The recently opened Ritz Carlton Melbourne (March 2023) offers a very high standard of service and is one of the best hotels in the city, if not the best.
You’ll find a summary of the articles about this trip to Australia at the bottom of the page.
Booking
Three months before my trip, I booked an entry-level deluxe room for 223 euros a night. The day before my arrival I’ll check the Marriott app to see that I’ve been upgraded to a panoramic room. There were no more suites available in the inventory, so I didn’t expect anything better.
Location of the hotel
The hotel is located in the city center, on the edge of the hypercenter. Close to the train station, it has excellent public transport links to all parts of the city. It’s also no more than a 20-minute walk from most of the city’s sights.
Arrival at the hotel and check-in
I arrive by cab from the airport mid-afternoon. I’m immediately greeted by a charming agent who welcomes me to “Australia’s most beautiful hotel”.
She accompanies me to the elevator to reach the reception desk on the 80th floor. In fact, the hotel occupies floors 65 to 80 of a large tower, and to access the various floors you have to go through the 80th floor, from which specific elevators depart – a bit like the Prince Gallery in Tokyo, for example. It is Australia’s highest hotel to date.
This floor houses the hotel’s reception, bars and restaurants, and is known as the skylobby.
L’accueil est très chaleureux et on me confirme immédiatement mon late check-out à 16h que j’avais demandé lors de mon check-in en ligne. Anyway, it’s a guaranteed benefit for Titanium members of the loyalty program, but it’s always nice to see it confirmed without having to ask.
I then take the elevator to my room on the 67th floor.
The panoramic room at the Ritz Carlton Melbourne
It’s actually a deluxe room with a view, but given that all the rooms are on high floors I don’t see what it has that’s more panoramic than the others. Especially since, as you’ll see, if the view is unobstructed, I don’t think it’s the best possible view of the city.
The room is entered through a small vestibule. To the right are the toilets and a large dressing room.
To the left is a large bathroom.
It features a large shower…
…and a bathtub.
The bathroom is open to the bedroom, but has a partition that can be closed. Opened up, it increases the impression of space, a subterfuge that hotels often resort to.
The bath products are of excellent quality and from the Dyptique brand.
The bedroom is large.
There’s a large table on which a bottle of wine offered by the property was waiting for me.
A lounge area is located in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window.
The bed is large and extremely comfortable, with excellent quality bedding.
Opposite is a large, swiveling TV.
Next to the table is the coffee machine and minibar.
The offer is rich and of high quality…
The minibar is well-stocked, a good thing as it’s increasingly common to find them empty.
As for the view, it’s beautiful and unobstructed but not exceptional.
A little anecdote: the window features a darkening device that activates on demand but also automatically when the room is empty, in my opinion to prevent the sun from hitting too hard and making the room too hot.
I woke up one morning to find that my view was all gray, much to my surprise, as I didn’t remember activating the device when I went to bed. In fact, the upper floors of the hotel were caught in a cloud that remained all day.
Impossible to know whether it was raining or not below….and in fact the weather was “normal”.
Let’s finish with the traditional video.
All in all, a very nice room, nicely sized and decorated with taste and sobriety.
Facilities
The hotel features a spa, gym and swimming pool. I’ll try the last two and for once I’ll skip the spa, at least the treatments. All are located on the 64th floor, the hotel’s lowest floor.
This area is clearly visible from the outside, with the large bay windows of the swimming pool.
The gym
It’s a good size and suitably equipped, but nothing more.
A second room is dedicated to floor exercises.
It’s not a phenomenal venue, but it’s bright and pleasant, all the more so as it will be very lightly used. One criticism, however: despite the air-conditioning, the air quickly becomes hot and muggy when the sun beats down on the windows. Not as much as at the JW Hanoi, where it was quite unbearable, but still not very pleasant.
The Pool
Open 24 hours a day, it’s simply superb.
The basin is a good size.
A little-visited spot that’s as quiet as it is restful.
As I was saying, the pool is open 24 hours a day, and at night it’s even more spectacular.
The spa
Although I didn’t try any of the spa treatments, I realized on my way to the bathroom after my workout that the shared pool and spa changing rooms included a Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room.
Very pleasant, especially as I’ll almost always be alone.
Bar and restaurant
The hotel has a bar and restaurant, as well as a lounge (as it’s called) which is nothing more or less than a lobby area.
The lounge
This is not a lounge reserved for certain customers, as the name might suggest, but an area in the lobby where you can order drinks or snacks at any time of day.
I didn’t try the place as I’m not a fan of bars located in the lobby passageway with no insulation.
Cameo Bar
This is the hotel’s signature bar, but it’s only open in the evening and not every day of the week. What’s more, it’s advisable to book in advance to be sure of a seat, which isn’t ideal when you suddenly feel like going for a drink. What’s more, the reservation is for a set period, so if the bar is full and the table is reserved by someone else, it’s not possible to linger. But since the place isn’t very big, it’s certainly the best way to handle things.
The decor reflects the image of the place: sober and tasteful.
The menu is highly original, featuring cocktails made exclusively with old vintage spirits, and when the stock is exhausted the cocktail disappears from the menu.
I tried out a few homemade creations that were really very good. The bartender who took care of me saw that I had a certain knowledge of the subject and would even make a creation especially for me to get my opinion, as he was thinking of putting it on the future menu.
A truly wonderful experience that I won’t be able to repeat because of the property’s opening days.
Atria Restaurant – Dinner
Here again, reservations are essential, and even if I booked in the afternoon, I wouldn’t find a place before 9.30pm, and even then it would be at the bar.
The room is nicely decorated, though too dark for my taste.
But at least the view is beautiful.
And here is the menu.
According to the restaurant’s communication, the menu is designed to be creative, highlighting local produce and respecting seasonality.
I’ll start with “crudo”, an assortment of raw fish, the Westernized version of sashimi.
Quality fish, but rather neutral in taste apart from the herring. Fortunately, there’s wasabi to spice things up, and the white soy sauce, which is finer than traditional sauce, was a pleasant discovery.
Then I’ll have the duck.
The meat was of excellent quality and cooked to perfection, but the turnip was a little bland. On the other hand, the Daikon (white radish) and garlic will be as tasty as you like and will liven up the dish nicely.
For dessert, I’ll have Riverland’s tangelo sabayon, charred citrus meringue, sheep’s yoghurt sorbet from the Merideth dairy, and bee pollen.
Very good
I’ll finish with a little digestive.
All in all, a good meal, but like many restaurants, I deplore the tendency to make the dining rooms darker and darker, to the point where you can barely see what’s on the plate.
On the other hand, the staff will be extremely friendly.
The service
Absolutely perfect: reception, bar, restaurant, everyone was both efficient and very friendly, unlike many Ritz Carltons where service is a little dusty and uptight.
A final detail that has nothing to do with the service, but does affect the overall experience. During my stay, the fire alarm went off twice, prompting requests to evacuate, which were not followed up too closely by the guests, who wondered what was going on. It would have been anecdotal if things had stayed as they were, but as it happens, it happened again and again in different hotels during this stay, making you wonder whether fire systems aren’t much more sensitive in this country.
Check-out
I’ll check out on the mobile app, so I can leave the hotel without having to go through the reception again.
Bottom line
A truly good property with large rooms, unobstructed views of the city, great facilities, especially the pool, and a lovely staff.
I only regret the smallness of the bar and the fact that it’s not open every day.
The articles about this trip to Australia
