Far less than what I expect of a 4.5 star Rydges hotel
by TripAdvisor Member saileyn
Reading some of the reviews below, I am somewhat relieved to know that I wasn’t being overly fussy during our stay at this hotel. Since management never enquired as to why we were so negative in our post-stay survey and because my follow-up email bounced, I thought I would share my experiences with my fellow travellers.
Last year we stayed overnight at the Rydges On Bell Preston Melbourne and were so impressed with the service provided, we decided to book our next overnight stay, this time in the CBD, once again with the Rydges group. We booked online for the Rydges Melbourne directly through Rydges website and I was delighted at the prompt response to a pre-booking question from one of the staff.
On arrival we were greeted in a friendly manner and then quizzed about which package we had booked; if it was the "City High" or "Celebration" package. Those two names were not familiar to me, I vaguely recalled that the package included the word "Romance" and produced a copy of the confirmation email of our booking which listed all the items included in the package. Unfortunately the staff were still unable to deduce which package we had booked, so they hastily copied the email and handed us our room keys. They apologised that they'd not arranged the champagne and chocolates as mentioned on the email and would send them up shortly. I've since realised that the packages the staff were reading out to us were those that were advertised on the wotif accommodation website. It strikes me as odd that the staff were more familiar with those "cheap" packages than they are of the hotel's own. And if they had checked the Rydges website, as I did when I arrived home, they would have discovered that we'd selected the "Melbourne Romance Special" package.
We then made our way to our room, only to discover that there was a problem with the main elevator; the seventh floor button was malfunctioning. This was an annoyance, as whenever we wished to go up to our floor from the lobby we would have to call the first elevator, step in and press a button to send it to another floor and then call the second elevator. My partner remarked that it was lucky we were only staying for one evening. We mentioned this problem to a lady from housekeeping, who helped us when we first arrived by taking the first elevator and allowing us to catch the second. Another guest mentioned in passing that sometimes the lights didn't work and that it was hard to tell whether or not you'd selected your floor.
Once we arrived upstairs we found our room clean and the bed surprisingly comfortable. The chilled champagne and chocolates also arrived without incident.
Later that evening, when we attempted to close the curtains before heading to bed, we discovered that the middle curtain was stuck and would not close fully. It appeared that the lugs in the track were blocking the movement of the curtain. As it was quite late, and it seemed like such a trivial matter, we did not call housekeeping and instead my partner climbed up on a chair and stood on the sill so he could move the curtain back into place.
The next morning, due to the utter confusion when we were checking in, my partner decided to call reception to confirm our checkout time. Reception brightly informed him that checkout was 1pm. I was sure that the package mentioned that it was 2pm, but dismissed the thought since the confirmation email didn't specify a time. During my second glance at the website I mentioned earlier, I discovered that the package did in fact include a late checkout of 2pm.
When we checked out at 1pm, I had to request that our invoice be amended because we had been incorrectly charged for breakfast. It in fact, according to the young lady who assisted us, was included as part of the package, that she'd even double checked and wasn't sure why she raised the charge in the first place.
I thought I'd share this experience with you, as the service was far less than what I expect of a four and a half star hotel, particularly within the global Rydges chain. And as my partner remarked as we were pulling out of the car park; "That was the most unprofessional hotel that we've ever stayed in."
A huge let down....not impressed
by TripAdvisor Member LxRock
Room Booked: Executive King Spa Suite
July 28th. 2007
We booked this room for my partners birthday weekend away. What caught our eye was the photo of the room with the corner spa behind the king size bed...(gee this looks nice) so we booked a month in advance. Arrived early so we can relax and enjoy. Upon entering the hotel, the lobby was being upgraded thats fine refurbishments were under way, the sign said "This will not effect the rooms." Upon entering the room first thing we noticed was, wow very open, lots of space, walked through to the bathroom, quick glance, then to the bedroom and then cool hey nice place, then...we noticed something..hair in the spa, it didn't stop there. Around the spa, watermarks, glass over the bed was dirty, dust in the spa, light fittings hanging out of the roof, stains on the carpet, mould under the lip of the spa. And so we backed tracked to the bathroom, toilet stains around the bowl on the floor, hadn't even been cleaned, back to the lounge, cigarette burns on all tables, glass stains on tables, dents, knocks, fixed up paint on the walls which looked like liquid paper cover up, more carpet stains, two couch's both different colors, rusted coffee table, no phone book, more dents and stains around the place, sorry really can't describe how it was and probably still is, utterly disgusting, it was at this point we thought, we paid all this money for this? we have stayed in better places for half the price, what do we do? go elsewhere? We thought about it, then noticed the one thing that tipped us over the edge, stains on the couch, not your regular stain, we are talking people have done "it" on the couch stains, disgusted, very angry and ruined the weekend right from the beginning, So that made up our minds in an instant. We left couldn't care where we were staying, all we cared about was getting out of the place. 15 mins later found crown for an extra $75 and OMG! this place was amazing for the price, the decor and everything else for as little as $75, we were very impressed. As for the Rydges....Don't bother wasting your time or money let alone your breath. We stay a lot in Melbourne and have seen our fair share of hotels. If we aren't happy about something little we really don't bother about it, but when it comes to this place. It deserves a blog of pure utter [--] thrown at it.
