Rosebud Motel — Hotel in Melbourne

I read some reviews before coming that said a) there were no bedside lamps so getting up to go to the bathroom in the night was dangerous b) there was no cutlery or crockery so they had to buy plastic plates and knives to make toast

I’d like to set the record straight on both of these. As soon as I walked into our room, I saw the individual bedroom lamps, one on each side. I thought, yay! That review was wrong then. And as for the lack of cutlery/crockery, wrong again! There were only two mugs in the room but the receptionist told us as soon as we arrived that there was more cutlery, crockery, cooking utensils etc in the common room and that if we use them to just wash them and return them (which is easy to do as we were provided a little bottle of dishwashing detergent, a chux and a tea towel! It was all very well set up for us. And as I said there were cupboards upon cupboards of glasses, bowls, plates, pots, pans, wooden spoons, basically every kitchen implement you could dream of in the common room. So I felt the need to post this so other people won’t be dissuaded by those reviews!!

Apart from proving the wrong reviews right though, I also just wanted to express my gratitude, because as soon as we arrived our room was so clean, well set up and frankly really nice design-wise. It is so cute and neat and again I say clean, because having a clean room is so important.

The woman at the front desk was so lovely, she told us where to find eating implements as I said before, she told us when to expect a room clean, and when we used all the complimentary teabags that were provided, I went over to the office to ask for more, and she was more than happy to give me more. I was worried they might judge me for already wanting more but she was so lovely and gave them to me with no problems at all. Also shoutout to the receptionist’s dog who was behind the counter! I loved meeting him and it was such a nice surprise! He was just as friendly as his mama.

Anyway sorry this is so long but I was just so impressed in general, I love the idea of motels I think they’re so cute, and this was even better than I was expecting. I think people think of motels as worse, dingy versions of hotels but to be honest this was just as good if not better than any hotel...

WARNING, WARNING Read to the bottom of this review! I stayed here last night for a single night. The rooms have been tastefully renovated and were nice and clean which is quite important to me. There is still plenty of room for improvement though. There are no bedside lamps (in room 5 at least) so you switch off the light and head towards the bed in the dark. What is more dangerous is getting up in the middle of the night in complete darkness and trying to find the light switch. An easy problem to fix. Not so easy is the absence of any fresh air, unless you open the front window which does two things. Firstly it compromises your security as this leaves just a fly wire screen between you and any potential intruder, and secondly it allows a lot of passing traffic noise to enter the room. More minor things are the absence of any bowls, plates or cutlery which means if you want to make some breakfast, it's off to the supermarket to buy paper plates etc. as I did. There is a toaster so I don't know how they expect you to cut or spread a piece of toast. Finally, advice for the owner. Don't B.S. your customers. When I protested about the $135 price being $20 more than one of the booking companies, he said (and I think this line gets used quite a lot), "I've put you in the Deluxe room as all the others are booked out". At five o'clock this morning, half of all the rooms were empty, and there was nothing "deluxe" about my room. This cost you one star, learn from that! WARNING ! BEWARE ! I have changed my review from two stars down to one because the owner retained my credit card details for several days after I paid my account, and upon reading my two star review, illegally deducted a further $200 from my account. When I phoned, he insisted I give him my credit card details otherwise "the system" would not accept it as a booking. Naturally, I complied and this was the result. If you are wise, you'll give him an incorrect digit on your card when you book the room, and then just pay by "touch n go" when you arrive. This matter of theft of $200 is in hand with the police. After being spoken to by the police, Alberto has refunded the stolen $200 ! I doubt he will pull that...

Quite a peculiar place, this. On the one hand, the unit we stayed in had clearly been recently refurbished and all the main fittings were clean and new and worked well - apart from the aircon which was an old, wall-mounted clunker which seemed oddly out of place. Fortunately the weather was cool and the modern panel heater worked fine.

On the other hand, the floor covering is vinyl tiles throughout - no rugs or carpet - so is cold and hard underfoot (but I daresay it's easy for the staff to keep clean). But the major drawback is the almost complete lack of the useful smaller things one would expect to find in a motel: no cutlery apart from one solitary teaspoon, and no crockery apart from three coffee cups. There are two cutting boards but no knife to cut anything with, and a toaster but not a single plate to bung your toast on, and nary a bowl to put breakfast cereal in - let alone a spoon to eat it with. A 250mL carton of milk (with a dinky little straw attached) is supplied, but the only way to access the milk is to squeeze it out through the tiny hole in the top intended for the straw. There is no box of tissues provided, and there are no bedside lamps - and the overhead lighting provided is white, bright and glary. So if you fancy doing a spot of open heart surgery on the ironing board (provided), this would be a nice, bright, sterile place to do it. We were told this was a deluxe unit, so I can't imagine what a standard unit would be like. But a cosy and welcoming place to stay...