For direct bookings (made through this website or by phone): entirely refundable if cancelled, modified or postponed more than 7 days prior to check in day. If cancelled, modified or postponed 7 days or less prior to arrival, it is non refundable.

Direct bookings for all four villas together: entirely refundable if cancelled, modified or postponed more than 14 days prior to arrival. If cancelled, modified or postponed 14 days, or less, prior to arrival, any dates that we are able to rebook will be refunded.

Bookings from OTAs (Booking.com, Airbnb, Wotif, etc) cancelled more than 14 days prior to check-in date are refundable. If cancelled, modified or postponed 14 days or less prior to check-in date, they are non-refundable.

For direct bookings, made on this website or through the phone with us, we will process payment about 7 days prior to arrival on the credit card used to make the booking. That is when the booking becomes non refundable.

For Australian guests, bank transfer payments are welcome and preferred, but not necessary. 

For bookings made on OTAs like Booking.com, WOTIF, etc, the payment is processed about 14 days prior to arrival as that is when the booking becomes non refundable. 

Websites like Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com etc are called Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and they charge us a commission for every booking that a guest makes through them.  This means that when people book through these OTAs we automatically lose a big chunk of our revenue. 

By booking direct, you are helping to keep more money in the local economy by supporting your local hotel.

We therefore give direct bookings more advantages in terms of flexibility of check-in/outs if possible and other perks.

Chocolate Gannets has 2 Beachfront Villas and 2 Luxury Villas.

When you book a Villa, our booking software will automatically assign you the Villa that is available for your dates and that corresponds to the type of Villa you choose (Beachfront or Luxury). If you have a specific preference, please note it on the booking notes and we will do our best to accommodate your preference. If it’s not possible, we will certainly let you know and work out the best solution with you.

Chocolate Gannets is a 5-minute drive from Apollo Bay’s shops and restaurants. 

From Chocolate Gannets you can take a leisurely 30-40min walk on the beach into town. You can also join the pedestrian trail that starts right after Wild Dog Creek Bridge, this means you will need to walk about 200m on the Great Ocean Road before joining it.

Chocolate Gannets is just across the road from the beautiful beach. You need to cross some grass and sometimes (depending on season and rainfall) also cross the Wild Dog creek to get to the beach. The creek is in constant motion and its position changes. 

Check-in time is 3PM and check-out time is 10:30AM. The valuable time between check-outs and check-ins allows our team to prepare the villas to the highest cleaning standard for the arrival of our guests.

On the day you are meant to check in, you will receive a text message with the access code to your villa.

We can send the message via text, Whatsapp or email. 

We try to accommodate as many early check-ins or late check-outs as possible. It really depends on our cleaning schedule and the state of the villas when the previous guests checkout. In peak season (school holidays, public holidays, etc) it is very hard to be able to provide personalised early/late arrivals/departures because of constant back to back bookings.

One of our Luxury Garden Villas was built specifically as wheelchair accessible: it has an access ramp, wider doors, and a full ensuite bathroom that is wheel-chair friendly with open shower and hand rails. We can also provide a shower chair. 

Please get in touch if you would like more information.

You certainly can ! And a private yoga session, as well.

There are two wonderful massage therapists that live locally in Apollo Bay and are more than happy to come to Chocolate Gannets. They can set up their massage table either inside the villa, or outside on the deck, depending on your preference. 

This service is offered independently from Chocolate Gannets and all communication is made between guest and massage therapists (we do not add a commission on their services).