PHILIPPA B.
Yelp
The weekend before we headed to Melbourne, the Royce featured in Good Weekend's great getaways review - a promising sign. Its review was not entirely complimentary, but prepped us well on what to enjoy and what to avoid.
Top of the list is location. A far cry from a stock-standard hotel, it's a boutique venue convenient for St Kilda Road, Toorak Road and Chapel Street, the Botanic Gardens and the city. Its capacious foyer is stylish and calm. Via a somewhat inconveniently located lift lobby, we found our fifth floor room enormous and well laid out. I gather this was luck - other people staying there describe their rooms as quite small. Furniture included a very comfortable king-size bed and a lazy couch perfect for putting your feet up.
The luxurious bathroom was unfortunately poorly lit, and I object to toilets with doors you can see through - much as I love my husband I do not need to see him on the loo and do not wish the reverse for him, so we agreed an etiquette that avoided it.
With one lift out of order, we tried the exit stairs only to find ourselves in the back of the kitchen - not sure who was more surprised, us or the chefs. Remember to get out at the first floor and walk down.