Bayview On The Park

Extremely basic, clean, but with that slightly musty smell common to old hotels. Fixtures and fittings — taps, lights and furniture — a bit tatty. No plug for the bath, and poor lighting in the bathroom (no makeup/​shaving mirror, either). Staff pleasant, and doing the best they can under the circumstances (working in an old hotel which is swarming with tennis enthusiasts in town for the Australian Open). The lifts are in urgent need of an overhaul: slow and noisy.
Restaurant and room service food were both OK, though unremarkable. However: the coffee — both at the breakfast buffet and room service — is atrocious. Seriously — bitter and nasty. I could not drink the room service coffee at all, it was so foul. There is no excuse for bad coffee in Melbourne.

Firstly I can not get over how dim my room was! Seriously I was worried they were hiding something but come morning the room was quite nice (enough) and the carpet plush under foot.
The elevator is very slow, use the stairs, they were very clean and a million times faster. The pillows were the flattest things I have ever seen and the mini bar freezer only half froze anything.
The staff were every friendly and lovely and did help when asked about local places to eat and how to get around Melbourne all in all not too bad in the long run, not somewhere I’d like to stay and hang out but to sleep and go out places during the day it was fine.

Needed a hotel in Melbourne for 2 nights. A lot of time being out-​and-​about, so wasn’t too worried about luxury, just needed a bed for the night, and that’s how I’d sum up this property. Staff that we dealt with were very friendly and lovely — particularly Angela at the front desk. Room we initially checked into had air con that didn’t work. A call to reception, and the Concierge was sent up to investigate. (No engineering staff on duty obviously). After fiddling around with the remote control, he ascertained it definitely wasn’t working at all and said he would get back to us shortly. Five minutes later a phone call from the front desk offering us a room change. Good work. Concierge came back up and offered to take the bags, which was a nice gesture, however, we were fine on our own. It’s little things that can impress most in terms of service, and the concierge noticed that I had the cricket on the TV when he came to the original room, and had obviously been up to the new room and turned the TV on and tuned it to the cricket for my arrival — very nice! Air con had been turned on too, and was now fine. Room was fine — quite clean. Bed and pillows were comfortable, and linen ok. Towels in the bathroom were a bit scratchy, however, water pressure in the shower was great and hot water didn’t run out, although it did take some time to come through. A very good selection of channels on the TV. We were going to dine in with room service one night, however, as with many hotels, the prices in the menu were really over the top. Don’t hotels realise they are probably burning business in their incidentals by charging so much for food? To me, it would be better to make a smaller profit and at least make something. This really annoys me in many hotels. You’d expect it in a 5 star, but not in a 3 star like this! (Just on that point, the hotel brochure in the room claimed it was a «4 star property», but maybe in 1985! Not now — definitely 3!) The pool looked nice and clean, and many people swimming in it, although we didn’t use it. Finally, the car park was filthy with rubbish and trash EVERYWHERE! Looked very unattractive. Anyway, if visiting Melbourne by car, would stay here again. Most hotels in the CBD have extortionist rates for parking, and it’s free here, so that’s a bonus for those with cars. Tram stop to the city in St Kilda Road is only 5 minutes walk from the hotel. (If travelling from the city, get off at stop 26). Fine enough for our needs, although definitely in need of a spruce up!

This is why you never trust self rated hotels on wot if. The shiny marbled lobby is deceiving as you step Into a very old and slow elevator. The hallways are clean and nicely painted however the room isn’t much to get excited about. Our room smelt a little stale, almost like it used to be a smokers room, the tv is absolutely TINY, and the alarm clock looks like it is at least 20 years old. The pillows were these pathetic little flat lumps which you needed 3 to make up a single normal pillow.
I honestly thought, and we have stayed in lots of hotels in Melbourne, that staying just out of the CBD would mean a little more for our $ 125/​night. The friendly staff at the concierge desk and check in desk were really helpful and the facilities looked well looked after. It’s just the whole hotel is just old, and not in a cool vintage way, but in desperate for a makeover way. Overall the rooms were very disappointing and really not worth what we paid.