Status: Diamond
Property: Hilton On The Park Melbourne
Date: 15 - 16 Dec
Rate: 130 per night (F&F rate recently announced)
Room: King Deluxe (couldn't bring myself to book the bottom level room, $130 seemed like a v.good deal given my Virgin complimentary Diamond status and I don't like to be greedy).
Upgrade: Relaxation suite (room 214, I think)
Received: 2 complimentary bottles of water, welcome card. I wasn't offered late checkout or internet, had to ask for it when I was in the exec lounge later on. No newspaper offered either (though could have picked one up in the lounge). Loved that the relaxation suite had the gate to directly access the pool area, made for very easy access, though they need to fix the sliding door as it was rather worn and took a fair bit of effort to get to open/close, I initially thought it was locked to not open but stuck at it a bit longer and got it to work. No offer of breakfast apart from in the lounge (I didn't ask about it).
Seemed a bit quiet, but I prefer that (especially after my mistake of going up to the Gold Coast when Schoolies was on a few weeks ago and the Hilton felt swarmed upon, so I just stayed clear of the pool etc entirely).
I'm starting to wonder a bit about the effectiveness of cleaners in hotels. I stayed at the Rendezvous on Friday night and found used shampoo containers left the bathroom and then on the Saturday found the previous occupants swipe card envelope (what is the proper name for it? The folded paper/cardboard that the room keys are issued in) sitting on the table, so the cleaner must have had a pretty cursory glance indeed. Not that it felt dirty, but just made me wonder what else they had missed.
Showers without screens/doors weird me out a bit too, reminds me of showers at public swimming pools. So even though it was a lovely bathroom, it did feel a bit odd when I did shower. Overall, a very nice stay and I did find the relaxation suite relaxing, a nice escape, I just wonder if the pool stays pleasant in cooler months even though the hotel guide seems to suggest it is warm all year round.
