曼特拉羅素酒店 - 墨爾本(Mantra on Russell Melbourne)

Unfortunately this property was advertised as having room service and FOXTEL when in actual fact it had neither. As we were spending a considerable amount of time in our room, I specifically picked this place BECAUSE it supposedly had these amenities. We couldn't even watch the regular channels on TV because it was constantly glitching. We also spent quite a bit of money on ubereats because there was no room service as advertised. The place was essentially an apartment when we were wanting an apartment/hotel experience.

Fantastic location within walking distance of shops, dining and transport. It isn’t a full service hotel, but if hotel dining and room service isn’t something you’re after, this is a great option. Nice pool and hot tub. Breakfast buffet has a decent range of foods and they make good coffee (at additional cost). Beds are a bit springy and soft but not uncomfortable. Nespresso machine in the kitchen is a bonus. Water refilling station outside the breakfast area is great for filling your bottles with cold flat or sparkling water to take out with you for the day. Staff very pleasant and helpful. Minor irritations - wifi not great; weak exhaust fan in bathroom means it gets pretty steamy and the mirror gets badly fogged; power points in bedrooms were single and taken by lamps and very inaccessible, which was dreadful for charging devices by the bed; car parking was awkward. Nice atmosphere. I would definitely stay again.

Good location, overall average. Quite dusty, felt the air in the rooms was quite stuffy. Carpet at the room entry has not been vacuumed for a while, there was a layer of dust on it. Needs a bit of love, i.e. small details like broken tiles in the bathroom and loose grout need to be fixed, a fresh lick of paint on high touch areas. Christmas decorations looked sad, and some common areas really need to be redone, looked dirty and run-down (balconies, pool). Had a huge black spider in one of the room ceiling corners - obviously the housekeeping missed to see it! Did not feel very welcome, staff on duty were quite disinterested… we’ll not be coming back.