Dive Hotel - the media's take on our Coogee Beach hotel...

TRAVEL AND LEISURE (U.S.A. EDITION)

Overlooking a wide sweep of Coogee Beach- a 15 minute cab ride from downtown - the small family-run Dive Hotel, is more like a beach house than a hotel.  All 14 rooms have polished floors, stylish stainless steel
baths, and kitchenettes;Nos. 1 and 2 have drop-dead ocean views. Take a swim at spectacular cliff-hugging path to Bondi Beach.

EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDES SYDNEY TOP 10 BEACHSIDE ACCOMMODATION

'Dive. A stylish hotel featured in design magazines. Its rooms have high ceilings and designer bathrooms. Complimentary breakfast and unlimited tea and coffee are available. The 2 front rooms have spectacular views over the Ocean..'

TIME OUT GUIDES - SYDNEY

'Terry Bunton and Mercedes Mariano have transformed what was once a dingy, rundown guesthouse into an oasis of style. The best rooms in the house are the two large ones at the front, with a view of the sea.  All are ensuite, with microwave, fridge, TV. The bathrooms are chic decked out in stainless steel and tiny blue tiles. Bed linens come in crisp black and white, while blocks of bold colour brighten up the look. At the back
is a terrace with leafy bamboo and trailing bougainvillea.  Despite its 'cool' status, dive is a friendly place helped by the presence of the pets, Babe the poodle and Stella the husky.'

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SYDNEY

Far from living up to its name, this is a wonderful small hotel in a renovated former boarding house opposite the beach. The halll features Art Deco tiling and high, decorative-plaster ceilings and there's a pleasant, bamboo fringed courtyard (with discreet guest laundry) that opens out from a spacious breakfast room for prepare yourself breakfasts.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

The hotel name has us a bit worried. Dive. I'm really hoping it's not. The website is promising: a tasteful, coffee-coloured wall and a vase of crisp of white orchids. It all looks pretty groovy. And it is. Our room is truly enormous: ceilings 2.7 metres high, a nice big bed covered in crisp black and white, a comfy couch and a desk with two chairs. The walls are the colour of milky coffee, the highly polished floorboards covered with a chocolate rug. Dark blue glass mosaic tiles in the small but well-designed bathroom. All of this is good, but it's the view that really gets you. It's the kind of view that washes all your troubles away and reminds you that you are a smallish dot in a very large and beautiful universe. Dive adds another gem of Sydney's boutique hotel map, Style by the sea at a very reasonable price.' Rating 17/20 Cerentha Harris, Weekend Edition Sydney Morning Herald

THE SUNDAY TIMES TRAVEL MAGAZINE

More Central European mansion than surfside shack, Dive goes in for stuccoed ceilings and stained-glass windows rather than beach chic.  Pot plants in the breakfast room add to the sense of thoughtful homeliness. Travel's tip:  Avoid if you don't like dogs, the owner's poodle, Lucas, strolls around as if he owns the place.