1 Hotel Melbourne — Hotel in Melbourne

UPDATE:

At one point, Lara Gani, Guest Experience Manager, contacted me. I expected understanding, but instead she pushed me back to Agoda, under confusing excuses. Agoda then sent me an email asking to confirm the change – but due to my international flights, I only saw it a few days later. When I confirmed, Agoda informed me the hotel was no longer willing to honor the change. When I contacted Lara again, she never replied.

i want to tell you about the worst customer service experience of my life – and I have been on dozens of vacations and stayed in many hotels, from the most luxurious to the most basic. I have never encountered such unkindness.

On September 2nd, my beloved partner and I are getting married. Due to a lack of familiarity with the area (I am not a resident of Melbourne, or even Australia), I booked one night at this hotel – and immediately sent an email directly to the hotel informing them that we were getting married that night, in case we arrived late after the wedding.

Unfortunately, after speaking with my partner, I learned that the hotel is very far from the venue, and we would not be able to get there after the wedding. The reservation was made almost two months in advance, and at first, we innocently asked to cancel it. Unfortunately, we were met with indifference – and were refused.

We then contacted the provider’s hotline again (the Agoda website) and begged to at least change the date, since we had paid $360 for one night!! It’s a shame that we can’t enjoy it – so we asked to postpone the night by just one day – not to a weekend, not to another month – simply from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Here too, we were met with a closed-minded and disgraceful attitude – and the response was completely negative.

It’s important to note: my partner has an extensive family in Melbourne, as well as many friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. This story will be shared with every person we know – in a way that will make them stay far away from a place that treats its guests with such disrespect and lack of basic decency. The hotel and its management should be ashamed of their poor and inconsiderate service – especially to a couple on their wedding night. Needless to say, we never received a response to the first email announcing our wedding – simply shameful, dismissive, and lacking the most basic understanding.

Every potential guest should remember: behind this “seductive” hotel lies a service culture that is shocking by any...

We booked a last-minute stay on the eve of a public holiday at 1 Hotel Melbourne with our senior basset hound Bruno and honestly, we couldn’t have picked a better place. We stayed in the River King room and arrived around 8pm. The valet staff greeted us with big smiles, packed up our luggage and straight away we felt like we’d made the right choice.

Reception were just as lovely. They’d already called ahead to check who was staying and had a dog bed and bowl ready for Bruno. They even remembered his name on arrival, which really meant a lot. There was also a little sign on our door noting we had a furry friend inside – for anyone travelling with dogs you’ll know how thoughtful that is, it makes the whole stay more relaxed.

The room itself was beautiful, really earthy and calming, nothing like the cold corporate feel you get at most Melbourne hotels.

We ordered room service that night and it was spot on! Oyster’s, calamari, steak and veggies, all fresh and really good quality. Later I went down to the Crane Bar & Lounge for a nightcap and again the staff were amazing. I mentioned I love tequila and the bartender actually went upstairs to get a special drop for me to try. A few cocktails later I was settled in, the atmosphere was great and the staff even gave me food recommendations while I was there.

The outdoor areas are also really well thought out with grassed spaces, walking paths and even a playground. At night it felt safe with lighting and staff always around.

Breakfast was another highlight, the crab omelette, bagel and pancakes were all so tasty. We’d booked a late checkout for 1pm, but at the last minute asked if we could push it to 3pm and they didn’t even hesitate. They called back to say it was fine and complimentary, which was such a nice touch.

I also managed a morning swim and the pool was perfect with plenty of day beds, a sauna, towels and fresh chilled water. The room was spotless, super comfortable, filtered water available, the bed & pillows were like being on a cloud and honestly this was one of the best hotel stays I’ve had in ages.

There’s nothing I could fault. Everything from the staff to the food to the little touches for Bruno made it feel really special. We’ll definitely be back, it’s such a nice alternative to the “usual” Melbourne hotels definitely well worth the visit. We absolutely loved it. And...

I had a very disappointing experience at this hotel during my recent stay in Melbourne. Before arriving the hotel, we paid for our booking online in full, yet still received a message about an unnecessary pre-authorization on our card. This forced us to abandon our plans, return to the hotel, and waste our time disputing something that should never have happened. When we got back to the hotel and politely pointed out the mistake and asked for clarification. Instead of taking responsibility, the staff hid behind the excuse of a “system error” , then tried to justify it by claiming the pre-authorization could be used for the spa and restaurant — services we had no intention of using. Actually, it was clearly a cover for their own mistake. After the staff said the money would only be released by Friday — as if holding our funds for days without reason was acceptable. We insisted on immediate release. To top it off, one staff member called James had the nerve to call us “rude” when we were discussing about the charge. We immediately requested to complain to the front desk manager. We were so angry at how unprofessional and zero customer service quality the staff had to handle this mistake.

The problems didn’t stop there. When we first entered our room, the mirror was broken. We asked for it to be replaced, but when we returned later, they had simply removed the mirror and never put in a new one — leaving us without one at all. On top of that, the pillowcase was filthy, showing a complete lack of basic cleanliness and attention to guest comfort. And as if that wasn’t enough, loud construction noise started early in the morning without any warning, disrupting our sleep and making it impossible to rest.

The combination of incompetence, poor maintenance, uncleanliness, dishonesty, unprofessionalism and outright disrespect was appalling and completely unacceptable. We totally understand mistakes can happen, but how they’re handled makes all the difference—and in this case, the staff chose hostility over resolution. We would not recommend this hotel and will not be returning. This hotel is absolutely a disgrace to...