MEL airport hotels

[Port Power]

Just to close this out. Dinner the in the restaurant was pretty average. I ordered a burger and was told there are no chips as they'd run out. These things happen. At least they told me and was offered an alternative. From overhearing some conversations I don't think this was the case for all guests. It wasn't that busy and took an eternity to get an average $28 (down to $21 with Accor Plus) burger out.

I used my two free drink vouchers for any beer. The guy upsized them to pints.

Next morning shuttle back to the airport was a little less polished. Reception gives you a chit and you go to the shuttle pick-up area in the parking garage. Only problem was no one was there. Went back to reception who just said wait a little. Eventually a shuttle returned. The guy said we'd be going in 5 minutes. 10 minutes later we left. So saying that the shuttle departs on demand is a little misleading.

All up a decent stay. If the price is right, it's worth it.

My stay was good. Great room. Dinner in the restaurant I ordered beetroot risotto. Overcooked. Sent it back for replacement, but must have been out of the same pot. Third order was barramundi, which was absolutely delicious. 25% discount applied, so good value. For the drinks, I had two vouchers. G&T first, Shiraz with meal. Drink did not have to be the house wine, so I chose the Heathcote Shiraz.

I had a late checkout at 12:00pm. Reception gave me a voucher for the shuttle, which was about to leave as I arrived in the garage. I was aware vehicles come and go, so was lucky with timing.

All in all, for the red hot rooms price this was great value. I would stay again. The benefit of two drinks and 25% off food would steer me to book Mantra again over a similar priced local property.

 

[RooFlyer]

To clarify, it's not a HIX, just a HI, otherwise breakfast would have been included.

I have stayed there many times over the decades, including back in the 90's when it was a Travelodge.

It's way too expensive for what it is these days.

Ooops, thanks for the clarification; agree, not good value, except, of course, the usual premium paid for convenience - short walk after international arrival, short shuttle next morning.

And yes, my last stay was as a Travelodge!!

 

[drcam]

I've stayed many times at the Ibis budget - but that was before they jacked up the prices, and for $30 more, I'd probably go to the Holiday Inn. I never had a problem with the rooms though.

 

[Seat0B]

We recently had a night at Park Royal on 28 Nov before an early departure to DXB and again on return on 3 Jan too late for last flight home to CBR.

Pros
* it was super convenient
* less than 3 minutes walk all under cover except for the pedestrian road crossing
* huge bonus for us with 115kg of luggage for Seat Son was that you can load an airport trolley or two and then just wheel them all the way into your room, leave overnight them on the trolley there overnight and just wheel out again in the morning. Really saved a lot of stress with so much luggage.
* we had a runway view business room which was fabulous. Room was huge and the runway view was spectacular. Mr Seat 0A was extremely happy and lay on the bed with a coffee watching comings and goings with FR24 and ATC radio running for a couple of hours like a kid at Christmas.
* block out curtains and sound proofing very effective. Bed comfortable. Slept well. Had a full sized bath which was nice to relax after arrival.
* if you have time you can catch the Skybus into Melbourne and have a lovely meal and a mini city break rather than use the hotel. Don’t save any money of course, but it’s a nice thing to do.
* arriving in MEL the afternoon before overseas departure took all stress out of connection times.

Cons
* it was expensive. First night was $301. Second night was $294.
* check in can be very slow if you arrive peak time. On 28 Nov ( departure) it was fine as we arrived mid afternoon. On 3 Jan it was vey slow (at least 15 mins) as we arrived at around 2330 with a lot of others from late international arrivals - there were 10 groups of people I. Front of me in the line to check in. A lot of jet lagged people with limited English and heaps of questions and only 2 clerks on duty.
* room decor has not been updated since the 1990s I’d say - quite the stroll down memory lane. Some people may be bothered by this - we were not.
* no breakfast even at that rate! Didn’t bother us as on departure day we knew we could eat in the lounge and on the flight and on arrival night we were well fed before arriving and had breakfast at MEL Dom J lounge the next day before our final leg home. But it would suck to have to pay $28-35 ea for the hotel offering. They are certainly charging like wounded bulls there.

So overall, this stay suited us, mainly because of all the luggage. Our allowance was 116kg and we checked in with 115.6 kg - the guy complimented us on “very effective use of your luggage allowance Madam”! But for us, (well really for Mr Seat 0A), the other big plus was the runway aviation spectacular. Oh that and the fact that we saved more than $6000 between us by taking these slightly inconvenient J flights out of MEL compared to same day, same airline departures at a more convenient time out of SYD.