REVIEW |InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto

Early 2020 AD. Timothy and I embark on a 21st century Odyssey. On the Majestic Princess from Sydney to New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji. Back to Sydney, then to Melbourne and flying back home.

After disembarking from our cruise and flying over from Sydney to Melbourne, the InterContinental Melbourne would be our base for a few days. It is located in the Melbourne CBD, close to the Southern Cross railway station. The hotel occupies two old heritage buildings (one of them was The Rialto, hence the name) with a new glass atrium connecting the two.

Even though as an Intercontinental Ambassador perk I should be given a complimentary upgrade to the next room level, the hotel wasn’t ‘able’ to give me one, something I encountered more recently and makes me think about whether it is still worth to pay to keep my Ambassador status.

So we got allocated our booked room, a Twin Club Room on the 6th floor. The room was nice and big, with two comfortable beds. The doors to the balcony where located for safety and security.

There was also a desk area for Timothy to work on. The sound proofing between rooms wasn’t particularly good as we could listen in to any conversations our neighbours where having.

A nice gimmick in the room was an iPad that could be used as an interactive hotel directory, it wasn’t as useful as the smartphone available in your room in the InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay however.

The bathroom reminded me a lot of the Intercontinental Toronto in having a very similar design, but a different colour palette. I really liked the rain shower, but Timothy would have preferred to have a proper bath.

A turndown service had to be requested before 18:00 so I called to housekeeping and it was arranged for us. Luckily we did because on the second day the housekeeping forgot to make up our room and it was the turndown service that solved it in the evening.

The gym and the pool where located on the top floor, so you had to be careful to select the right elevator as only one went there. During our stay there where engineering works on the roof, so the gym and pool where closed between 13 and 16 each day.

The pool was rather shallow, but nicely warm and the hot tub was really hot. Thanks to the glass roof the pool area was a bit nicer than the one in InterContinental Sydney. The gym had nice equipment and Timothy liked going there.

As we booked a club room we had access to the Club Lounge. It was located on the 4th floor in the building opposite us, so we had to cross the atrium on a bridge. The club lounge was opened from 6:30 to 20:00, which is quite early to close as most club lounges are open until 22:00.

The lounge itself was relatively small but still offered some different styles of seating and if you looked properly you could find some power plugs so that was already an improvement over the one in Sydney. If you wished there was also a small outdoor balcony and a boardroom available for use.

The WiFi signal in the lounge was pretty bad and depending on where you where seated, you often had no signal at all.

Throughout the day hot and soft drinks where complimentary as well as some cookies and peanuts. If you wished you could order something off the paid menu and have it delivered to you.

Breakfast was served in the morning with some made to order dishes on the menu, which where all delicious, and a small buffet offering the essentials like bread, pastries and cold cuts.

In the afternoon there was afternoon tea, on which you were offered an étagère with a selection of sandwiches, scones and sweet bites. If you wished you could have an extra offering of sandwiches and scones.

In the evening there where evening canapes served to you on a plate, with something different every day. There was also a buffet with a possibility to make your own salad, some bread, cold cuts and cheeses and some fruits.

If you do not have lounge access the breakfast is served in the restaurant downstairs on the lower level of the atrium. This is also where you can have drinks and proper food throughout the day.

We had a good stay in the InterContinental Melbourne, despite the small hiccups we experienced we would still stay there again a next time thanks to its friendly staff and central location.

Has housekeeping ever forgot to clean your room? If so what did you do and how was it solved? Let us know in the comments below!