:D!

Next Hotel Melbourne (Curio) became the city's third Hilton on 13 Dec 2023.

I have not stayed at the other two, but they sound disappointing from their FT threads. On the 13th I was checking prices when I noticed this hotel was now bookable on the app. So I cancelled my DT and Hilton reservations, and redeemed 45000 points for the standard Queen here.

Checking various dates Queen Accessible is often a few dollars cheaper than a regular Queen for some reason (there is a poor Google review from someone who unexpectedly got the accessible room). The day before arrival, I was upgraded to King with City View. I did OLCI and accepted the corner room assigned by the app.

From the airport we took the Skybus followed by free tram number 86 (or 96) to Stop 7 Russell St. An arcade (Southern Cross Lane) leads directly to the entrance, but it is inconvenient to cross Bourke St there so we took a detour.



The building has a narrow frontage. The ground floor hosts a mini cafe/bakery which was closed for the holiday period, and a tiny concierge desk leading to the lift lobby. During the day up to 4 staff members are stationed there to assist guests, including with luggage storage. We were directed to reception on the second floor.
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We were welcomed as Diamond and granted lounge access and restaurant breakfast. Guests are asked to choose the colours of their key cards.



The hotel is 24 stories high and rooms with a View are on floor 15+. The room was clean, modern and spacious with “ambient” or “accent” lighting options. Wifi is accessed through a single-click captive portal. Air con control is responsive. The minibar is not automatic. There was ample desk space and plenty of plugs. There was a welcome note and a gift of sugared cashew nuts.

There were 6 cushions on the bed, of which the two huge ones were intended as pillows as they had replaceable covers. Unfortunately they were too large and thick, thus impossible to use, so my wife had to repurpose a towel. (The small ones are also hard and not something you want to put your face on when sleeping.)









An umbrella is provided in the room. The bathroom is fitted and plumbed to a high standard. There were bathrobes but no slippers.

Toiletries are by "Hunter Lab". and the bottles are not fixed in place. A minor gripe was that the 3 bottles in the shower did not fit properly on the shelf.

There may have been "theft" problems in the past (see next post).

:D!

It seems the toiletries are quite expensive and the price of the hair dryer is unknown.

Lounge evening service is available 5-7pm but sadly, Jetstar had cancelled our flight and put us on a later one, so I am unable to report. The lounge is on the 2nd floor past reception, and open 24/7. Carbonated drinks, tea and coffee and minimal snacks are available. Alcohol is on display in a locked fridge.

Lounge buffet breakfast is available on weekends, but those with lounge access get restaurant breakfast on weekdays. Restaurant breakfast is a-la-carte, so no stupid hot food upcharge for gold/diamond. Also a $20 F&B credit is available for declining housekeeping, which can be requested on a website by scanning a QR code in the room before 8am (rather than 2am as is common in other hotels where you manually hang a card on your door).









The restaurant and bar are on the 3rd floor. For breakfast, we could choose one starter, one main, three sides and unlimited drinks (as gold/diamond, part of the rate, or if you paid for lounge on weekdays). I noticed the breakfast list had 5 Diamonds and more Golds.

The food quality was excellent. The brown-black thing on the left of the plate is a hash brown, it looks burnt but wasn't actually - and it was much better than the mcdonald's style ones you get in most Hiltons. The croissant doesn't look like much in the photo, but it was something special.

I also checked out the lounge breakfast (weekends only) and it was busier than the restaurant (too crowded to photograph). There were 4 hot dishes and extensive continental items - it would be perfectly acceptable as the Hilton restaurant breakfast on its own, if this was not in Australia.














The 1st floor contains the gym.

There was no indication the hotel had only joined Hilton 3 weeks ago; all matters relating to Hilton went seamlessly. The staff were exceptional and it felt like they had been team members for a long time - I suppose they would have started training a while before joining. Interestingly, many staff had North American accents.

I hope this hotel continues to maintain high standards and I would certainly stay again if the price is acceptable.

turtlemichael

I stayed there 2 nights just after the conversion to Hilton. I agree with your comments and would rate it the best Hilton family property in Australia. Let's hope they maintain their standards.