Top 10 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Hotels

This was a weekend ”staycation” for my 9yo son and I. For those not familiar with Melbourne note that the hotel is located at the Spencer Street end of the CBD so great if catching the skybus from the airport of watching the game at Marvel Stadium, not as good for the best shopping / dining that Melbourne has to offer which is more located up the other end where the Sofitel / Next Hotel / Grand Hyatt are located. Next hotel is the pick of the three is you're looking for accommodation at that end. Here is my honest feedback. Hotel is brand new in visually stunning - ooozes class and understated elegance. It's really a beautiful hotel and the views are truly amazing. We appreciated the upgrade to the Victoria Harbour view - it was stunning. The room was beautifully appointed - perfect. Service - overall good. Air con temperature in the room wasn’t working and it kept showing the temp as 22 degrees regardless of how low we set it. Needs fixing perhaps? Room telephone - pick up the phone and there is silence, could not call reception and ended up calling from the phone outside the lift. Sent the engineer over and he said that you have to press 'talk' when you pick up the handset. He said it happens all the time that guests think the phone is broken. Staff - wonderful and perfectly fit the Ritz brand. Turndown service never came, and we had to ask for fresh towels that night - when they arrived he said that he couldn’t access the room for some reason - maybe something to look into? Service at the Lounge was very slow - waited 25 for some vanilla ice cream, ended up taking it back to the room. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the pool - it was SO cold. Probably explains why there was nobody in it. We were chatting to another guest who said exactly the same thing. You need to dial up the temperature. It's a real shame that we could not enjoy the pool as it could have been the highlight of the weekend. We were in and out in 5 minutes - so disappointing. The area around the pool is also quite cramped and really should have been made bigger but not much that can be done about that now. Also the pool area is not staffed which was a surprise for a hotel of this calibre. There is therefore no food / beverage service. As others have said... having to use two sets of elevators is really annoying to reach your room or ground floor but nothing that can be done about that now. I know some of these things are just ”teething” problems as it's still a new hotel. Hopefully they resolve in time.

Checked in, but did not unpack anything, before having to leave due to a Melbourne lockdown being announced. Lost three nights accommodation and repeated attempts to negotiate any resolution (i.e change dates, waiver of fees, or partial refund, were completely ignored. They did not even acknowledge my four emails, so i wasn't sure they'd got them. I eventually went through Booking.com who were good, and advised the Melbourne Private Apartments - Collins Wharf Waterfront, Docklands refused to assist, as they had minimal other income during lockdown periods. Stay somewhere else, these people are no good to deal with.

The old InterContinental has a lot of cultural heritage, whether it is serving the restaurant at the front desk or serving the lobby, the staff are very high-quality. The cleaning of the house was very timely and fast. The breakfast is very rich. The hotel is very convenient for traveling in the CBD. Special praise to the Ctrip butler who accompanied me all the way. He is very professional [strong] and dedicated. He is the best team in all travel services.