Dorsett Melbourne — Hotel in Melbourne

I was so looking forward to my stay at this hotel but was so disappointed and quite frustrated. I’m not one to leave long reviews like this but I wouldn’t want others to turn up to this.

Firstly I called ahead to ask if they had little toiletry kits such as toothbrush and toothpaste in the room as I forgot to bring. They said that they did and would make sure it was in my room. When I arrived there were no toiletries in the room. I called reception to ask for some she said someone would be there soon, I waited 20 mins before I called back and informed her I was waiting to go out and wanted to brush my teeth so was there a way I could come and get it myself to save waiting. She brought them up after that which was good of her.

Then, went to go to the pool and realised no bathrobes or slippers in the room so had to call again for someone to bring them and waited another 20 mins. Lots of waiting around when I just wanted to start enjoying myself. Got to the pool and the whole vibe was weird, there was upbeat party kind of music, so many kids jumping in pool and splashing around and there was a really weird smell. The sauna and steam room was inside the toilets which was strange. There were no water fountain or anywhere to get a drink after using sauna. I thought this was strange they usually have this at all other places I’ve been to. Just not the relaxing experience I was intending on I guess.

The most frustrating thing was all of the light in the room. I switched off all the lights to go to sleep and my room was facing the light up garden they have in the middle of the hotel and there were gaps all around the curtain so the bright lights shined in. Bear in mind all the lights are constantly changing colours so the room was lighting up all different colours. Then the light switches had illumines lights around them which couldn’t be switched off, these were next to the bed and on outside of the bathroom and the fire alarms were over the bed flashing a bright red light. On top of this my room was next to the lift so all I could hear every few minutes was the lift ‘ding ding lift going down’. I tried to put up with this for 30 mins trying to sleep but it was impossible so I called reception to change rooms. The person I spoke to was understanding and helpful and switched my room. My second room was higher up so less light got through from the garden however the lights inside the room was still an issue so I had a terrible sleep.

There were also fixed bottles of shampoo and moisturiser on the wall next to the sink, no hand wash? I guess shampoo works but still strange. As well as in the shower 2 shampoo and 1 conditioner, no body wash.

Upon check out, they took my key card and said goodbye, no one bothered to even ask how my stay was so I thought I would give feedback here to others.

I’ve stayed in multiple hotels in Melbourne and this would definitely be at the bottom of my list, I wouldn’t be staying here again.

On a positive note, the gym was well equipped, breakfast was good and a good location near...

Originally thought that the hotel looked really nice and pretty big and that we’ll have a good stay. Absolutely mistaken. Probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had with hotels, especially hotels who market themselves as “4 stars” hotel.

The lobby has a weird smell that I think should be perfume but ended up smelling a little like fart or something. That’s not too bad to be fair just funny.

But I did a ceramic piece in Melbourne, and when I gave it to the hotel to store, I received it back broken. Neck snapped in half, some small pieces on the side shattered. It took me 5-6 hours to paint that. It couldn’t have broken like that unless it was dropped onto the ground and probably from a relatively high level too. I have taken great care of my ceramic, making sure its safely stowed away even if I was on the streets for a few more hours after completing it. I went back to the hotel the night I made it and it looks perfect and completely fine. The next morning we handed it to the staff for temporary storing since we had to check out, and the staff attempted to take all 6 pieces of our luggage in one single try, which I think contributed to their haste in putting our things down and just being careless. She also looked really annoyed that we had so much luggage. And then I came back at night to find out my ceramic doll’s neck has completely snapped in half. The unfortunate thing is I only found out on my Uber, but the time between me getting it back from the staff and getting onto the Uber was probably less than 5 minutes, and I did not drop it at all or even hit it against anything. I emailed their manager, but ultimately they said there was no cctv in the luggage room and they can’t prove anything even after checking the cctv in the lobby and just asked me to trust that their staff told the truth. Also the manager said “we have confirmed with the team who managed your bags that no special handling instructions were provided. Had we received such instructions, we would have ensured that the white bags were handled with the utmost care and kept separate from other heavy luggage.” So does it mean they’ll just be careless with my things if I hadn’t told them to handle it specially? I honestly should have mentioned and tell them to "handle with care", but I thought a “high class” hotel could do better than that and also not give me such lame excuses. I have called a few times to the lobby to ask for help on getting some items, but every time they sounded like they didn't know what I was talking about and was annoyed I couldn't make them understand. On top of my ceramic breaking, I’m thoroughly disappointed with the attitude of all staff in Dorsett Melbourne. I just feel so frustrated and upset after this. (I've included all the photo evidence down there with time stamps too)

I really loved Melbourne though! It's just the experience with the hotel sucks. So if anyone doesn't want to risk their luggages breaking etc, please...

Unfortunately my experience fell short of expectations because of the unprofessional housekeeping team. It seems that the whole place is run by people who don't know what they are doing. The room has not been properly cleaned. Although they change the towels and make up the bed, there were many issues: Glasses and spoons were not cleaned for a couple of days, despite being visibly dirty after I used them. The toilet bowl was not cleaned properly on one occasion. Some random clean sheets were left at the bedside cabinet, forgotten. I left one of the key cards in the keycard slot near the door when I went out to town and once I came back it had been removed and taken away by the housekeepers. Finally, and most importantly, the day before the check out when I returned to my room I realized that my boxer shorts are missing - most likely having been taken away by the housekeepers together with the bedsheets they were removing. So I called the reception to report the missing shorts, I had a visit from a member of housekeeping team to investigate, but the shorts were never found by the time I had to check out and leave for the airport.

Thank you to the management team who acted like they cared, listened to my feedback, and at least seemed like they tried to do something about it and compensated me in a way. But it seems that most employees working here are young foreigners, perhaps on the working holiday visas, hence untrained, inexperienced, and providing subpar service not worthy a 4 star hotel.

Few other minor issues: Despite the building being new, it seems the walls are pretty thin, I could hear a child shouting in the room next door although it was not very loud. Some socket outlets are incompatible with travel adapters - after plugging in the device via the travel adapter, it was not charging. Random sockets worked, random ones did not. Door to the room does not lock properly - you have to pull it, otherwise if you just leave the room hoping the door will slam and shut, it actually remains open. Tap in the bathroom sink is too high which makes the water splash around the basin area. Breakfast is not worth the money - you will be better off trying nearby coffee shops. Despite doing the pre-check in online and providing all the personal details so that I could do express check in via their check-in machine, upon arrival when I scanned the QR code the system did not approve and I still had to come to the reception. So save your time and don't bother with the online pre-check in process.

On the positive side, I found the bed comfortable and the room quiet so at least I had a good sleep which is probably the most important thing. Location is also pretty good: central and convenient. Less than 10 mins walk from the main train station where you can catch the airport bus.

Given all the issues, especially with the housekeeping, unfortunately I cannot recommend this...