Novotel Melbourne Airport

We booked this new hotel out of curiosity and trust of large brand, but quite disappointed The hotel located at an area outside t4, next to the big parking building/bus terminal, but there are no/minimum signage/directions leading to the hotel, while only one arrow at the bus terminal pointing at the big building with the large novotel logo, making everyone thinks that we can access the hotel through the well lighted bus terminal with ease, but sadly there is no crossing facilities between the terminal and hotel, you will need to lift your luggages, jaywalking through two car lane and climbing up the lane islands if you dont want to walk back 200m for the unnoticeable correct route; in fact the only route leading to the hotel from the airport is the side walk OPPOSITE to the big arrow with poor lightings and no signage at all. As a tourist with heavy luggage, thanks for offering the chance to weight lifting. When we arrived and reflect the problem, concierge said they also received similar complains. So nothing has been done to correct the nonsense and good luck to all the up coming visitors. The room is decent to be honest and with a clear view facing the car park building we mentioned earlier, no much to see yet no problem for us too. Bed is soft and comfortable allowing us to have some good rest. However, theres an empty black bottle in the rubbish bin i believed to be the leftover from the last guest, hope the housekeeper can have a closer look in the future. Some facilities have great designs that i would like to greet the designer/procurement and admire their mastermind for installing those equipment and challenge the wisdom of humankind. For instance: the anti-intuitive shower switch for change to top shower or handheld shower head, it is semi cylinder disguised as part of wall mount of the top shower, which is about 1.9m - 2m from the ground, for those who cant find the switch and not tall enough will have to stick with what was preset. Second, the hot water dispenser at the breakfast bar, you can simply press the two buttons on top and nothing would happen, turns out there is an extra sensor you need to block with your thumb and use another finger to press the buttons on top, this can encourage guests to give up on the hot water if no one is around to ask. The breakfast is the most disappointing part, frankly all quality are high standard but the choices are few and basic, simply bacons/ eggs/ veges/ salad/ hams (well the mushrooms are very impressive though), there is also a honey hive (with a rectangular frame) but mostly empty at the middle (at the time of 7am) where the side are hard to spoon out, ppl try very hard but the loose stands make it even harder to spoon out, the frame eventually collapse and guest gave up to take the hive. No staff notice/try to fix the collapsed honey hive/ change to a new one during my whole breakfast ( around half an hour) and remain the same when we left. The pancakes supposed to be eat with the honey are dry and inedible imo too. The price for the hotel is not cheap comparing to the nearing but the standard does not meet up with the price, facilities are new and thats the only advantage on the table. PS: the hotel offer free shuttle to the terminals too, try to mention and book for your shuttle as there are only 3-4 seats if everyone have large luggages, otherwise the concierge will be surprised you did not ask for this hidden service with no mentioning during check in and no timetable ever provided when you check with them in the morning.

The Novotel Melbourne Airport is very conveniently located near Terminal 4 of the airport. It was a short walk to catch our international flight. All is well with the hotel's room, where it was clean and was well provided for. However, they need to look into their self check-in kiosks which none worked no matter which one I tried. As a result, the check-in queue was long as we had to wait for 2 agents to check ALL of us in.

The signage upon parking is really bad, you need to do a lot of guess work as to where the e trance is once you are in the underground parking. Which by the way is $40 extra.  We were given our room key and pointed to the direction of the lifts and I piece of paper with very basic explanation of things.  We headed to our room and immediately left to go and see if there were any other options. Initially we were given a room that had a view of the carpark, walkway and  roofing, lots of steel and very claustrophobic. I told the lady I wanted a room less depressing our view was just small being boxed in with steel and no view. She was kind enough to upgrade us to a king room with amazing views.  Not a lot was explained to us so we had to look for the recreation room and facilities on our own. The staff are very detached and service with a welcoming smile was simply not there. The room had no slippers, robes, shower caps or complimentary water.  Breakfast was much the same attitude, she asked for the room number and go sit and eat. No explanation of gluten free options or how we obtain a hot chocolate as the coffee machine does not dispense hot chocolate or chai. The scrambled eggs were so cold and disgusting. Would I stay here again? Probably not!

Everything fine , near the airport so you can easily reach to terminal for next flight

Food variety was minimal for a vegan or vegetarian, or OVO person, and it was not recommended much.

Great hotel near to the airport and fantastic rooms. Staff could be a little faster in supporting travellers who are looking for a short airport stay before heading off on another flight. Great room though had we been staying longer.