To sum it up, do yourself a favor and just pass on this one, unless your planning to send your worst enemy there.
Don't judge this book by its cover!
by TripAdvisor Member Buddylurve
We recently stayed at this hotel for a couple of days to explore Melbourne and whilst the hotel is undergoing a refurbishment to the lobby, we could not speak more highly of the staff and the rooms. From when we drove into the car park and greeted by a freindly attendant, to the check in area, where the staff where so freindly and helpful. The staff on the reception desk made our stay in Melbourne! They gave us the best insight as to the places to visit, restaurants and cafes. I loved that we were greeted each morning before we left on our adventures throughout that beautiful city. We'll certainly be back!
Quantas sells it as a 4 star hotel, God Forbid !
by TripAdvisor Member Kneidale
tiny dirty rooms where sold to me by Qants Holidays as 4 star hotel. it was pure cheating. i bought it is Israel, where it is easy for Quants to takes advantage of the fact that no Israeli travel agent will travel 24 hours to Melbourne to see hotels rooms.
i ran away the next day with sore back from the terrible mattress. needless to say i had to carry my own luggage after a sleepless night. it is usual in Australia and New Zealand.
Never Again !!!
by TripAdvisor Member relbel
I booked a package directly through the hotel website to celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary. At this time the hotel had a 5 star rating. It didn't deserve three stars.
I had stayed at this hotel previously in a queen suite (which is what we had on this stay), when it was the 'Bryson'. Imagine my suprise when upon returning some 12+ years later, the decor was the same !!!! The lounges were dated, stained and shabby. There were cigarette burns in the curtains. The carpet was worn. The shower door would not close properly so the bathroom floor was drenched. The tap in the shower wouldnot turn off. There is no in-house maintenance and it the water was actually seeping though into the lounge area and soaking the carpet and wall. We eventaully were moved to another room that was just as bad. The weather was a hot 38+ and the aircon was not on in our room when we arrived so it was like being in a sauna.
Like another reviewer we also booked a package. We had a problem upon checkout when we were actually charged for things that were supposed to be included in the package. It took three attempts to get the bill correct.
The only saving grace was the restaurant. The food was outstanding and our waitress was incredible.
I am not one to complain but actually fired off a complaint letter to the Hotel and AAA ratings after our stay. I got a less then satisfactory reply and vowed never to stay at another Rydges property.
So Upset. Ruined Our Anniversary
by TripAdvisor Member purplessgirl
I was not going to write a review for this property as I have been really upset about the whole thing and really did not want to re live it but after reading other members reviews I thought I'd let you knoww of our experience.
I also booked a package through the hotel for our anniversary. I booked what was supposedly the top of te range suite with the spa behind the king sized bed because it looked great on their web site.
When we arrived at our room I was shocked to see how shabby it was. The room stank of cigarettes, the sofa was stained, there were cigarette burns in the table and sticky cup marks on the bedside tables.
The "luxury" spa was just horrible. There was hair in it and the wooden surrounding of the spa was old and the varnish was peeling away from the wood leaving bare wood exposed. Splinters would have been quite likely.
I was so upset I went down to reception and asked for another suite but there were none available. The receptionist said she would send housekeeping to spray the room to get rid of the smoke smell. (Sticky cup marks still remained, so did the hair in the spa)
As there was nothing else available we went for dinner which was quire good. The wait staff weere lovely and we enjoyed our dinner. I was just dreading going back to the room.
When we got back to the room, we attempted to close the drapes but the drape puller rod was broken (somone had thrown the broken bit out the window) so my husband had to balance himself on the spa edge to close the blinds. Not at all safe. We eventually got them closed to find that they too had cigarette burns in them and were full of holes. By this time I was in tears. Not a very happy anniversary at all.
Even though we had a late check out of 2pm, we left straight after breakfast. I filled out the customer feedback form and also told the receptionist about the problems with the drapes. She said she would bring it up with housekeeping and the maintenence department.
We paid AU$439 for this one night package and I was really annoyed that the room was so hideous.
I contacted the hotel the next day and spoke to the room division manager and told her of my concerns. She was quite flippant towards me and had the nerve to call me shallow when I mentioned I would like to be compensated for the horror room. She did not want to help at all.
A couple of days later I received a customer feedback form via e mail so I once again voiced my concerns and also the mentioned the way I was treated by the room division manager.
I got an email back from her the next day trying to back pedal on the fact she had been rude and called me shallow, saying that I had taken it the wrong way. I am not stupid, I know what she said. Anyhow... to cut a long story short, we ended up getting a 50% refund, no apology and no follow up from the hotel manager as I had been promised.
I had to write this review as we stayed there in Feb 07 and I can see by recent reviews that nothing has changed. This place ruined our anniversary, please don't let it ruin your special occasion. Please stay somewhere else. Don't spend your special day so upset like I was.
