The nicest hotel in Perth at the moment is the Crown Metropole. This is the former Burswood/ Intercontinental. Having had a poor experience at the Intercontinental previously, it was always going to take a lot to win me over at Metropole. The hotel has been totally refurbished and the rooms are particularly nice. Jamie Packer rightly saw the potential in Perth with his investment in this site to create the Crown Metropole.

The Metropole is still part of a big casino complex, with all that goes with that, crowds, lots of people, lots of restaurants to choose from, but not particularly fine service. The hotel is seeking to attract Asian gamblers, and so the hotel has some good Asian restaurants, and the room service menu has some nice Asian dishes. The pool is a large area that they have sought to update. What I have always liked about this hotel is that it is set on the Swan River, and there are bike and jogging tracks that stretch out from the hotel along the river. You can rent bikes from the hotel.

I have always been amazed with Perth that one of the Asian brands have not opened there. The Mining Boom has been running for years, and it is almost crying out for a Shangri-la. Room rates are high and the city is regularly booked out. By contrast many of the high end shops are present in Perth, and even when I once stayed at the Perth Hyatt in 2008 I recall a Christian Dior conference also in residence. Unlikely but true. However high end shopping has not necessarily meant high end hotels, atleast until the last couple of years.

The Hyatt was always as just-so affair, now it is even more dated. This is not a luxury hotel, but rather a business hotel. I was a pretty regular guest at the Hyatt for a number of years, and tolerated it, but stayed there last November and hated it. The hotel is old (probably opened in mid-1980s) and I can only guess that Hyatt is coming to the end of their lease and the hotel is being let go.

I have not stayed at the Richardson so can not comment on that.

If staying at the Pan Pacific (former Sheraton) you need to stay in the Executive rooms, which are comparatively recently built. They don't set the world on fire, but are what you would call business luxury, are big, and a comparative step up from the rest of the hotel which is also a 1980s creation.