Crown Metropol Melbourne — Hotel in Melbourne

This review is based on a staycation experience for a couple in the Luxe King room. Pros: you get a decent hotel with clean amenities located fairly close to the tram stop and direct access to crown main building. Cons: if you are here for a staycation then I would not recommend this hotel and there are many others at this price point with far better luxe and service.

Let me explain. From the start of our staycation the experience was somewhat of an economy class airline. We waited for a while in a zig zag queue to check in to the hotel. It was 3.30pm on a Friday when we arrived and valet was very busy as well. I think there’s room to improve to make the check in process faster. Room was spacious and clean. But it lacked the luxury touch that I was familiar with my previous stay at Crown’s other hotels. We received the free sparkling wine bottle that was included in our package and free breakfast. But that’s where the value sort of ends. No free water provided and small bottle from mini bar was $5.5 each. Little things that annoyed us. TV was fairly basic limited by the crown software which had no access to streaming services, no access to cast your device to the tv and no premium movie channels etc beside only the free to air tv. There was option to rent a movie for around $20 a movie just like the 90’s. Despite the guest service info stating the hotel would provide hdmi and other cables to connect your personal laptop to the tv, when I called, they said they no longer provide cables, thus pushing the customers to fork out more money to rent movies and pay to watch content on the tv. In room dining was pricy as you would expect in any good hotel and the food was excellent. However, it felt very cheap to see that they charge a $6 delivery fee per order when you could get Uber eats delivered for less than $2 from a restaurant outside this venue. Another money grabbing tactic from Crown. I would rate house keeping to be just 2 stars only. There was no consideration for the customer. I had requested house keeping in the morning when I left the room and came back at 2pm to find it wasn’t done. Then I saw the lady was cleaning the room next to me, so I asked her if I’d be next and she just asked me if I need cleaning. So I told her yes and you can see my door notification on for this as well. She just went back inside the room she was cleaning and I thought that meant I would be next. So I went for a swim and came back at 3pm to find still nothing was done and the cleaning lady was not around there anymore. So I made another request on the touch pad and waited to get the room cleaned and fresh towels so I can have an afternoon nap. I almost fell asleep when the lady arrive at 4.30pm to clean the room. Very disappointed for not considering the guests needs. There was a touch pad tablet in the room that provides hotel info and room service ordering. I had issue with the screen being very dim on the tablet which made it hard to see. Guest services was not able to fix it as it needed a pin to unlock the settings to increase the brightness. So I had to shine my phone torch over the light sensor to order room service. Then this tablet kept beeping at night because the docking station was charging the tablet to 100% and then it drops to 99% and starts to charge again. So I left the tablet off the dock and far from the bed.

Overall it’s a pretty average experience for us since our purpose was to stay in a comfortable hotel room in the city, indulge in a bit of luxury and enjoy room service and relax. It’s a good hotel to stay if you are visiting the casino or visiting Melbourne for something else. For a staycation, I would rank Park Hyatt, Sofitel, Crown Promenade...

Disappointed and would not stay here again. There are many hotels around—just choose another one.

I wish I saw many recent low rating reviews, instead of looking at the overall rating, as it seems like this hotel went down like this recently.

If you want good service, this is not the place to stay. For the price they charge, the level of service is between unacceptable and non-existent, depending on the day.

As for housekeeping: First of all, the default is that your room is not serviced. Apparently, there's a form you need to fill out, according to one of the front desk staff I spoke with. However, when I checked in, they told me to simply leave the "blue light on" for the room to be serviced. Not ideal, but not a big deal.

The first day I requested service, they did things they weren't supposed to (like replacing towels that were hung up, despite the sustainability card in the room stating that towels would only be replaced if left on the floor). They also failed to do what they were supposed to (like emptying the trash bins).

On the second day, I was out for over 12 hours, and no one bothered to clean my room despite the blue light being on all day. They don't have toilet brushes either, so you can imagine what that means!

I called the front desk, and they sent the manager on duty. She apologized and assured me that my room would be serviced from that point forward.

