Quest Geelong Central offers premium self-contained apartments including studio, one, two and three-bedroom accommodation. We had the opportunity to stay in an accessible two bedroom apartment and found well-designed and stylishly appointed accommodation that suited our needs.
Quest Geelong Central reviewÂ
Geelong is just over an hour’s drive from Melbourne Airport and just under an hour from Melbourne’s CBD. The location worked well for our family as we were staying two nights after our Great Ocean Road adventure and didn’t need to go into the city of Melbourne before flying back to Sydney. We had a dolphin and seal swim booked in Queenscliff so a Geelong hotel stay provided a perfect base for us. As we had never been to Geelong, we didn’t know what to expect, but after spending some time exploring, we love it. The level walk along the waterfront was especially popular with our family.
Quest Geelong Central is located a short walk/wheel from Geelong’s waterfront, shopping and dining. Everything is within easy reach and yet, Geelong is much quieter than Melbourne CBD, which we found refreshing.
For our stay we were hosted in a two bedroom accessible apartment which is made up by combining a studio apartment and a one bedroom apartment. An interconnecting door links the two rooms.
If you don’t need this much space you can just book the one bedroom accessible apartment which is spacious with a kitchen, lounge area, work desk and dining table.
This was the ideal space for our family of four adults. Two bathrooms and two separate areas meant there was no queuing for the bathroom and when Braeden was awake early, Amelia could stay asleep in the studio.
Both rooms were arranged as two king-bedded rooms for our purposes, but these beds can be split to make either room a twin-bedded room.
Air conditioning is provided in both the lounge area and the bedroom which we appreciated in the height of summer. There is excellent circulation within the apartment and the bedroom offers good space on either side of the bed for transferring. Given we review many hotel we are a bit like Goldilocks when it comes to beds and pillows. We can happily report that Quest’s beds are super comfy and if the pillows supplied are not to your liking, you can ask for something different. I needed one that wasn’t so high and firm and staff happily delivered one that was just right.
With a television in both the lounge area and the bedroom you can choose where you want to catch up on your favourite shows.
Bedroom facts – apartment entry door 87cm, bed height 62cm and clearance under the bed 15cm.
In the accessible bathroom there is a shower bench, height adjustable shower head, toilet with backrest and grab rails are fitted throughout. We opted to borrow one of the shower chairs and a non-slip mat as Braeden prefers a chair to a bench. We found the position of the shower drain wasn’t ideal and meant that water spread quite far in the bathroom so I recommend requesting the non-slip mat.
All light switches are enlarged for ease of use and located in a lowered position and we found the wall-mounted toiletries were easy to reach when seated on the bench seat.
Something that is so often missing in accessible hotel bathroom design is somewhere to a toiletries bag so we were pleased to find shelving in the bathroom to store our things.
This is a niche feature to comment on but so often we are told by our community that they can’t manage with small hotel bins due to the consumables they use, so we were impressed to find large garbage bins in both the accessible bathroom and kitchen. I’ve never seen such a spacious bin so I popped a regular bin beside it for comparison.
Bathroom facts – entry door to bathroom 81cm, shower bench height 48cm, height to toilet pan 45.5cm and height to toilet seat 48.5cm.
Although we were only staying two nights, we appreciated the washer/dryer for washing our swimmers and towels after our boat trip.
The kitchen in the accessible apartment is well equipped and makes self-catering easy with a full-size fridge, stove top, oven, drawer dishwasher, microwave, toaster, kettle and coffee plunger.
Crockery is in a lowered position but some might struggle with the good quality, but heavy, plates and bowls.
Take a full tour of the two-bedroom apartment with me below.
Interconnecting non-accessible studio room
The studio room which interconnects with the one bedroom accessible apartment is comfortable and can be arranged as a king-bed or twin beds.
A small kitchenette is also included within the studio apartment.
As you’d expect, the bathroom in the studio is more compact but offers a step-free shower.
Staff at Quest Geelong Central kindly reserved a parking space that was easier for us to use given our access needs. This space was ideal for us when transferring Braeden from his wheelchair to the car and vice versa.
We were not staying long enough to take advantage of the fabulous rooftop terrace with barbecue and seating for many. With views to the Geelong waterfront this would be a great spot to enjoy in the summer months and watch sunset.
We were hosted by Quest Geelong Central but as always, our opinions are our own. We hope the photos and video tour will assist you in deciding if this property is right for you.
The nearby Geelong waterfront offers a level pathway with lovely water views.
I was particularly enamoured of the sculptures dotted along the beach and waterfront, most with a nod to Australian beach culture.
It was fantastic to see a Changing Places bathroom (located at the side of the Victorian Sailing Centre) which is equipped with adult-size change bed, hoist and shower facility, it is ideally located close to the beach and the beach matting.
The beach matting kind of goes nowhere but hopefully it helps more people get to the water and have fun in Geelong.
We left Geelong feeling we’d be back one day to explore more.
