I stayed in five places in four cities in Australia. Although there was room for improvement, it…read morewas my favorite.
The mattress was on the medium side, perfect for me - not too hard, not too soft. I slept comfortably, enlisting the use of several of the many pillows available. My room had two beds with a nightstand between them with a phone and a cool lamp - you touched the top to turn it on, and it kept getting brighter as you kept touching it until it reached its limit and turned off. The room did not have a clock, which I'm finding to be the case in more and more hotels. But most people use their phones and you can get a wake-up call. There are outlets just over the nightstand.
The narrow balcony had two chairs squeezed in on one end. I was on the budget tour, so my room overlooked parking lots and apartments and a bit of the pool. Just inside was an upholstered chair and footstool, a good place to read. Next to it was a spacious desk and a heavy rolling chair, which was tough to move on the carpet. Also a little scary when you leaned back - it felt like you'd fall over! The TV was over the desk.
There were the usual helpful amenities, coffee and tea fixings, a fridge, safe, electric kettle, iron and ironing board, cool personal care stuff, etc. Lots of space to put your stuff. Nice bathroom with good counterspace and a walk-in shower. A little tight in one spot, and some wasted space, but good, all in all.
I didn't hear noise from other rooms or the hallway, except when I was in the bathroom I heard people going by. The big drawback for me was the climate control. The unit made these clunking noises as it shifted between heating and cooling. Sometimes it was on the loud side and made me jump.
It's not advertised, but there's a laundromat off the first floor of the parking garage. Problem: You have to take stairs to get there. (Which also means you have to take stairs to get to the garage.) While there was a handrail, I could not get down the stairs. One wonderful desk clerk carried my bag of dirty laundry and helped me down the stairs. She even volunteered to do it for me and bring it to me. That was awesome. She really embodied customer service. (I was able to do the laundry and slowly get back up the stairs myself.) You need coins or tokens, which you can get at the front desk.
The restaurant onsite, which has inside and outside seating, is nice. I can see sitting outside with a drink, watching the sunset, or with some coffee in the morning. The food, though, was just okay. I had room service and also breakfast one morning and that theme carried through. Kind of strange, the room service menu, available in the evenings, was different from the onsite dinner menu, which had much fancier food. I preferred the room service menu. There was a $4 tray charge.
In addition to the pool, there's a workout room and restrooms on the main floor, along with a vending machine by the three elevators. There's a few grab-and-go food options you can get at any time at the front desk.
I didn't care for the $100 hold on my credit card. The other places I stayed at eliminated the hold (as long as they had your credit card details), or the amount was only $50.
The Spring Hill Loop free circulator bus stops literally in front of the hotel. However - and this is important - it doesn't run on the weekends. On weekdays, it stops running at around 6 pm. There's a little pick-up, drop-off area and other safe places to get in and out of vehicles.
While parking is free, the garage sometimes gets full. This property has several event venues and looks like it might be a nice place for a wedding reception, graduation party, etc.
The Roma Street Station is the closest train station. But unless you are a mountain goat, I wouldn't attenpt to walk there from the station. It looks so close on the map, but it's up on quite a hill, and you have to wind your way around to find it. The "up on a hill" was the other hard part for me. My knees are shot, so walking the hill would have been tough for me.
The lobby is spacious and nice, a great place to hang out and work, have a drink and some food, etc. I found that many places in Australia do a good job of offering a bunch of different kinds of seating. There were even tables with lots of chairs or stools and places to plug in.
I would stay here again, but on weekdays, when the free bus runs. I was there on a weekend, which meant paying for rides.
