Hi All,

I am currently staying at the Melbourne Marriott and I thought it would be good to provide a brief review of the lounges I have stayed in over the past few weeks and include a couple experiences.

Sydney Harbour Marriott
Lounge has been renovated since I was there back in December and January. Bad news is the renovation of the lounge, like their rooms, comes up lacking.

Before I get into that, let me say that the Sydney Harbour Marriott Executive Lunge food, beverage and service is by far leaps and bounds above that of the Brisbane or Melbourne Marriott. First of all it is the only lounge of those three properties that provides concierge services of finding/recommending restaurants and activities, and check-in/check-out. Coffee is good. Their food offering is varied, hot and good quality. One hot selection in the evening, a couple of cold selections, soup, cheese, dried fruit, and fruit plate. Nice dessert selections.

The bad thing is when they renovated the lounge they put in very plane Formica tan faux wood topped tables with heavy light-colored beige chairs that have no wheels. Everybody looked awkward dealing with the chairs. They put light beige blinds on the windows that blend with the light beige wall treatments, and what you end up with is a washed out beige motif that is very stark and lacks warmth in any form or fashion. Food serving area did not change at all. Coffee machine and wine bar exchanged locations; the coffee is to the left of the entrance to the food area and the wine is to the right.

For those who are unaware, the rooms that are renovated have no drawers for clothes. Also the night light switches on either side of the bed(s) are not 3-way switches so if the person on the right turns on the night light and falls asleep, then you can't turn of the night light from your side of the bed. Each light switch only works if the night light is off, and then if one of you turns it on then the other person's night light switch is useless. I talked to an associate that works there who I have know from previous visits and he said that they have had lots of complaints about the lack of drawer space. It really is laughable.

Executive lounge check-out service in my case failed miserably. I checked out and sign the CC charge which gave my total as $1421 AUD. They then handed my receipt made up of 3 sheets, a CC charge identical to the one I signed, the detailed folio showing my payment and then a third sheet indicating an unsigned foreign charge authorization of 1528.85 at an exchange rate of 1.0759. I immediately said they would have to reverse the charge since it appears that I was being charge in USD at an exorbitant exchange rate. The attendant, along with another attendant, said that the charge was in local currency (AUD) not USD. I said OK and went my way expecting a charge of around 1480.68 to show up on my FX fee free Marriott Rewards credit card. You guessed it, the exact amount of 1528.85 posted to my CC. I have contacted the manager and supposedly it is being corrected, but what a PITA.

Brisbane Marriott
Lounge is nice, warm ambiance, and overlooks the river. Chairs are very comfortable. Coffee is good. Lounge is smaller than Sydney's lounge and there is no concierge service or check-in/check-out service provided. Decent food for the most part. One hot entry in the evening, cheese, grapes, and dried fruit. Nice dessert selections. Quality of breakfast was close to that of Sydney. One morning the eggs were just plain old and tasted that way. I left them on my plate. An attendant asked if I would like some fresh eggs cooked to order form downstairs. I had already gotten a couple extra croissants which would suffice, so I declined; Brisbane gets extra points for service on this move.

Melbourne Marriott
Friends on mine stayed here back in January and the lounge was being renovated so they were given breakfast in the restaurant and $50 for evening cocktails and appetizers. They loved that and raved about the Melbourne Marriott...

OK, lounge has been renovated and is open. So having breakfast down in the Essence restaurant is now NOT included and would cost an additional $36 per person if one chooses to do so. The lounge is basically two hotel rooms that have been combined. Very small, but nicely furnished. That's it for the good news IMO. Food comes up lacking in quality and quantity. Coffee outright sucks. They use the exact same machines as Sydney and Brisbane, but obviously uses the cheapest least flavourful coffee beans that one could find.

Evening fare is one hot appetizer; last night curry udon noodles, tonight was risotto with olives, neither of which appealed to me in the least. I had some brie from the cheese board. In addition to those there were also dried fruit to choose from and rolled up ham slices. The only thing that varied each night was the hot appetizer. Desserts were boring and identical to those served yesterday evening and gone after 15 minutes. No chocolate of any type on either evening, but there were mentos in a bowl by the door which I absolutely hate (I'm surprised they weren't served with cola chasers ).

Breakfast eggs and sausages looked inedible IMO. I had a couple day old croissants instead. Croissants at Sydney were very fresh, light and fluffy, and the ones in Brisbane were kept in a warmer so quite nice too.

Lounge is way too small with 10 very close tables and 24 seats. Of course with bad coffee, and limited and sketchy food selection they don't have to worry about it being full.


Note: Wine, beer and mixed drinks are available from 5:30-8:00 at all three of these properties. I don't have additional details as I don't drink. Lounges are open 7 days a week at all three properties.

Singapore Marriott (Even though not Australia it is on the same trip so I had to add this because it is so exceptional)
I have stayed at this hotel previously and I must say this lounge always blows me away. I had breakfast down in the Marriott Cafe, so the following is only based on the evening offering. I can sum it up in one word: Dinner.

First of all Singapore Marriott lounge is awesome. Second the menu theme tonight was Deutsch. Hot canapes included ham and sauerkraut balls, chicken schnitzel, veal and pork bratwurst, Hungarian goulash; There were 4 salad choices, and if you didn't like one of those then there were three different choices of lettuce, salad garnish (croutons, onion, corn, bacon, etc) and choice of salad dressings. There was a nice cheese board with the choice of brie, cheddar, or swiss. Dessert choices included chocolate moose, sacher torte, and three choices of ice cream (espresso, chocolate chop or mango). Therer was a nice selection of 6 different types of bread and rolls. Sliced fresh fruit (8 selections - watermelon, papaya, dragon, grapes, pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe and a white fruit/melon I didn't recognize), dried fruit, nuts, tuna sandwiches, smoked salmon on toast, ham sandwiches, and probably a few things I missed. Absolutely incredible.

Alcohol served between 5:30 and 7:30 PM. Excellent coffees.