W Melbourne — Hotel in Melbourne

I don’t want people to be in trouble, but management urgently need to understand what it’s like to stay there and train their employees.

The short story is that it’s a try hard / cool hotel in a decent location, but that is exhausting to stay at as the service is poor at every turn. Especially with kids. First world problems - yes - but this is c $500 a night, so you have high expectations right?

Stayed there for 2 nights. Facts:

We are a family of 5 - kids and adult in one room, grandpa in the other Booked two separate rooms 3 months ago with all of our names and ages and flagged we need a cot in one for the two year old

We arrived earlier than 3pm check in and reiterated we will need a cot. Agreed again. He asked us to write down who was in each room. Again. We did. No briefing on when breakfast is, checkout, pool and gym etc.

Went out for lunch, got texted (good) when it was ready (2.59pm). Checked into the room and they were immaculate and achingly ‘cool’. No cot. And no reflection of the family makeup we had agreed ie four towels, four robes, four slippers. Just all done for two. Had to share towels.

Called for a cot. Ten minutes later they arrived with one. It had a mattress and a sheet. Nothing else. I called and asked what bedding they expect my two year old to use. They said they don’t do cot blankets but would send up the smallest ones they have. We went out for dinner.

I asked reception to book a cab. We agreed I’d like an infant seat. Ten minutes later her boss came over and said you don’t need an infant seat in Victoria and would we like to book a normal one. I asked how long it would be and he said he had no idea. I booked an Uber.

When we came back they’d put a full size adult pillow and a full size double duvet next to it. See photo. They’d left a message on the phone - but if you press messages it says the "inbox isn’t configured"..

Next day we wake up and call reception to see when breakfast is (I’m not aware of there having been a briefing booklet in the room. Only a hardback about Melbourne’s laneways).

Breakfast starts at 7 - late for a modern city hotel? We go down and are greeted with the menu options. You can have continental buffet with coffee and juice included, or a la carte hot eggs dishes, or both. We were told that our two under 6 kids would be free and the 11 year old half price. No mention of this on the menus. The food was delicious and fresh. But I can’t say I’ve seen bacon and eggs split out from toast and fruit very often.

We leave and have to explain to them to take the coffees off the bill as they’re included.

Go out for the day and come back at 3. Neither room is made up. We call and they seem surprised. We go out for dinner and they are nicely made up when we return.

We get up for breakfast on the final day and are presented with a kids menu at the door and have to explain that the kids are charged at different rates. The guy takes our order with a scruffy pad and a highlighter. The coffees arrive cold. Hot chocolate for kids was included yesterday, but not today.

Go back to room and attempt to watch the tv which has been glitching ever since we arrived, so give up. Go down to reception and ask where you take the free city centre tram. She points us to the right place. But neglects to tell us it doesn’t start for another hour. We come back to the hotel.

We go to the pool. The pool is amazing. It’s the warmest pool I've stayed in: clean, nice view. Yesterday they brought icy poles for the kids. Great. Today they said it’s company policy to do them after midday. It was 10.30 and we were the only ones there.

In summary it’s a hotel trying very hard to be cool - yes I’ve stayed in Ws elsewhere and this is the brand. You don’t talk to the ‘concierge’ you talk to the ‘whatever’ desk. You don’t go to the ‘pool’ floor you go to ‘wet’ one. Ugh. But zero focus on the foundations of hospitality.

As comparison - we stayed in the Langham recently and the kids each had a backpack, slippers, robe and some candy on the bed. The cot had a cot blanket. We...

We spent a weekend at W Melbourne, booked the Marvelous Suite for 3 nights for about $950 a night (we went on to stay a further three nights in the WOW Suite - complimentary stay + upgrade). Quick review: I recommend other options in Melbourne, especially if you are travelling as a family. An option for business travellers who loves that vibe or going out for a party.

Rooms: Design is nothing great to the point of being tacky. Not much aspect. Feels quite dark and surrounded by buildings to the point you could join the next door offices zoom meeting. Where other W Hotels feature grand gestures of design, all you get is a simple slap on W branded hotel in Collins Arch. Sizes are generous but the use of the floor plan in bathrooms and walk in robes are not great.

Location: We chose W Melbourne for the Location, there were other hotels with better locations but W Melbourne is definitely one of the newest five star hotel in the heart of Melbourne's CBD. Though there were a few safety concerns both inside and outside the hotel.

Amenities: There's a good selection of Restaurants, I've heard good things about their Japanese Omakase, their breakfast served at Lollo is alright (nothing amazing). Swimming pool is on level 14, it's an adequately sized pool, just a pool with W styling slapped on. The heated pool does not smell good, chlorine like every other pool but whatever concoction of chemicals they used to keep the pool sanitary smells terrible. I have been to many swimming pools, they have managed to be heated, clean and smell unobtrusive. I didn’t use the GYM but I saw a man lift surf to go in.

