I recently had an excellent stay in Grand Hyatt Melbourne.  The cash and points option is excellent value for the money at this hotel (133 AUD + 7.5k pts) considering that the cash rate months in advance for my dates was close to 400 AUD per night giving me more than 3% cpp, and the last minute rate was higher than 600 AUD per night.  Interestingly, Park Hyatt had a bit lower cash rates than GH which does not seem an aberration quickly looking at random dates later in 2018 if someone wants to book a few months in advance.  However, PH points redemptions are higher than GH obviously.  So it might be that GH is best for points redemptions and PH is better for cash stays.

Room

I used a Globalist Suite Upgrade Award for this reservation.  The room was very nice as you can see from the pictures.  There is a door to fully separate the living room from the bedroom.  The living room has access to a small bathroom.  There is no counter space at all in this bathroom but I always value having a second toilet in a suite so I cannot complain.  The main bathroom is very nice although water pressure was a bit lacking.  There is also a fairly large closet opposite the main bathroom.  Our room was at the end of a corridor and we were not disturbed by any noise at any time during our stay and had great sleep. 

Location

We took the Sky Bus from the airport to Southern Cross station.  Once you get there, it was my understanding that we can transfer to another bus which brings guests to various hotels.  Unfortunately, on that day several streets were closed to traffic because of an event in the city so we ended up talking the tram which was just fine, but you need to know where you are going.  On the way back to the airport, we were told by the hotel staff that GH is the first stop for the shuttle bus and then they stop at other hotels which makes the journey quite long.  If you do not have too much luggage, you are better off using the tram to go back to Southern Cross station and take the Sky Bus from there. 

As a first time visitor to Melbourne, I am not an expert about the various locations in the city by any stretch of the imagination, but it would seem like the GH is perfectly located right in the middle of everything. 

Dining

Globalist members can have breakfast in the Club Lounge; you need to pay 20 AUD extra per person for breakfast in the main restaurant.  I found breakfast in the lounge a bit so-so.  Evening canapes were far superior (6pm-8pm).  The hot food selection in the evening is limited but very good quality which is fine by me. Examples of offerings were oysters, salmon, chicken skewers, shrimps, and specialty salads (quinoa, greek, pumpkin, etc.).  The dessert station is also quite attractive for those who have a sweet tooth.  There was a choice of 3 red wines and 3 white wines, in addition to sparkling wine.  The quality of the drinks was good as well. 

One minor downside of the lounge is that there is no afternoon tea.  However they sometimes left remaining pastries from the breakfast in early afternoon, and sometimes brought an evening dessert or two earlier than 6pm.  They also have small snacks in the afternoon such as crackers and cookies. 

The views from the lounge is quite nice.  I was surprised that the lounge had a good number of people even during afternoons where normally business hotel lounges are empty (which would make afternoon tea even more useful for guests).  Several people had meetings or working alone in the lounge.  In the evening we always had a table, but the lounge was close to full and some evenings were louder than others.  Interestingly, there is a media room within the lounge for people who want to watch TV and have a more quiet corner.  I did not see it being used at any time during my stay.

Gym

The gym is one of the largest hotel gyms I have seen.  The selection of equipment cannot be beat.  For such a large gym, I was surprised by how busy it was.  There are lots of non-hotel guests going to this gym and the GH seems successful in selling gym memberships to local residents.  While hotel gyms are normally only crowded early morning and early evening, this one was quite packed around lunch time and early afternoon.  I personally prefer a smaller gym with less equipment but quiet. 

Service

One of the few negatives I have about this hotel is that housekeeping forgot one or more items almost every day, either large towels, face towels, refill the soap, removed the bathrobe without replacing, etc.  Nothing major but when it happens maybe 5 days out of a 7-night stay, it indicates that it’s not a random occurrence.  The rest of the service for us was from lounge staff.  There were helpful at all times with a few miscellaneous requests we had during our stay. 

Overall

Overall the GH is a solid property and I would return again.