Good review, I stay in the Parmelia 3 or 4 times a year and I'd be open to Northbridge if it's of a decent standard.
I'll be going back to the Parmelia once its upgrades are completed and things are running back at normal speed. I'm quite interested also in the Doubletree waterfront as that should be an exceptional hotel.
I've stayed a half dozen times at DT northbridge and ultimately its not for me.
- As someone in the thread has mentioned, breakfast in the EL is quite poor, even by Australian standards (which are not good overall). As a Diamond I always have a peek and then, disappointed, go downstairs to the main restaurant where the selection is small but more than adequate for a hotel of this size and type.
- Parking! Insanity. Seriously, over all my stays, which has spanned enough time to sort themselves out, they just can't.
There is no onsite parking which is a problem that surely should have been thought about during construction (underground parking for goodness sakes?). Anyway, fine, lots of hotels in this position, even the Parmelia. However, other hotels almost invariably offer some sort of massively overpriced valet service. Overpriced always, Parmelia was $55/24 hours last time I was there, but, despite the price, its a good service to have.
I don't want to be wandering all over the place potentially with my luggage in the middle of the night. The DT Northbridge apparently has some sort of arrangement with local paid carparks but this arrangement is largely unknown to the carpark operators and every single time I've used this I've been locked in the carpark unable to leave because of ticket issues that require a phone call to the operator, then the hotel, then the operator ... usually a 30-45 minutes frustration. Its enough to make it ultimately just too much trouble.
I understand that a DT is not a Hilton, but, given they've made the conscious business choice to operate off James St, with no onsite parking, and no other easy way to park, why not reach for the low hanging fruit, revenue wise, and offer a paid valet service?
I note that the information available for the DT Waterfront suspiciously omits to mention any valet service ... but _does_ specifically note that there is no onsite parking. Its not open yet so lets see how that ends up, but its not a good look.
- Top floors in their so-called Panoramic rooms are the ones to get. High enough to be out of the noise of the area. If you don't score one of these then prepare yourself. Northbridge is a noisy area. The hotel is not tall enough for most of the accommodation to escape this.
Otherwise its been fine I guess, not exceptional but fine. On the other hand, despite being old, the Parmelia Hilton has some of the best service in Australia imho. The rooms are large, in some cases ridiculously so (hello King suite!). I've not had a problem with noise. Valet parking makes me wince (I'm stingy haha) but its a service worth using. Breakfast has always been exceptional. Big problem there has been no executive lounge - they have traditionally offered a drink and tapas coupon which is sort of fine, but not the same ... if the new renovations bring an EL then it will be very hard to fault this hotel.
