Anyone here from Brisbane

[CaptOblivious]

I know that at least Alpineaustralia is from Sydney, which is not at all close to Brisbane, but is there anyone on the board from the Brisbane area? My wife and I (and our 1-year old baby) will be in Brisbane next summer for a conference, and we're trying to figure out accommodations for a month. Just looking for advice (where to stay, where to avoid), and perhaps helpful pointers to websites of reputable listings or the like.

 

It's a long shot, I know, but hey… ;D

[alpineaustralia]

I go to Brisbane occassionally on work conferences and so we stay at 5 star hotels when we are there.

Is that the case here ie. is work paying for it?

 

If so, I would recommend the Hilton for being central in the heart of Brisbane CBD or a little nicer, the Sofitel.

 

There is a hotel attached to the large conference centre in Brisbane called the Rydges South Bank. It is described (and priced) as a 4 or 5 star but frankly I would rate it as only 3 star (slightly better than a Novotel). having said that, it is highly convenient if your conference is in the conference centre. 

 

If they are too pricely, let me know yuor budget and I can get an idea from work colleagues etc .

[CaptOblivious]

Alpine: Thanks for the reply!

 

Here's the context: The conference is at University of Queensland St Lucia. While the conference is less than a week, we plan to stay and entire month and take the area in—you can't learn anything about a place in less than two weeks, we think. So, we're looking for something self-contained—kitchen, bath, etc.—for our stay. Moreover, because most of our stay won't be for the conference, we're paying out of our own pocket (I might get a little something from my university for the one week of the conference, though). Thus: cheap is good! (We have a max $3000 budget for accommodations, and we'd prefer to spend much less!)

 

I've heard from someone at UQ that Brisbane is going through a rental housing shortage, and that something along these lines would be hard to acquire and expensive. Indeed, tentative initial inquires to Google suggest that staying in Brisbane may be more expensive than our stay in Tokyo last year!

[kashirigi]

I've found that tripadvisor.com has excellent and honest reviews of hotels/hostels/etc written by people who aren't paid shills. I've written a few reviews there myself, and my wife and I always check there before booking anything.

 

I suspect they won't have a lot of apartments, but for that I've often used holiday-rentals.co.uk. A quick look shows that Brisbane has a lot of places with more than 2 bedrooms, so you should convince some friends to accompany you.

[CaptOblivious]

Ooh, that's good stuff, kashirigi. A penthouse in downtown Brisbane that's kid friendly, self-contained and just under budget! Not a bad find at all.