IC Rialto Melbourne

[Deleted member]

Staying at the IC Rialto this weekend.
Have to say there are highs and Lows with this place.
The room is ok (upgraded to king junior spa suite) bed is comfortable, that said I woke with a sore back.
The booking process was interesting as well. Booked (as a platinum ambassador) a king club room, was upgraded to king suite, upon checking our booking before flying in we were “downgraded” to a basic room, which was less than what we had actually booked to begin with! We had to fight to get our original booking and upgrade reinstated.
Club lounge is not comfortable. I really don’t get why low slung chairs are so popular. The afternoon tea offering was average, but the service is reasonably attentive. Breakfast this morning is woeful! Plates are cold , food is cold, coffee was bitter ( maybe my taste is off) IMHO a hot breakfast needs to be hot, not cold to lukewarm. Pastries are poor quality.
We are resolved to forego our included breakfast tomorrow and will try our luck outside.
I’m not sure I would bother again, this is likely my last stay here.
Over all a pretty poor effort by IHG 4/10

 

[boomy]

Everything makes sense apart from the coffee. There’s a better chance to get hit by lightning than getting bad coffee in Melbourne

 

[Ghost Flyer]

I agree, the Rialto is a bit hit and miss. Last time I stayed, there wasn’t a table available in the CL for breakfast, so we were directed downstairs to the restaurant area where the breakfast was amazing. Didn’t go back to the lounge for breakfast for the rest of our stay.

 

[Austman]

Does not CL access allow breakfast at the main buffet restaurant??

If it does, that's where I'd be going...

 

[Ghost Flyer]

Club access definitely allows for you to have breakfast in the main restaurant. It’s a bit noisier, but the food and coffee is far superior to the CL

 

[Deleted member]

Club access definitely allows for you to have breakfast in the main restaurant. It’s a bit noisier, but the food and coffee is far superior to the CL

Which based on our experience must be really poor !

 

[Deleted member]

Club access definitely allows for you to have breakfast in the main restaurant. It’s a bit noisier, but the food and coffee is far superior to the CL

We braved the CL, aside from the ongoing issue of most hotel chefs being unable to properly cook an egg, (fried eggs should never be crunchy) the CL was a better experience compared to the main restaurant buffet. The low point was using the pepper shaker only to discover it was full of water, not pepper :-(
There was no high point, coffee continues to disappoint.

 

[samh004]

When I was young, the idea of a "free" breakfast, high tea and canapes in the CL made sense, but these days I prefer to discover better things for probably the same "free" price outside the hotel. Last time I booked CL was just for the novelty of a birthday weekend staying inside at the IC Sanctuary Cove.

 

[Kenny]

Last time I did the CL at the Rialto, the coffee was from a commercial Nespresso machine that wasn't regularly cleaned/scaled apparently. I agree with Boomy that if you have to resort to Nespresso in Melbourne, there's something wrong.

Once when I stayed with the family, we were encouraged to eat down at the restaurant instead especially for the canapes.

 

[zig]

I haven’t stayed at IC for a few years as I found the CL to be abysmal in all aspects. Your recent experience indicates that there has been no improvements made so it will remain on my do not stay list.