Holiday Inn Express Melbourne Southbank by IHG

I recently stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Melbourne and had a great experience overall! The staff were incredibly friendly and super helpful, making my stay very comfortable. However, the breakfast quality was a letdown. Compared to another Holiday Inn location I visited last year, which had an excellent breakfast spread, this one fell short. Perhaps it's worth considering an upgrade to the breakfast options to match the high standards of service provided by the staff. Nonetheless, the hotel's hospitality and staff made up for it, and I'd still recommend it to others.

Location is good and easily accessible for shops, restaurants and bars on the Southbank. Unusual reception location which is on the 7th floor. We stayed for a week, and although the room was clean, it was very small. Housekeeping was shocking, to the extent that even toilet paper and tissues were not replenished when empty. Our worst experience however was, despite informing front desk staff on the first 4 consecutive days of our stay that our room door was not being shut after 'servicing' they couldn't seem to grasp how totally unacceptable and worrying this was, they even intimated that we might not have closed it when we left it in the morning! Apologies and excuses were given, but no action taken until day 5 when I completely lost my composure through sheer frustration! We might as well not been issued with a room key, as we, or anyone else for that matter, could've just walked straight in after housekeeping had left!! Breakfast was the poorest we've experienced anywhere, cold scrambled eggs and bacon are not appealing and even after requesting a new batch, the eggs remained cold. Very little choice of alternatives, unless you like toast or cakes. We attempted the first 2 mornings, as the cost was added to the price of the room, but ended up going to a little cafe/bistro around the corner which was excellent. An added expense but at least it was edible. I would definitely not recommend this hotel, nor would we return in the future.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and found the rooms to be of the standard layout and design you’d expect, functional and consistent. However, our overall experience was let down by a series of inconveniences and poor communication. Upon arrival, we were assigned a room with a door that was extremely difficult to open. When we asked reception for assistance, we were told to “just push harder.” Since this wasn’t a practical solution, we were moved to a second room. The second room was missing the block-out blinds so were then moved a third time. The third room is where we eventually settled. Unfortunately, the new room had a few indicators that showed a lack of attention to detail in the housekeeping as well. There were noticeable scuff marks on the walls, chipped door hanger and one of the pillowcases was ripped. Additionally, the pillows labeled “soft” and “firm” didn’t match their actual firmness. These were all small things and after a long day we didn’t bother to return back to the desk. As compensation, we were offered a higher-floor room. My husband was given a voucher stating that 500 IHG points would be added to our membership. However, when he showed me the voucher, I questioned whether our membership had actually been linked to the booking. We returned to reception, where the staff confirmed it hadn’t been added. Instead, we were given two drink vouchers for the bar. The following day, we got stuck in the lift with five people inside. None of our keycards worked to access our floor. At reception, the staff member immediately knew which lift we were referring to but didn’t offer an apology, she only explained that we needed to “hold the key to the reader longer.” She then reset our cards. Later that day, while in a different lift with a small family, their child remarked, “This is the slow lift,” which honestly summed up the experience quite well. While the hotel’s location is convenient and the facilities are consistent with the Holiday Inn Express brand, the multiple room changes, oversights in detail, and dismissive service made this a disappointing stay.