VR's adding cabins to Sea World Resort has got me wondering about the direction of the place.

I've got nothing against cabins, but isn't that what you'd normally expect to find in a caravan park? Sea World Resort has always been more of a hotel/resort, but are we watching it turn into a holiday park.

Personally, I'd much rather see some money spent upgrading the existing resort, freshening things up and making it somewhere people actually get excited about staying.

What's next? A camp kitchen, communal BBQs and a sign asking everyone to put their name on their food in the fridge?

What do you reckon? Is this a good addition or is Sea World Resort all take away from the resort?

The hotel room designs for Nara are from the 80s, and much of the cosmetic upgrades since that time have very much been the definition of 'lipstick on a pig'. The Executive suites are the only area of the hotel currently worthy of boasting about, and even they are probably overdue for a refurbishment.

I'm confused about their target market here given the floorplan represents a double \ queen configuration. Either you're marketing this to families who need space, in which case you should have some bunks in the back, or you're setting this up to be a premium, private couples retreat - in which case there should only be one king size bed, with the extra space given over to a private dining table perfect for romantic room service dinners watching the sunset.

Looking at their current room pricing (midweek, outside of school holidays, non member rate for two adults) shows the following pricing for a room: (recording here for posterity so if these cabins get built we can see if it impacts the scale for the current water view rooms)

Basic resort 'hotel room' fitouts

• Resort Double - $329 - This fit out is the same decor and carpet that was present in 2013. 33sqm Occ4

• Premium Double - $369 - No discernible difference other than decor - this room has a more recent but plain refurbishment 33sqm occ4

• Premium Queen - $389 - Room is 4 square metres larger and has the same plain refurbishment with two queen beds - 37sqm (the display image is identical to the premium double) occ5 with rollaway

• Coastal Double - $389 - Back to the same Resort double with a muted sea themed refurbishment. This one specifies 'garden view' 33sqm occ4

• Deluxe Double - $389 - Same Resort double with a fun and colourful sea themed refurbishment. Does not specify a view 33sqm occ4

• Waterview Double - $409 - This is a premium double with a water view 33sqm occ4

• Waterview King - $409 - Finally a room with a king bed. Same premium double styled plain refurbishment, still 33sqm but with more open space (no additional furniture added) occ3 (presume with a rollaway)

• Coastal Queen - $409 - Muted sea themed room, with a garden view and 2 queens. 39sqm occ 5 with rollaway

• Deluxe Queen - $409 - Fun and colourful sea themed refurbishment, specifically mentions brand new refurb with sealy branded mattresses, 37sqm occ5

• Waterview Queen - $429 - This is a Premium Queen with a water view. 37sqm and occ5

Suites

• Premium Broadwater Suite - $479 - This room has the 'plain refurbishment' of the premium queen. It's a 1 bedroom suite with separate lounge and broadwater balcony, has a kitchenette and microwave. 55sqm and occ2

• Premium Spa Suite - $479 - This upgrades the Broadwater suite to a King bed, and adds a spa bath, and his & her sinks. Kitchenette remains, but you lose the water view. 86sqm and occ2

• Broadwater executive view room - $554, this seems to have the same fitout it had in 2013. No kitchenette, it has a king bed, spa bath, no kitchenette, sits atop the private boardroom function area and has uninterrupted views over the broadwater. 48sqm and occ2

• Broadwater executive spa room - $644, again, appears to have the same fitout as 2013, this has a king, a spa bath and a walk-in shower, multiple sitting areas within the bed room space, and a separate walk-in closet and dressing room. 55sqm and occ2

Family \ Connecting rooms

• Family Premium Queen - $959 - two adjoining premium queen rooms. 70sqm and occ9

• Family Coastal Queen - $999 - two adjoining coastal queens. 70sqm and occ9

• Family Deluxe Queen - $999 - two adjoining Deluxe Queens. 70sqm and occ 9

• Family Water View - $1039 - Waterview double adjoining a Waterview Queen. 72sqm, occ9

• Family Premium Broadwater Suite - $1089 - Adjoints the Broadwater suite with a Water View. 88sqm occ7

• Family Premium Spa Suite - $1089 - Adjoins Premium Spa Suite with Premium Double. 127sqm occ7

*All rooms except the oldest resort double have replaced the carpeted main walkway areas with hardfloor vinyl plank or similar.

If you didn't bother to read all of those, basically you've got 5 different refurbs across the resort, with two doubles, two queens, or a king as your bedding options unless you go with a suite (of which they are limited in number). Kings are only available in waterview rooms, and cost $20 less than a double queen room with the same view because the room is smaller. Changing from a queen to a double in any category will save you $20, losing the water view but keeping the bed the same will save you $20, doing both will save you $40, and if you're ok with the oldest fitout, smallest beds and no view, you can save an extra $40 again.

That's 10 different room categories \ configurations with $100 between them all. Suites start at $50 above that.

The 1 storey cabins all face the broadwater, and so add to the stocks similar to the Executive Suites with private space and undisturbed views. Most of the two storey cabins (which I assume are designed to suit families) are overlooking either SkyFortress (replacing the resort's hedge maze underneath the old monorail track) or the massive heatsink that is the Muriel Henchman Park carparking area (replacing the children's playground space on the north side of the resort)

TL:DR - This doesn't feel very well thought out. The resort has every possible combination of room offering, and occupancy isn't an issue for most of the year outside of peak holiday periods. They're adding capacity because on paper the new rooms provide additional inventory when they eventually try to sell, but the resort doesn't need more rooms - it needs to upgrade it's existing facilities as some areas are in desperate need of a renovation.