Today is my last day before check-out, and once again, after being out for more than 12 hours with the blue light on, I returned to find the room exactly as I left it—no service at all. I called again and requested compensation for their repeated failure to provide the service I paid for. After taking a short walk, I returned to find the bed made, and that was it. The breakfast tray with dirty dishes was still on the table, my mug hadn't been washed, and the toilet was left unclean. Talk about a half-hearted job!

When I called to report this, I was transferred to the manager on duty (a different one this time), who was supposed to approve my compensation request. His offer? A free breakfast! Seriously? I told him that at a minimum, I should be refunded 10% of what I paid to compensate for the service I didn’t receive, the time spent on the phone, and the stress after a long workday. He offered a refund equivalent to about 2.5% of what I paid. I told him not to bother—it wouldn’t even cover the time I spent dealing with them.

After that call, they sent the cleaning staff again, but by then it was too late in the evening. I told them I just wanted to rest after a long day. They had the entire day to do their job, and they didn’t.

When I asked for a late check-out, they told me, "none were available for the next day," not even offering that as a small gesture to compensate for their failures.

Additionally, they boast about their "infinity pool," but it opens too late, closes too early, is small, and is way too crowded. Don't bother.

This place needs a complete management overhaul—one that is customer-centric and ensures the service customers pay for is actually delivered, if not exceeded. Even by Australia's often sub-par service standards, this place is below average.

There are several hotels of similar caliber nearby. Just pick one of those to avoid the hassle and headaches I experienced. I’m not coming back, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone, especially for the price they charge. If it cost a quarter of the price, maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered. But even the hotels I stayed at in the US, for less than a quarter of the price, provided better service—even if the facilities...

Greetings, Crown Metropol Melbourne

My wife and I had the misfortune to stay at your hotel beginning at 6 a.m. on February 3rd in room 1051. During our visit, we observed a lot of unacceptable and potentially dangerous service levels, which I believe you should be aware of and hopefully resolve.

As soon as we entered the room, we saw that the shower head was extremely old, filthy, and mouldy. The hose was torn and mouldy, making showering incredibly nasty. In order to manage the temperature of the shower, I had to turn it all the way to the hot setting, wait for it to warm up, and then begin moving it gently towards the chilly side. If done too fast, the water becomes very cold, even if it isn't meant to, making showering quite unpleasant. The left - hand side placement of the tiny faucet and the lengthy handle made it difficult to wash my hands without accidentally injuring them. I see no reason why the faucet could not have been placed in the standard location.

The room service that removed our used face and feet towels did not replace them, nor did they replace the soap. Additionally, we did not get a new dental care kit or shaving equipment, which was really frustrating.

As frequent guests at the Crown hotel and members of the company's loyalty programme, we anticipate best experience and comfort throughout our visits; nevertheless, this facility did not fulfil our expectations. The blankets were made of a disposable material, were of poor quality, and were nasty to the touch. Our dirty bedsheets were not replaced by room service either. The second factor that disrupted our sleep was the light that remained on all night in the closet containing the safe. We could see the light shining through the gap between the door. Additionally, there was no bathtub in our room, when every other Crown hotel room we stayed in across Australia had one.

Unsealed Bundaberg rum in our minibar is a significant and perhaps hazardous concern. It caught my attention while I was deciding between vodka and rum. An unsealed bottle of rum may result in a change in flavour, but that is not my primary concern. Unsealed bottles of consumable substances may indicate that someone has  previously drank from them, leading to the transmission of viruses, particularly with Covid - 19 still being present. It may also indicate that the drink's chemistry had been altered (also called spiking a drink.) As you may be aware, combining unknown substances with beverages may have unexpected and perhaps fatal repercussions. It was very unprofessional of the Crown stuff to leave this bottle unnoticed before our check in.

After a long day, it was upsetting to discover that our mini bar had not been restocked, despite seeing room service leave with a beverage cart. This is unfortunate on your behalf, since the company might have earned a little profit by restocking the food and beverages in our room.

These horrifying instances prompted us to question whether the Crown corporation and personnel are accountable for the safety and general quality of its guests' experiences. I hope you agree with me that, on so many levels, this sort of service is completely unacceptable. We are devoted to a five-star hotel, but this is not the type of service that we have initially expected. We are extremely dismayed by this experience.

We hope that actions will be taken to resolve and prevent such unsafe incidents.

Regards, Elena and Pavel...