Good location and room acceptable. Darby street is a great part of Newcastle and beach walk well doable.
However, as well as requiring up front payment, the owner requires both credit card information and enabling security information (CVV and Expiry Date). This is absolutely not on, especially given the shoddy security I witnessed (1) Whilst I signed in, the owner left a pile of other patrons card data fully in my view. I could easily have memorized four or five full sets and gone on a several thousand dollar shopping spree at someone else's expense given this "lapse". (2) The pile of credit card data was treated sloppily, clipped together by the flimsiest of paper clips. The owner tried to reassure me that security was first class and that everything was "always kept in a safe" even as I could still glimpse other patrons' data! So his assurances were highly dubious to say the least.
So I simply wrote down false credit card data after my prepayment and I would advise people either to do this, to pay cash and deny having a credit card or simply find another place to stay where the owner has more respect for his customers than to jeopardize people's privacy and show their personal financial data to all and sundry. I appreciate that owner had had bad experiences in the past, but the way to deal with them is to go through normal channels, i.e. investigation and pursuit by police, rather than treating customers with such complete contempt.