Starwood Preferred Guest - Noosa and other Sheraton resorts in Australia

My wife and I are planning a two-week vacation in Australia, probably sometime during December 2004 through February 2005. Any thoughts on whether Sheraton Noosa resort is a nice place to stay? The website makes it seem like it is set apart from town, but that it has walking access both to town and to a nice beach, though the beach isn't private. Is that the case?

We'd also welcome any reviews of the other two Sheraton resorts in Australia: Mirage Port Douglas and Mirage Gold Coast.

More generally, is it the case that you can't go swimming in the ocean that time of year because of stingers (box jellyfish)? And in the December-February time frame, any recommendations on better or worse times to go to Australia? Thanks.

RE Sheraton Noosa:

We really enjoyed Sheraton Noosa when we visited early this year.

The hotel is a little tired, but that took nothing away from a great experience.

Bassically Noosa is one long street " Hastings street" Flanked by nice restaurants and shops .The Sheraton is on One side of the street and the beach on the other. ( No fast traffic or problms crossing the road) The beech is great. I dont think there are stingers that far south at any time , but someone with greater knowledge may correct me.

Noosa is an upmarket town, very clean and safe with great restaurants. It dose shut a little early and most places, as I recall are shut. by about 10.00pm.

We basically did a *wood tour of Australia and stayed in most propertys. Noosa was our best location and I will go back as soon as I can. ( Dont expect a great plat upgrade from what I hear. We never received any upgrade at all, but had booked a good room ( river view, at a good rate).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jchand:
( Dont expect a great plat upgrade from what I hear. We never received any upgrade at all, but had booked a good room ( river view, at a good rate).</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif if you suspected that rooms were available and you weren't upgraded, i hope you would have reported it to customer care, 800-328-6242. that's the only way things will get better.