Please reference my post #272 above for my first thoughts before arriving.

Arrived around 10:20am. My Uber dropped me off in the hotel driveway (on Russell St) and it’s an escalator up to the lobby.

Lobby was clean and wide and spacious with spaces to sit on the sides.

There is also a street exit (on Colllins St).


Driveway

Lobby art


Check in was a breeze. There is no dedicated area for status check in, but there is indeed a dedicated lane. As [MENTION=134528]danger[/MENTION] pointed out earlier, it’s really for show and not really utilized.

Before arriving, i checked the app for standard suite availability, but, alas, there was none. I was upgraded to the slightly larger (a blinding 2 sqm larger!) King room at the 32nd floor. After checking in, I was told that breakfast is still available at the Club and was asked if I wanted to proceed there.

They promptly took my bags and off I went.

The FD apparently called it in since the club staff were standing to welcome me in as I was entering. They expressly told me they will be holding off removing the breakfast foods while I’m there.

Review of the lounge:
Views are great.
Food was filling and helped with the jet lag a bit. I think the breakfast offerings are rotated every two days. I enjoyed them. I have pics below. Entree in the first morning were a pork entree and scrambled eggs. The second morning were turkey sausages and scrambled eggs. The offering repeated after that.

I toasted the almond croissant and it was beautiful.


Salmon

Almond croissant and the view


Turkey sausages and omelette

The evening cocktails were extensive, as you can see in the pics. It can really fill for dinner. I only partook of the evening cocktails once so I wouldn’t know how much rotations they had. I enjoyed the Cold Roasted Flat Iron steak.











I am happy with the fact that all foods are properly labeled.

Back to the hotel review:
Room was as it was pictured in the website, which says a lot. The room was well-maintained. Some areas are dated but have held up.
The rest of the stay was uneventful, which is good. Requested for a suit steamer on my way out and it was there when I got back. Those types of uneventfulness.



Partial river view


I couldn’t sleep due to jet lag on my first night so, around 12MN, I decided to walk around and I found that the lobby was empty! Even the driveway entrance was unmanned. Automatic doors still worked. I just found it odd. It’s not really alarming since you need a keycard to use the elevators. The high number of street walkers at that time is a review for another day, to be posted in the Melbourne thread. 😀

Location of the hotel is prime. Melbourne is a walkable city and GHM is in a great spot.

Check out was also uneventful. Uber came and the bellman was excellent!