m0hamed

I travel to Melbourne from Sydney every other week and have stayed at the Westin, Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt.

The Westin is a stunning hotel, I often hold events here because the service is impeccable. It's in a great location and the Wellness Centre with steam, pool, spa is a great way to wind down. The staff consistently remember my name, and this was before I became PLAT. The 2 Regent suites are huge and perfect for romantic trips with the partner, however the rack rate has recently increased from $800AUD to >$1,200.

In comparison to the other 2:

Park Hyatt is understated elegance, and boasts artwork valued of over $1 million AUD. The guests tend to be from the political sphere, diplomats etc. which gives the hotel a rather exclusive feel. The rooms are larger and as a Diamond member one can expect a guaranteed upgrade to a Club Deluxe which is 60sq metres vs Westin's 38sq metres. The club access (with breakfast, canapes and cocktails of an evening), free internet, great steam/sauna/pool are what sway my decision to the PH. Diamond amenity was apples and Lindt chocolates. I consider it to be better value than the Westin.

Grand Hyatt has just had a $40million AUD refurb, however this only applies to the lobby, but it is spectacular. Diamonds receive a room with club access, with the same offerings at the PH, free internet etc. It is a little cheaper than the PH, much cheaper than the Westin. The rooms are being refurbed later this year. I found noise to be an issue as the doors seem to have a 3/4 inch gap at the bottom where noise from the corridor enters the room all night. The express lunches are diving, and good value at $35 AUD. The GH's gym/pool is part of a city gym and is far to busy with corporate types for my liking. Interestingly I seem to be VIPd as a Diamond at the GH with the duty manager always greeting me and walking me to the room. Diamond amenity varies by room type: Club room gets a bottle of wine, suite gets champagne, strawberries and dipping chocolates.

Hope that helps!

magiclamp

1/3/10 to 1/9/10. Award stay. Platinum

The hotel: The hotel is in the middle of all things worth doing in MEL, a block from Flinders street station, surrounded by good restaurants, coffee shop, and tram stations.

The room: We got a room on the 2nd floor (I think it was a 8 or 9 floor hotel). The room was huge with a balcony that opened to Swanston Street. The room was well sound proofed and you really appreciated the sound proofing once you opened the balcony doors. Standard heavenly bed and stuff. The bathroom was really huge with seperate shower and bath tub, there also was a TV speaker in the bathroom, you could only hear the tv, not see it. There were 2 complimentary small water bottles in the room, which room service was not irregular in replacing.

Other: The hotel did not have a lounge. There was free internet on the 1st floor, did not try the gym so no opinion there.

camsean

Thanks for posting. This is a hotel I've long thought about staying in.

Maybe a mod could move this to the master thread?

http://http://www.flyertalk.com/foru...stin+Melbourne

fraserm

Was the room renovated.. I think the Westin Melbourne is currently undergoing a renovation, and I thought they were starting from the bottom and working their way up.

Did you notice any differences when compared to the hotel website?

Leumas

I'll be there tomorrow, will report back.

Thunderroad

Thanks to all for the trip report and the other comments. Will be there the end of this month, so would especially appreciate any word regarding renovations and noise.

magiclamp

There were no renovations going on when we went there, so they must have completed all the work. No noise, all in all, a great hotel, great location...

Leumas

P.S. From previous stays, the gym is quite nice. A 20m 2-lane pool, a jacuzzi, a steamroom (unisex) and a proper gym.

makin'miles

Are there any Plat benefits here beyond the welcome amenity and room upgrades?

Leumas

Just returned from a short stay.

Only Level 2 has been renovated at this stage. No significant differences but the check-in guy said everything was new, new furniture, new carpet, etc. One new thing is a wall console where you can plug in RCA, HDMI, network cable, etc., and it'll connect to the TV. Handy if you've a movie or something on your laptop or phone, so you can watch it on TV. The bedside alarm is also iPod compatible and the room also has a DVD player.

There about 5 different Plat Amenity options. I still chose the points.

Posted a couple of photos of a renovated corner suite http://twitpic.com/photos/skkng

m0hamed

Corner suite? I believe the Westin Melbourne only has 2 suites which are the Regent Suites, and the highest room category. Are you referring to a Westin Studio or does the refurb mean new room types? A suite typically has separate rooms.

Leumas

That's what the guy said. I often don't care about how they (hotels in general) call their rooms, most of the time the names are just euphemisms for something basic.

Looking at the room descriptions as I was just looking at making another booking.

Yes, I think I was given a 'studio'.

moa999

Two stays at Westin Melbourne in last two weeks.
One on Level 6, one on Level 2 (both on backside.. - ie even numbered room)

Level 2 was a 3-night stay. Would have complained about a backside room but given they had the room available at 9.30am wasn't complaining.

Was told Level 2 is the only renovated floor open. Will complete the rest of the hotel by end of year.

What's changed.
- Whole floor is a bit more blue - blue edging on carpets
- End of bed and luggage rack are blue
- New curtains - combo grey and blue
- New Sony Clock Radio with IPOD adapter, double alarm function
- SONY DVD player below TV, above Food Refreshment Centre
- 1080P Phillips flatscreen LCD on benchtop, the large wooden case is no longer
- Deskbed mobile phone that works throughout hotel (unsure if this is new)
- Wall console at desk (VGA, HDMI, Aud-Vid connections) that connects to TV

What doesn't work
- TV only rotates 15 deg on its stand, so if you hook your laptop up at the desk you can't see the screen - so OK for movies but not for work
- TV system is still analogue (hopefully this will change) but for now you get crappy pictures with fat people (4:3 blown up to 16:9) - was very obvious during the tennis, although I did note the lobbybar TV was set to 7HD. Also no PayperView on the TV at the moment (again they may be upgrading system)
- No TV in bathroom - come on a small flatscreen is under $1g these days.
- Unsure if the bed height has increased or not, but the Master and Lamp switches are below the height of the bed so difficult to access


--
Also had some issue with Room Service on both stays.
1. charged for beer when minibar not even opened (did express checkout. when queried reversed it).
2. minibar not cleaned - half eaten chocolate bar there when I checked in (only noticed on 3rd night when I had a beer. checkout staff made it gratis)

alanslegal

For a Platinum, it is generally a fluke if you get upraded to anything above a room on the SPG floor. Also there is no executive lounge.

So the only 'real' benefits is the Welcome Ammenity and the late Check-Out.

Given that this Westin is always at the upper end of hotel price per night, compared to similar hotels, and there are no extra benefits for a top tier SPG member, I wonder why elites still keep on going back where there are better value hotels out there.

m0hamed

Well there are no other Starwood hotels in Melb, one of the reasons I switched over to Hyatt. The Westin is a lot of money for what you get, and even the studios are simply a big room.