry which has a coin operated washing machine and dryer.
Free WIFI is available to guests at the hotel and at various hot spots around the island.
The kids were also thrilled to find Nickelodeon and Disney Channel on the TV in the hotel.
PARKING
We had a golf-buggy to get around the island. There is accessible parking spaces outside the hotel and near the ramp access to the hotel. There is no charging station at these spots so concierge offered to park and charge the buggy for us.
There is also level access to the accessible room (avoiding the lift) at the rear of the hotel.
TRANSFERS
For guests who need to stay in their wheelchair, there’s a wheelchair accessible shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel.
GETTING AROUND THE ISLAND
A complimentary Island shuttle service operates around the island. It’s wheelchair accessible with a ramp for access on to the bus and dedicated wheelchair spaces on the vehicle.
TRAVELLING WITH KIDS
For guests staying at The Reef View Hotel kids under 12 eat at select restaurants for free.
INTERCONNECTING ROOM
We often talk to properties about the need for accessible rooms with an interconnecting room for larger families or those travelling with a companion or assistant. It made our stay more comfortable having an interconnecting room at The Reef View Hotel.
The standard room is much smaller than the accessible room and doesn’t have a balcony but the accessible room is so light and spacious we spent all our time in there. The rooms are close to the lifts which is fantastic from an access perspective but it does mean that excited holiday-makers are passing the room on their way to and from the lift. The only down-side to being so handy to the lift.
We are super impressed with all the features that have been packed into the accessible room at The Reef View Hotel. Combine this with the other activities we did around the island and we think Hamilton has a lot to offer guests. I’ll be writing further posts on the activities soon.
If you’d like to read more about The Reef View Hotel you can head to the website here.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think. Would these features help to make a stay more comfortable for you? Let me know in comments below or over on Facebook.
Our overnight stay was as guests of Hamilton Island but this effusive review is a reflection of the outstanding features and thought that has gone into the design of the room. All opinions are my own.
I also use a wheelchair & after this review would look into Hamilton Island for our honeymoon destination. Thanks for the information.
Hi Claire,
Keep an eye out for my other posts about Hamilton to see if it’s right for you. There were certainly lots of honeymooners lapping up the island lifestyle and relaxing.
Julie
What a great place to stay! If only more tourist
Destinations would do the same.
We live in North Carolina and are always searching for dream vacations.
Merry Christmas and thank you for always
Posting such great experiences. I feel I know
Your family now
My son is 28 in a power chair and has cp.
Hi Annette,
What a lovely message to see this morning. Thanks for your kind words. We feel so lucky to have such a lovely community who take an interest in our family not just the stories we share.
I hope your family and particularly your son have a wonderful Christmas too.
Oh and I totally agree, we need more destinations like Hamilton Island.
Merry Christmas.
Julie
My husband also requires an electric hi low bed ,is there anywhere to hire one if we were to stay Tia
Not that I know of Tricia. You’d need to organise that yourself and I’d imagine it would be quite expensive. Sorry. Julie
I’ve stayed in that room on Hamilton Island, probably about ten years ago. It made me smile seeing your photos, I felt that I was there again. 🙂
I absolutely endorse all your comments about the facilities and the friendly staff!
One MUST DO is to golf buggy up to the peak to watch the sunset over the islands! WOW!
I’m so pleased Peter. Yes, One Tree Hill at sunset is one of our faves and the bar there is good for a cocktail!
Thanks Julie, I’d forgotten the name of the lookout. 🙂
Thanks for this article, very informative. It made my decision of where to take my family (and my wheelchair) for our next holiday. We are having a White Christmas in Australia (Whitehaven). Sure it might cost a bit more, but there is so much on offer to do and able to do.
I travel a lot for work purposes with my trusty chair and smart-drive and I think Hamilton will be an excellent place for my kids and wife to enjoy some downtime, without having the concern about me being able to get involved.
Fantastic to hear Steve. We love it. The island is naturally hilly so your Smart Drive will get a workout or if you can transfer the golf buggies are lots of fun. Keep an eye here and on Facebook for my posts about the island, day trips and access which will be coming out in the following weeks.
Hi, just wondering did you take your disabled parking pass to use the accessible spaces? Just wondering how that works in a golf cart.
Thanks so much
Hi Kim, we didn’t. To be honest, it didn’t even occur to us. With the open golf carts it would be easily stolen which would worry me. Julie
I have just returned from a week on Hamilton Island and my wife had a lot of issues with disability access. We found many of the gutters were very steep and had no lay back, making it very difficult to cross the road. Several times she was refused access to the island shuttle bus as it either wasn’t an accessible bus or the driver deemed I would take up too much room. We also had issues accessing the public BBQ area at the Pavilion- the ramp was so steep it was dangerous, an incline of about 1:5. Surprised that you found HI so accessible.
Hi Kevin,
I’ll pass this information on to the team at Hamilton Island, I know that improving accessibility is top of mind for them. My son is very light in his wheelchair so we are able to tip his chair back if needed. He is also able to take some steps and transfer out of his wheelchair which all assist in us accessing places that are less accessible.
Julie