Hyatt Place Melbourne Airport, Essendon Fields

The food and the staff were both lovely, but the entertainment made the night hard to enjoy. I met friends at your gastro bar last night, and the man you hired to sing was awful. He was off key, his playing was off key too, and the speaker was turned up until it distorted. It was so loud that it was genuinely distressing. He seemed very drunk while performing, and the more he drank, the louder and stranger it got. He was screaming instead of singing. Between songs, he was downing pints of beer at the bar, and he could barely walk when he left. I was really disappointed. It spoiled the evening, and it’s not what I’d expect from the Hyatt. Melbourne has so many talented artists, so why hire this guy and let him carry on all night?

The chips were the best part of dinner. I was with a group and ordered the beef and red wine pie, but mine came about 20 minutes after everyone else’s, presumably because it was forgotten. That’s OK, mistakes happen. The restaurant needs to do better. The pie looked and tasted like something from the Coles freezer section, and I didn’t eat it. Paying $33 for what seemed like a supermarket pie is pretty cheeky when local cafes offer gourmet pies for less. It’s a nice hotel, but come on, there’s a Hyatt sign out front.

The events team, rooms, and meals have all been consistently fantastic whenever I stay here. The staff are always ready to go above and beyond. It’s 10/10 every time.

The heat didn’t work in what they called “their best room,” which was apparently acceptable to them. The room also had motion and body heat sensors that switched things off whenever we weren’t in it. We were told we were getting an upgrade, but that room had a connecting room on one side and the elevators on the other, so it wasn’t quiet. There’s an open hole where a bathroom handle should be, so you end up sharing everything with your travel companions. And the location looks out over the highway.