Novotel Melbourne Central Hotel 4.5 stars

Everything was wonderful from the welcome, breakfast, Dinner, Bar, cleaning! If I come to Melbourne again, I’ll pick the same hotel for sure!

Perfect location and we slept so well. Our bed was so comfy and pillows too which was important to us. Staff were super friendly and the bar was a great relaxing place to go to. Would definitely stay there again.

My overall experience was good, but wasn't anything exceptional as I was expecting from a Novotel. Upon check-in, I was given an accessible room. While the spacious room was great, I honestly wasn't happy about this as I'm a person who doesn't require these accessible facilities and it was just awkward. Wasn't a very good first impression of the hotel.. I immediately rang reception and asked for a change of room which they quickly and happily accommodated too. After checking in, I wanted to get a quick bite to eat since it was late so I went down to Goldie Canteen since I saw it was still opened. However, when I went up to the counter I was turned away by staff because they just closed at 3pm sharp. I had seen their menu prior to coming down that they were serving part of their menu for "all day" so I don't understand why they would advertise this. I don't understand how a restaurant in a hotel can also turn away their guest. Again, not a good impression right after check-in and trying to settle in. It was also disappointing that rooms weren't cleaned properly and in a timely manner. On two days, I came back to the room once at 3pm and another day after 3pm and the room wasn't made nor cleaned. Had to ring housekeeping to ask when they were coming. When they did come to clean, all they did was make the bed, clean the bathroom and replaced the towels. Bed side tables, coffee/tea area weren't wiped down, carpets also not vacuumed once. I'm surprised and disappointed the bed sheets weren't even replaced once during my stay of 4 days.. I understand the hotel is trying to be sustainable but I would expect at least every 3 days for the sheets to be replaced but it wasn't. Bathrobes or slippers weren't even provided, I had to ring to request which is not a big problem but usually these things are provided in the room already. In terms of the room layout, it was small and cosy and also nice and modern. Good natural lighting as well. The rainshower was quite nice. The water temperature was a little weird sometimes where it would be hot then suddenly change to cold water despite being set as hot. My stay included complimentary buffet breakfast which was wonderful. The food tasted good and I did enjoy what I had. I really loved the variety of fruit juices, lots of fresh fruit and the pastries were yummy! However, I found the selection to be very limited and really not much to choose from which was a little disappointing. I think it would be great to consider adding more options, for example, maybe including more baked goods like muffins, pancakes, waffles etc. and even a few more variety of hot foods than just the standard mushrooms, grilled tomato, hashbrowns, bacon and sausages. It gets a little boring having to eat the same thing every day and if I had to actually pay for this full breakfast spread that I had, I'd say it's not worth it. Upon checking out, the reception desk couldn't refund my deposit back into the card I gave at check-in because the lady said they had a different card number on the system. I found this really odd and wondered how they could record a different card number. Lady ended up refunding back my deposit in cash which was fine but I found the whole thing to be a bit careless. Never had this experience with other hotels. I don't know if I would stay here again in my next visit, but would only consider staying again if the service and quality are improved. The hotel has so much potential especially situated in a convenient and prime location. However, there's a lot of things currently lacking and could be done so much better. I think stronger attention to detail is needed and a stronger focus on guest experience should be looked at. I do hope my feedback and suggestions will be considered because I would really love to revisit this hotel and see it grow.

Excellent from the beginning to the end of my stay

Excellent service, comfortable room and good location