Ibis Melbourne Hotel and Apartments

The facilities are outdated, and there's no place to charge anything in the entire bedroom! The door from the bedroom to the bathroom was stuck, so you had to squeeze through or constantly open and close it. Most importantly, I specifically requested a room away from the elevator when booking, but they gave me the closest room to it. Two or three meters across was an office building, so I couldn't even open the curtains for privacy. I asked to switch rooms, but without even checking, they said there were no other rooms available. There was no Chinese-speaking staff. With Ctrip's help, they agreed to move me the next day, only to give me a room directly facing the elevator! Finally, the front desk staff, a plump woman with dark skin, had a terrible attitude and a strong accent when speaking English 🤷🏿‍♂️🤷🏿‍♂️🤷🏿‍♂️

We stayed here for two nights and three days. The main advantage of this location is its proximity to Queen Victoria Market. Unfortunately, we visited around Easter, and the market was only open on the Saturday in between. Luckily, we made it on that day; otherwise, staying here would have felt a bit pointless. Regarding the room: 1. Space and amenities (a) We booked a triple room with two beds (one double, one single). (b) The overall flow of the room felt a bit cramped, with a table, luggage rack, and wardrobe. (c) The fridge provided a complimentary bottle of milk daily, seemingly for coffee. You could request more if needed. 2. Bathroom facilities The bathroom was fairly standard, nothing particularly special. However, it did have a shower screen for wet/dry separation, which kept the bathroom fresh. 3. Downsides The single bed wasn't properly fixed; any movement or sitting on it would cause the entire bed to shift. Overall, the location is still great. On this trip, I booked three hotels in different parts of the Free Tram Zone. In this area (the northern part), you can find many Asian restaurants and supermarkets, as well as the market. Due to heavy rain during our stay, we didn't venture further north to Melbourne University. Near there, you'll find the Old Melbourne Gaol and Lygon Street (Little Italy), which has many Italian restaurants that I’d highly recommend. Regarding hotel service: While the hotel offered a buffet, we didn't purchase it and opted to eat out. A minor regret is that the service here was just average. As it's an Ibis, part of a large hotel group, the prices are relatively affordable, and they handle a high volume of guests daily. Consequently, the staff's attitude felt rather indifferent during check-in or when storing our luggage. That pretty much sums it up; I'll leave the rest for others to experience.

There was only one staff member on duty, who was incredibly busy, so check-in took a very long time. What's more, they charged an extra 50 AUD for parking, but didn't inform us of this beforehand; we only found out when we were leaving. Most hotels usually include free parking.

The hotel's location is definitely a big plus, very convenient for getting around, everything is within walking distance. Even though the hotel is old, it's been renovated and feels pretty good. It's also a popular pick-up point for many day tours, and the price is reasonable.

The room was alright; it was a triple room, but they only provided two bath towels. There was absolutely no service; I stayed for two days, and the room wasn't cleaned, so the bath towels weren't changed, and the trash wasn't emptied. Breakfast was very mediocre.

The biggest plus is the convenient location. Most day tours pick up and drop off right downstairs at this hotel. It's also very close to Chinatown and the Melbourne CBD, which is super convenient.