Michael H.
Yelp
Let's start with the good bits, being the location. It's always great to be in a hotel that's close enough to the Melbourne CBD, and not far enough out that you need to take a cut lunch and a walking stick to get anyway. Add in regular tram and train services right outside the door, and you're set for transport.
The location is also great if you're attending any events near the Melbourne Olympic Parks, as you've got the MCG, Rod Laver, AAMI all within walking distance. No need to battle the crowds for transport after a great event.
Sadly, there wasn't anything else to make this hotel feel like it had the special touch for me. The rooms are recently rennovated, but a failure to properly make the rooms and the building airtight - you end up with a whistling noise through the higer floors every once in a while.
The bathrooms leave much to be desired. Even in an upgraded deluxe room, they are quite small. Water efficency isn't great, and the toilets use too much water and need to be double-flushed. Add to that a combined bath/shower that's hard to get out of; and poor drainage which means any water leaking out is likely to make your morning paper wet if you've not brought it in.
Also, their breakfast restaurant needs some work. The service is inconsistent, with poor attention to guests, and even poorer quality hot beverage service. And sadly, the hot items were also inconsistent - being great some days, but terrible on others.
The lobby also is overdue for rennovation, with an excees of wood in extreemly dark hues, that don't make for a pleasent entrance; and with a check-in desk area that's poorly designed, and easily gets cramped and makes the lobby hard to navigate to and from the lifts when full.
Overall, there's still a lot of work to be done on this property after being purchased from the Hilton group. Let's hope they get this done, to ensure that they can deliver a quality Pullman experience on every level.
