Oaks Melbourne on Collins Suites — Hotel in Melbourne

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to formally express my grave concerns regarding a serious breach of privacy, safety, and conduct by your hotel staff during my recent stay. This misconduct not only compromised my legal rights but also negligently exposed me to potential harm. As a result, I am seeking a full refund for my entire stay due to the severity of these breaches.

During my stay, your team unlawfully disclosed sensitive information about my personal circumstances to an individual with whom I was formerly in a relationship, an ex-partner who was also staying at the hotel. They shared my check-in details, companionship status, and the floor I was located on. These disclosures violated my right to privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), which prohibit unauthorised collection, use, or disclosure of personal information.

Furthermore, these breaches directly disregarded the seriousness of my final court-ordered intervention order, a legally binding domestic violence protection order issued by the courts. The dissemination of my private information contributed to a threatening and abusive situation. My friend and I were forced to leave the hotel while my ex intimidated, threatened, controlled, and manipulated me. The sharing of private information exacerbated the situation and jeopardised my safety and well-being. We were forced to wait hours until it was deemed safe to return, exposing me to further risk of harm and trauma.

Upon engaging with your staff regarding this matter, I was met with dismissiveness, defensiveness, and outright disrespect. Not once did any member of your team demonstrate empathy or take appropriate steps to address the gravity of their misconduct. Despite my efforts to alert management about the need for staff training in areas relating to the safety of individuals experiencing domestic violence, I was met with a dismissive response suggesting such situations are not within your concern. Your staff’s comment that “we should not be placed in this situation” demonstrates a shocking lack of understanding and duty of care owed to vulnerable guests.

The conduct of your staff not only breaches the legal obligation to protect guests’ privacy and safety but also amounts to negligence under Australian law. The hotel has a duty of care to provide a secure environment and respect guests’ legal rights; failure to do so may entitle me to pursue remedies, including damages for emotional distress and, most importantly, a full refund of my stay due to the breach of contract and statutory obligations.

Given the circumstances, I demand a full refund for all charges incurred during my stay as a matter of urgent redress. I reserve the right to escalate this matter beyond this correspondence, including complaint submissions to relevant regulatory authorities and legal action to seek compensation for the distress and potential harm I have suffered.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter and confirm your immediate action to process my refund. I expect a response within 7...

Decided to write this as I have not received any explanation or reply from the management team regarding my experience there, it's just appalling at the lack of empathy shown by the management. I realised how important google reviews are as I would have 100% avoided this place if I read the reviews prior to booking.

To put in simple words, the hotel was not at all as advertised, dirty , old and I ended up falling ill staying there . I had booked this place via booking.com and it was advertised as a 4 star apartment with 7/10 rating. Needed a place to stay for an important exam and was happy to have found a place which included a kitchen, microwave , fridge and kettle. So I was in shock when I arrived at the hotel. You can tell that the place has not been maintained well. The smell of old carpet hits you the moment you step into the lift.

When I entered the room, I was appalled at the condition of the place. I felt ripped off as I could have stayed in a better hotel with housekeeping and breakfast included at the same price. (I have attached pictures of the place when I first arrived) The room smelled like a public toilet mixed with sweat and mold There was no indication that any attempt was made to clean the room prior to me checking in There was dust on the edges of the carpet and just stains on the carpet The bedsheets had stains on them The bathroom smelled like a public toilet, worse in fact. There was red fluid stains on the sink mixed with hair (how could they allow any guest check into a room like that?) The flow was dirty. The shower curtains smelled of sweat. I wish I was lying, but I had to mentally prepare myself everytime I had to use the bathroom There was dust over both the table that I had to clean out as I needed to do work

I couldn't sleep properly for the first night due to itchy eyes and allergic rhinitis. I decided to check out after two nights there(booked for 6 nights). Disappointed at myself for not checking out earlier but I was too engrossed with work stuff that I stayed on but when I started getting wheezy, I decided that is the final call and asked to check out immediately.

I sent a message to the company via booking.com and they asked me to go downstairs to check out. No apology or explanation was offered . The staff at the reception did not look surprised at me checking out and complaining, and apologised with little empathy. But I am well aware all of this boils down to the management, the front desk was probably helpless as well.

I ended up with an allergic reaction and wheeze after staying at the place. Definitely lost more than the 290 dollars that i spent for 2 nights at the place. I felt ripped off by the place , and just appalled at the lack of initiative from the management given that these issues are not new. Its a wonder how this place is still operating. Never...

The front desk staff were an absolute pleasure to deal with - by far my one gleaming experience for my stay.

The location is prime (which goes without saying) and offers plenty of nearby choices for cafes, restaurants and other places of interest.

Whilst the rooms themselves weren't particularly sub par, there were a few key factors that stood out as negatives to my stay.

First and foremost (as has been my experience with other accommodation in Melbourne unfortunately), the tiled surfaces of the bathroom needed to be deep cleaned a good time ago. I must admit to have donning a pair of sandals to ware the perils of a shower on my first night.

As limescale seemed to be prominent on both the kitchen and bathroom sink faucets in addition to the tinea ridden floors, I ended up purchasing some of my own cleaning supplies to remedy the situation upon my return to the room on day 2. And while this leads directly on to my second note for concern here, I will quickly take my opportunity to mention how inexplicably poor the design of the kitchen sink faucet was... A straight neck faucet angled down almost perpendicular to the near edge of the sink basin - which when coupled with the unpredictable water pressure the tabs provided was a recipe for a soaked midriff every time. The faucet shoots out of the pipe directly at the end of the tube, as opposed to being directed downwards over the sink hole. Seriously, this thing was splash mountain.

The other issue I offer for feedback was that either the cleaning staff were working with a skeleton crew, or had some other reason they seemed to be stretched thin. Whilst, the complimentary selection of clean towels and toiletries, awaiting my daily return to my room, was certainly well received, sitting atop the freshly made bed, the lack of care in other regards was a let down. For instance, I'm certain the room was not vacuumed once over my entire week long stay (evident from the ever increasing buildup of clutter on the carpet each day) and I was already sour to the floor situation due to my previous point. This same root issue took form in several other small observations made during my stay but overall nothing was a complete deal breaker if I'm being fair.

Overall, my impression of the hotel still remained positive, it was just a shame to see them lose points for issues that shouldn't be overly hard to remedy. Once they were to take care of these factors, my experience would have been completely positive and satisfactory given the...