Archives for July 2003

While I’m writing reviews, I should review some of the other hotels I’ve stayed in recently too…

The Sheraton Towers in Melbourne would still have to be one of my favourites, despite some serious failures such as lack of good connectivity.

Starting with the entrance with the lovely ornate stairs and water feature flowing down from the lobby level – followed by the friendly sit down at the desk with your personal reception manager to complete check in – all sets the scene for an enjoyable stay.

They furnish the hotel and the rooms with classic old style furniture that look great and gives the hotel a very classy feel.

Can’t beat the location – close to IBM (very very close), good restaurants in the area, easy walk to the casino complex or into the city.

If they would just do something about the connectivity – like the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney with wireless broadband – that would be fantastic – then I would be more than happy to stay there all the time. As it is now, I think I’ll be staying at the Grand Hyatt more often, or if I need to be closer to IBM, at the Quay West apartments, which I believe also have Intertouch broadband.

I’ll get straight to the ratings.

Room: 8/10 – functional, clean, classy, although can feel a little cluttered, generally very nice and comfortable. Room a reasonable size with a desk and lounge chair with ottoman (quite comfortable). Bathroom a decent size. Great view of the city over the Yarra and Flinders St station – unless you get the cheap room with a view of the IBM building at close range.

Bed: 8/10 – I generally sleep pretty well at the Sheraton, the beds are comfortable, but I sometimes have trouble with the pillows. At least they give you a good selection.

TV: 8/10 – decent TV, not easily viewed from the desk, but usually okay from the lounge or the bed. Good cable selection, including Discovery Channel (*yay*)

Connectivity: 4/10 – two phones, one on desk and one by bed, the desk phone has a data port. Dialup speed limited to around 28.8kbps. No broadband.

Breakfast: 8/10 – Used to be a great breakfast, but it’s lost some of it’s appeal of late. Still very nice, but just not that special compared to some I’ve had.

Room Service: 7/10 – reasonable selection, service usually okay, preparation good. Not terribly special, but good enough. Fortunately there is a good food court and loads of restaurants near by.

Location: 8/10 – plenty of restaurants around – not a lot of shopping immediately close by, but it’s really not that far to walk across the river to the city or down to the casino. Lovely area to be at night in the spring and summer when river walk comes alive. No 711s close by which is a bit of a pain.

Total: 51/70 = 73%

I’m in Brisbane this week teaching a class for work.

Staying at the Hilton this time for something a little different (usually would stay at the Sheraton – sounds familiar hey ?)

I was pretty disappointed with the Hilton – it’s a tired old building, with tired old rooms, and generally just a tired old Hotel.

I experienced the same problem with the Hilton in Adelaide, and I’ve been told the Hilton in Melbourne is about the same too. I think that’s a problem with being one of the earlier recognised brands in Australia – their hey-day and new hotels are all 20 – 30 years old, and in desperate need of refurbishment.

They recently refurbed the Adelaide Hilton for it’s 25 year anniversary, and that helped. I hope they get around to doing the Brisbane Hilton soon too – I think it really needs it.

I know I’ve been spoilt with hotels like the Sheratons and Hyatts and such – but there are so many good and modern hotels out there now, I’m not sure how much longer these guys can compete based on past reputation alone.

Okay, time for a rating:

Room: 6/10 – functional, generally clean, but very tired looking and in need of refurbishment. Room a decent size with a desk and two chairs plus a 2 seat sofa (uncomfortable). Bathroom small and pokey. Views of nothing.

Bed: 6/10 – bed is a bit too soft, and pillows not quite right (but then, I am really fussy with pillows since I have neck trouble).

TV: 6/10 – old TV, only cable channel is CNN – *yawn*

Connectivity: 4/10 – two phones, one on desk and one by bed, both with data ports, however there is no accessible powerpoint by the bed, and can’t seen the TV from the desk. Dialup speed limited to 28.8kbps (boo – hiss). No broadband (*sob*). I really wonder how many people use that internet on your TV thing – I tried it once on a trip to Perth and it was shocking – unusable.

