Luxurious getaway at The Sofitel Melbourne
by TripAdvisor Member Jenn82
Recently stayed at the Sofitel, Melbourne for a 3 night getaway with my partner. Neither of us had been to Melbourne before, so we had decided to spend up a little and found a good rate for one of their "Deluxe" suites.
Obviously a little pricey, but it was worth every cent! The suite is made of 2 rooms plus bathroom. The first is a very large loungeroom with plasma TV, dining table for 4, writing desk, sofa, 2 armchairs, coffee table and and 2 ottomans - and it all sits very confortably, lots of moving around room. The windows span 2 walls, and are floor to ceiling giving views over most of Melbourne; from our room (level 38) we could see Rod Laver Arena, Federation Square, Art Centre, the Yarra River and more.
The bedroom features an ENORMOUS bed (unfortunately with very soft pillows that were quite uncomfortable for me), another plasma TV, 1 ottoman and armchair, and wardrobe (a little small and dim lighting for dressing). The bathroom was small, but fitted a bath and was decked out in marble. Bathroom accessories are L'Occitane which was a nice touch.
The only hiccup was checking in, our room was not ready and we waited for 2 hours (but were given complimentary access to Club Sofitel, a wonderful lounge with free food/drinks etc. to wait in). Other than that, staff were helpful with maps and other info (but remained unobtrusive). There is a wonderful afternoon tea on the weekend, $35 for a glass of champagne, desserts and good quality tea in their reception area Sofi's.
Overall a good quality hotel, in a very central location (we walked to Docklands, Lygon Street and caught a $10 cab to Crown in peak hour). Worth the money and, if I wanted to have a luxury break again, this would definitely be my pick.
Always a great experience.
by TripAdvisor Member RockinRenz
The Sofitel Melbourne is definitely one of my favorite couple of hotels in the world.
I have probably stayed there on 20 separate occasions on both business and leisure trips. I find it difficult to fault. On all those occasions i have never had a single problem with staff or accounts and the rooms are truly outstanding. The upgrades they did a year or two back to include smart electrics and LCD TV's are excellent. And i always seem to have a great sleep in the excellent beds. The views make me want to be able to sleep standing up with my eyes open...
My only grouch is the cost of the breakfast in Cafe La. True, the setting is spectacular, and it is a good spread, however at about $40 per head, i avoid it.
It is also comparatively good value. I can normally get a room in the $195 to $220 range.
Excellent start to holidays
by TripAdvisor Member Allengn
I can only concur with the majority of the comments on here. My wife and I spent 3 nights at the Sofitel Melbourne at the start of our extended vacation in Australia. We stayed in a Club Room, and therefore also had the benefit of using the Club facilities.
The room was spacious, clean and well equipped. The bed was superb; being the most comfortable hotel bed I have slept in for some time and was certainly the best bed we had during our visit. The staff in the Club Lounge were friendly, helpful and informative. Although at the top end of Collins Street, the hotel was within the CBD, has trams stopping immediately outside, and you can access most Central Melbourne locations quickly and easily.
Downsides – not many. If you suffer from vertigo, then this is probably not the hotel for you. All the rooms are high (we were on the 48th floor!) but if you don’t mind that then the views are superb. My only minor moan was that, despite 2 phone calls to the Concierge, I ended up collecting my own baggage from Reception.
Should I ever have to visit Melbourne again, be it work or pleasure, then I would certainly have the Sofitel on my short list.
Classy with views that are just outstanding
by TripAdvisor Member EJH
Stayed at Sofitel Melbourne to celebrate my 30th birthday and may i say i made an excellent choice in choosing the Sofitel. I wont repeat what other reviews have said, ill try and give you information that i look for when reading reviews!!
Stay at Club Sofitel, it cost me $355 this was booked by calling the hotel direct, it was not a special rate, although this was midweek. I highly recomend you choose Club Sofitel, it is worth every cent.
You get a room on one of thier highest floors, i stayed room 4121 it was a corner suite and the views were just amazing, the suite had 2 areas, sleeping area with king bed, large plasma tv, modern but smallish bathroom and a living area with dining table and chairs, desk, sofa and 2 couches with another large plasma tv with dvd (you can bring your own cd's to play with sound system or your own dvds to watch) the decor of the room was classy and would appeal to everyone, although it was not amazing, but this i guess enables all tastes to be pleased with the room, the bathroom was nice, but i was expecting something larger and more glamourios ...for instance the bathroom at Crown Towers, the furniture even was better at Crown Towers, but the size of the room at Sofitel and the views more than made up for it, and it gets better.....