Hygiene/Room Condition: You will see a number of reviews online talking about this, the rooms and housekeeping is definitely not on a five star hotel level. The room is dusty, the carpet has tons of lint strands, it’s definitely not great for people with asthma. Bedding not changed unless requested (sometimes they forget – this is a common occurrence as it seems there’s some kind of disjoint between different departments). Towels sometimes changed on the rack or sometimes not and bins not always emptied. My daughter suffered a eczema flare up from either the bedding or the pool. She immediately got better after we moved to another hotel.

Service: We can forgive five star hotels not having the perfect aspect or even designs we don't agree with but why we stay at five star Marriot Group hotels is for their hospitality. W Melbourne has terrible/awkward customer service and their team is disjointed, to the point I have to say it is the worst I have seen across any hotel I have stayed in. There are individuals at the hotel we met that were lovely and tried their best at their job but every second or third staff you'll have someone not quite there or not quite happy to be their.

If you're still reading, this is the reason I left a review and will continue to follow up this matter with Marriot Group and W Hotels managment.

We valeted our car with the hotel, one of their staff scraped the car. Tight carpark and accidents happen, I am not an unreasonable person, no one got hurt, the car can get fixed. It is how W Hotels staff and management dealt with this matter in the days that followed that was absolutely disgusting. No solution given apart from our insurance will deal with it - we drove down from Sydney to Melbourne so we were stranded whilst the car was getting fixed. Gian Marco De Cortes (Welcome Duty Manager) great guy, treated us like human beings but ultimately stuck between senior management and us. Shanthosh Kumar (Room Division Manager) and Andrew Dickson (Hotel Manager) did not bother to address our concerns to this day (above) their only concern was about charging us money for the extra nights we didn't need to stay in Melbourne.

My wife left a review about this experience online and W Melbourne had one of their staff verbally attack her - they have deleted all the comments now when we pointed it out but we have screenshotted it all. It's pretty poor and...

I had the worst experience at a 5-star hotel, for which I paid $495 for just one night. I was excited to stay at the renowned W Hotel, known as one of the world's high-end hotel brands. I've stayed in many 5-star hotels and frequently enjoy staycations.

However, this time was different. While I understand that issues can arise, what I experienced was completely unacceptable. I returned from dinner at Lollo around 9 pm, only to find my room in the exact same state as I had left it. The bed hadn't been made, and there was no fitted cover on the blanket. As I inspected further, I discovered dust on the bed headboard, power outlets, and phone. I immediately called the front desk to address the situation, and I was shocked to be told that turn-down service wasn't a standard practice and that the bed not being made was normal. This was despite the fact that I hadn't even used the bed. The room was in an unsatisfactory state, and I asked if someone could come and assess the situation. I was promised immediate assistance, but no one arrived for 30 minutes.

Growing frustrated, I had to go downstairs to find someone who could help. I spoke to Yaya and explained the situation, even showing her photographic evidence of the room's condition. Her response was surprising. She suggested that I might have placed a "privacy" sign on the door, which I hadn't done. I felt blamed for the hotel's shortcomings, and she kept reiterating that they would send someone experienced in housekeeping to look into it. I was told that the housekeeping team would investigate the issue based on the photos.

Notably, I have a baby with me, and it was already 10 pm. Considering that I was checking out the next day, waiting for this long was simply unreasonable. Yaya continued to type on her keyboard for an additional 15 minutes without taking any concrete action. She seemed more interested in finding excuses than in resolving the problem promptly. Her handling of the situation was unprofessional, and she even went so far as to say that the bed not being made was a normal occurrence.

I eventually reached a breaking point and offered to leave the hotel then and there, expressing my unwillingness to stay under such conditions. It was only at this point that Yaya finally escalated the matter to a manager who could provide a more immediate solution. The manager offered to change my room, which I accepted. I showed the manager the photos I had taken to document the room's state.

I found it hard to believe that this experience was happening at a W Hotel. The behavior of Yaya, in particular, left me baffled. It was as though she perceived my concerns as unreasonable. Her demeanor conveyed a lack of care and professionalism.

Even with the room change after an hour-long wait, the problems persisted. The next morning, when I attempted to enter my new room, the key didn't work. I spotted a housekeeping staff member nearby and tried to get her attention by calling out, but she ignored me. Frustrated once again, I had to return to the front desk, this time with my baby in tow.

I understand that issues can occur in any setting, but my disappointment stems not only from the lack of cleanliness and service but also from the way the situation was handled. I had expected a clean room and standard turn-down service; these expectations don't seem excessive for a W Hotel.

The hotel's disorganization and unprofessional approach left a lasting negative impression on me. I find it hard to reconcile this experience with the supposed 5-star status of the hotel's service. It's disheartening to have spent a considerable amount of money only to be met with such a disappointing encounter. Regrettably, this experience has led me to decide against using any Marriott brands or W Hotels...