During our visit to Melbourne, we spent the first 2 nights in Novotel St Kilda and the last nights in Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport. And one night in Comfort Inn, the International at Apollo Bay when we do the famous Great Ocean Road scenic drive. In total, we stayed 4 nights in Melbourne, Victoria.
For the first two nights, we purposely choose to stay away from the Melbourne city center because we have a rental car with us and driving inside the CBD area can be daunting especially there are also trams running together with other vehicles on the roads. We stayed in the Novotel St Kilda neighborhood which is about 15 mins to the city. The good thing is there is a tram line directly bring you to the city center just outside the hotel.
Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport Review
For the final nights in Melbourne, we stayed in the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport because we needed to go to the Airport to catch the flight home.
The hotel sits opposite of Melbourne Airport and only half an hour to the city. The room is soundproof, clean, features a flat-screen TV, desk, and minibar with tea and coffee making facilities.
There is also a microwave oven and a kettle.
Bathroom Review
It has everything travelers need, the toiletries & clean towels. The bathtub and shower are together and separated by a curtain.
Parking Area
Parking is AUD 20.00 per night, park outdoor.
Others
There is a buffet breakfast available for a fee of AUD 28.50 per person in case you need one. We did not choose to have breakfast in the hotel as we prefer to have our breakfast in Chinatown Melbourne.
There is a free 24-hour return airport shuttle if you are not driving or have already return your car.
A free local area shuttle is also available.
There are free bottled water at the front desk and not inside the room, the water in the room is charged. The free bottled water is moving fast and when all taken by the guests, you may not find them anymore. It depends on your luck.
Final tips:
Our oversea flight is at around 9 pm at night so we still have half a day to play around in Melbourne. We check out at around 9 am with our luggage and put inside our rental car. Then we drove to Melbourne Airport to check out where is the place to return the car. We do not want to return the car yet but we just wanted to find out where is the exact location to return the car so that we don’t get panic in the evening as the time can be rushed.
Apparently the car return is not located inside the airport but a separate building nearby Melbourne airport. So it was lucky for us to check it out first as the airport is quite confusing and big. (The GPS told us the car rental is in the airport and leads us to the airport! Luckily I asked an airport staff and he kindly pointed me the way.) So it is always good to check it out first or come to the airport earlier. After we knew where to return the car, we then drove away happily and spend the rest of our afternoon exploring Melbourne.