Breakfast: 9/10 – can’t really fault the breakfast – very nice with a great selection. The only real critisicm was that they labelled one of their cereal containers Weetbix but they were obviously Vita-Brits – there’s a huge difference and it does matter to a purist like me :D

Room Service: not rated

Location: 9/10 – right on Queen Street Mall – so plenty of shopping, restaurants, 711s and entertainment around – can’t really fault it there. Pity it’s so hard to get to with all the one way streets around – but then almost all the hotels in the CBD have this problem.

Total: 40/60 = 67%

Stayed in the Grand Hyatt this trip to Melbourne, just for something different. Nice hotel – although a distinct lack of views from my room (I didn’t even bother taking photos). The Sheraton Towers is much nicer in that regard – especially with city views looking over the Yarra to the Flinder St station. I think the views on the other side of the Hyatt would have been nicer.

Nice, minimalist rooms, quite comfortable – good pillows (very important !). Actually, given that I have been suffering from a slight head cold all week and feeling generally fairly miserable, I did actually sleep really well and suffered almost no headaches/neckaches from the pillows as usually happens when sleeping in a strange bed with pillows that don’t really work. The more I think about it, the more I like the Grand Hyatt.

Breakfast (always important) was nice. Can always judge a hotel by the quality of their orange juice. Fresh squeezed wins out every time, followed closely by 100% juice that doesn’t taste more like lemons than oranges. Hotels that serve preserved orange juice which tastes like domestos are just evil. The Hyatt put on a good spread with a really nice orange juice – and (unlike the Sheraton who makes a random selection of cereal daily) they had Weet-bix out every day – which is ultra important. The scrambled eggs and bacon on toasted Helga’s bread, which I had on the first morning, was good too.

Overall, I think I would have to put it up there as good or even slightly better than the benchmark Sheraton Towers breakfast – except the Sheraton also gets bonus points for the great view from the restaurant.

Laptop friendly too – decent desk (not brilliant though), actually got a 50kbps connection on dialup which is unusually high in a hotel – I can only ever get up to 28.8kbps at the Sheraton Towers. What’s more the Hyatt also offers iTouch broadband internet access in the rooms – which the Sheraton lacks ! Given how much I miss my ADSL when I travel, this was a major bonus.

Location is good – one block east of Swanston Street and so quite close to the restaurant district around Chinatown – Cinemas and shops a short stroll away too. The only thing the Sheraton really beats the Hyatt on here is it’s proximity (spitting distance !!) to the IBM building. Of course there are some pretty swank restaurants around the Sheraton, and you are a pleasant walk away from the Crown complex as well, so they are both pretty even on this count.

I must say, it was a rather pleasant stay overall. I think I will have to stay there again – I’ve got 15 stays in the Sheraton since I joined their Starwood loyalty program, so I think it might be time to stay somewhere else a bit more too.

Time for a rating:

Room: 7/10 – functional, clean, minimalist, generally nice. Room a decent size with a desk and lounge chair with ottoman (quite comfortable). Bathroom a decent size. Views of nothing on my side, but I think the views on the other side would be quite nice.

Bed: 9/10 – considering I have difficulty with beds, and especially pillows… and I was a bit crook with a head cold – I slept really really well. I’m actually looking forward to going back there.

TV: 8/10 – decent TV, not easily viewed from the desk, but okay from the lounge or the bed. Good cable selection, but no Discovery Channel (no Junkyard Wars *sob*)

Connectivity: 8/10 – two phones, one on desk and one by bed, both with data ports, Dialup speed 50kbps+ (unusually high for a hotel !). Intertouch broadband (*yay*) – max $29 a day. Was so nice to be productive from a hotel room with a usable internet connection. I think hotels who don’t have broadband access in their rooms will start to have trouble attracting business travellers.

Breakfast: 8/10 – breakfast was nice with a good selection. Can’t complain at all – although missing that something special I think.

Room Service: not rated.

Location: 9/10 – plenty of shopping, restaurants, 711s and entertainment around.

Total: 49/60 = 82%