We had booked this hotel based largely on Tripadvisor reviews and a good price from the Crowne Plaza website.

The hotel itself is a resort style facility set in the middle of a golf course and surrounded by townhouses. The main hotel building consists of a large (and very impressive) lobby, restaurant/conference rooms, and two accomodation wings.

Checkin was a breeze... and valet parking is free.

Our room was large, modern and extremely clean. The pool was huge, and on a warm day would a great place to relax. Next to the pool is a cafe/bar. The restaurant is upstairs (same level as the lobby) and overlooks the pool area.

Breakfast was standard hotel breakfast fare... nice hotel fare, both nothing amazing. Eggs were cooked to order (fried, poached, omelette, etc). Dinner was priced similarly to other Hunter restaurants, although we were disappointed. My steak was overcooked and overseasoned.

After a fruitless search of hotels in the area that offered a suitable Kids Club (my 4 year old would not have been impressed with visits to wineries!) I booked at the Crown Plaza for my family and a friend who was visiting from the UK. We booked a two room villa and we were delighted to find it presented immaculately and extremely spacious. One room had two double beds and easily accommodated myself and my daughter and a master with ensuite which my friend was equally pleased with. Along with this came a living room and kitchenette with a dining area. Of course, this is all to be expected when paying top end prices .. however, when the top end price includes an excellent Kids Club all parents will agree this is money well spent - especially in Hunter Valley which isn't really kid orientated for activities. My 4 year old is shy and reluctant in new situations so when she was greeted at the reception by one of the Kids Club carers with big smiles and lots of encouragement she easily walked in and within two minutes was telling me that mummies couldn't stay and that I should come and pick her up later I was able to leave and continue sightseeing with my guest without fear that my daughter was not having a great time. When I picked her up she was full of excitement about the afternoon and the friends she had made. So all in all this hotel is a definite for a return visit, if only to take advantage of the other facilities as yet untried.

This latest addition to the ic hotel group's portfolio of hotels and resort did not dissapoint.

The hotel has about 150 rooms spread over two wings and 70+ villas on its compound. The balconies on the Pokolbin wings overlooks the main carpark, while that of the Lovedale wings has a view of the swimming pool. Room are large and comfortable, with earth brown deco that is very vogue with hotels at the moment. Bathroom is modern, with separate shower, large bath and luxurious bathrobe. I would have prefer a little more water pressure and volume, but considering the fact that the region is experiencing a prolong draught, the water saving shower head is a necessity.

Breakfast at the Redsalt restaurant is relatively pricey if not pre-booked. Standard fair includes coffee from expressor machine, omelette or egg benedict made to offer, and choice of newspaper --- which made breakfast while watching the sun rise over the hills of Lovedale a very civilised affair. On weekend, however, the breakfast crowd can get pretty mad between 9-10 AM, and it maybe wise to either get up earlier or go elsewhere.

We did not dine at Redsalt, but this has more to do with our dissapointment with Seasalt, a sister restaurant at Crowne Plaza Terrigal the night before. Morever, the hunter valley has several good restaurant which should not be missed. We tried Mojo on the Wilderness, a vineyard restaurant on a dirt road behind the hotel (~20 min by car) which offers excellent food and service at very reasonable prices. Ask for direction if you plan to go after dark, as the restaurant is located up a dirt road.

If you are sick of restaurants, the hotel also offers a package where you can BBQ on your hotel balcony (or anywhere else in the hotel compound) for $60 for two. This involved them setting up the BBQ and bringing a basket containing rump steak, sausages, salad, potato, vinegrette, cooking oil etc to your room at the appointed time. We decided to try this for Earth Hour. With the bottle and cheese we brought earlier that day, the glorious lavender sunset, this turned out to be a pretty novel and enjoyable experience. Especially when everyhting is magically clean and put away the next day.

The hotel is a stone throw away from the major vineyards in Pokolbin, and boutique wine makers in Lovedale. The hotel has a spa and 18 h technical golf course on site. Both are very popular and I would suggest guest to pre-book for busy weekends period. Male guest should also consider BYO golf clubs as the hired ones run out pretty quickly (by 8 am on a saturday!). The hotel also has a large heated pool (which looked inviting) and a small game room. There is also a kids club on site which should give mum and dad some quiet time.

I stayed for 2 nights, the hotel and it's grounds are really lovely.

Had a twin room, the beds were a generous size, we had a ground floor room so had a little area we could sit outside.

They have a BBQ option, where they deliver a portable BBQ to your room with all the food, it was a nice option where we could eat in and enjoy a bottle of wine without having to dress up and go out to a restaurant.

The whiskey bar is a nice area. We went to go to the other bar but it seemed closed, which was disappointing, but the whiskey bar made good drinks so it didn't matter in the end.

The only disappointing part of the stay was at checkout. We had booked a 'spa package' as advertised on their website. When I rang to book (as you could only book this package on the phone) I asked if the package included the massage or facial for TWO people, ie both people get to have one, which I was told yes it was. As I was booking for 2 nights, I just booked the room for the second night. If I had known at this stage the massage or facial included was for just 1 person, then I would have booked a spa package for both nights so I could have a facial for me and my friend.

On checkout, they had initially charged me for 2 facials. When I said I had the package for the first night, they then readjusted the price, but only took one of the facials off. The girl, Kate, also told me that the value of the facial is only up to $100 (and of course it cost more than this) so I would have to pay the difference. When I told them that on the phone I was told it included 2 facials, she got the manager.

The manager came across a bit annoyed at me, and only offered to not charge an excess and to discount the cost of the second facial by 50%. So in the end, the overall cost was slightly cheaper than paying for 2 spa packages. If I had known on booking that I would need to pay the extra money I would have been more than happy to, but because it was an unexpected cost it left a sour taste to the end of a lovely trip especially since the manager didn't seem to be very accomodating, plus he was on the phone whilst dealing with me, so not giving me his full attention. So on that I give them a big thumbs down for bad customer service.