Staying at Club Sofitel the rate includes access to thier special and new i believe lounge, it was beautiful, floor to cieling windows, soft music playing, circular lounge with fireplace and private tables/chairs, the ambience here was truly romantic and really gave you that WOW factor, they also serve complimentary afternoon tea (i did not go to this) and in the evening edourves and drinks from 5.30-7pm this i did attend!! the edourves were of good quality (i.e fetta, tomoatoe and spinach puffs, thai fish cakes with sweet chilli, antipasto, fresh bread and dips etc etc etc ) and free drinks..yes soft drink wine and beer...but also anything else you want! it was a self service bar, my partner had one crown larger after the other but i had one cosmopolitian after the other! great value, rum, vodka, barcadi, contreau, Kulula, organic fresh juices etc etc. Then at 7pm they have coffee and chocolates, we didnt even need to go out to dinner we were so content with this lounge! the views as the sun goes down is a sight to see, they have a telescope too so you can see the stars and all the action of the city below. Came back to the room and chocolates and evian water was by the bed ohhh and because it was my 30th birthday the hotel delivered me complimentary champange and strawberries! I was very pleased with this.
Breakfast was complimentary, again in the club lounge - this is different to the buffet they have at cafe la for regular room stayers to pay for ($30 p/p i believe) always gets excellent reviews and great i assume for people who want to eat a lot! I however, enjoyed my breakfast which included one meal made to order (i had eggs with sourdough toast, mushrooms, tomoatoe and hash brown) with a buffet of fresh fruit, gourmet yoghurt, breads, cereals, coffee, gourmet juices and many little touches such as rice pudding in cocktail glasses and berry smoothie in ice cold shot glasses, again enjoyed sitting in the lounge enjoying the views as the sun came streaming in. I recomend this hotel to anyone looking for a romantic, classy stay where staff are friendly and professional. The rooms are nice, views are outstanding and the club lounge is a highlight!
Nothing other than wonderful views
by TripAdvisor Member onexclusivechick
Booked a Deluxe Suite directly with the hotel for our anniversary after reading the great reviews on this website.
VALET
Parking was fantastic. Plenty of room for parking and car was taken away quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, this was the only good thing about the hotel.
CHECK IN
Lobby is tiny with a front desk and row of lifts, very run down and old looking. Bits of torn carpet, not what you would expect from a 5 star hotel. The girl at reception was saying that our credit card was declined. Very embarassing, called our bank who advised that the card was fine to use. Went to the atm and withdrew cash to pay for the room instead. We were given the keys and pointed over to the lifts. No one to take our luggage to our room.
THE SUITE
Lifts were very very slow and took a while to get up to the 46th floor. The room was very dark, even with all the lights on. Looked very different to the wonderful pictures on the website. Very drab, tiny bathroom. Very dissapointing. Granted, the views are stunning, but not worth $600 a night!
We checked out 2 mintues later due to the dissapointment of the room.
40 mintues later we were still waiting for valet to bring our car out.
Booked into the Westin 2 hrs later and had the most wonderful weekend. (see review)
If you just want a view...go to the Sofitel. Otherwise save your $$$ and go somewhere else.
If you do nothing else - stay here!
by TripAdvisor Member Leyland-wanderer
My wife and I have travelled extensively and, in our opinion, this is the best hotel we have ever stayed in.
The staff cannot do anything more to assist in making your stay better. The location is perfect and with all rooms having a view over Melbourne through floor to ceiling windows, its breathtaking. The rooms start at the 36th floor with the Atrium Bar on the 35th. All floors below this are commercial offices.
The rooms are excellent in size, equipment and cleanliness - we didn't want to go out it was that good.
We booked through Qantas and a room for the night was about £130, far below the rack rate, and excellent value for the standard of hotel.
Would I saty there again - definitely!
Very sumptuous but boring!
by TripAdvisor Member YorkshireBelly
Stayed here for 2 nights whilst travelling around Australia. We had great views from our room, very comfy bed and pillows and it is really central but it was just very staid. On our return 2 weeks later we stayed outside the city centre in South Yarra and enjoyed it far more. This hotel would be great for business travellers but anyone looking for a bit more Melbourne character stay somewhere smaller! One tip is the Il Solito Posto Basement Restaurant around the corner - great food, wine and atmosphere.
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