Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast

I am still in the same housesit and have been there for more than two and a half years now! So, I thought I would expand this dormant blog with reviews of one night holidays. Given I am housesitting, it is difficult to get away for any period of time. The owner comes home every few weeks for a few days - which gives me a bit of a window of opportunity...

I mamanged to find a discounted deal on a night at the Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast. The over the top extravagence of this hotel is a lot of fun. It is of course more an aspirational place than the real thing - what those who are not quite in the upper echelons imagine the luxurious life to be. But that was absolutely fine by me and I enjoyed every moment of it

I invited a few friends to partake of the high tea that they offered while I was there. The wait service for the high tea, we agreed, needed a bit of polishing . But the food was really nice and so was the setting. My room was fabulous with a wooden parquet floor, a marble bathroom with separate rooms for the loo, the shower and the huge spa bath - which I have to say was fantastic. The gold trimmed tap filled the spa up in no time. There was a small balcony overlooking the huge 'lagoon' pool and a tiled fountain wall. You could have the sliding glass doors open wide and the room didn't smell of disinfectant - unlike many hotel rooms.

The bed was incredibly comfortable as was the pillow (70% duck feathers, 30% down). You can actually buy the pillows if you want - and people do, it seems. I'm thinking about it :-)

There were medusa head logos on everything you could lay your hands on - including a kind of embossed affair on the bottom of the glasses, on the bedheads, furniture handles, everything. The bar fridge had everything right down to the bottle of Veuve Cliquot and there were plenty of chocolate and nut snacks. Navy blue versace dressing gowns hung in the cupboard which had a light which automatically turned on when you opened it.

A good wide screen tele with lots of channels and every internet connection you can think of ( I avoided the net). The turn down service included two very kitch red lipped shaped chocolates - but I really enjoyed them :-)

I saw some spectacular fashion amongst the three weddings that were being held - all women of course. I didn't see any noteworthy style amongst the men unfortunately. There were also some pretty dodgy looking lack of fashion statements around as well... There were a lot of families staying - the central pool and Seaworld just down the road are attractions here. It is definitely not a quiet and secluded experience, but that was part of the fun.

The buffet breakfast which started at 6.30 am was superb and had everything you could think of. The 3 restaurants are pretty expensive, but there are also some restaurants in the boutique shopping centre next door - which are not much cheaper really it has to be said - but fabulous waterside settings. Check out time was a civilised 11am.

The rooms were almost 50% off on the deal I found - which is now sold out. I found it on an excellent travel deals site travelzoon if like me you are in the market for this sort of thing.