Punthill Ivanhoe

The apartment itself was clean and modern, with adequate kitchen facilities and furniture. But the beds were left together as a Queen, even though I’d specifically asked for split beds and had spoken with the hotel several times beforehand. Room service came up after five minutes, then spent almost 30 minutes splitting the beds and remaking them. He discovered the other bed had no doona and said he’d need another 30 minutes to get one from the basement laundry. I was already tired and annoyed, so I told him to leave it. When I asked why it hadn’t been sorted before, he said the front desk hadn’t told him about the split. Later, the front desk said housekeeping had been informed but didn’t set it up properly. It felt like they were passing responsibility around, while I was left with a poor check-in and first impression. Parking at $30 a night seemed steep for the suburbs. And allowing smoking on the balcony isn’t a smart idea when the balconies have no proper partitions and big gaps between them. The smoke travelled through, which was disgusting as a non-smoker.

I’m extremely disappointed with Wotif and this company. I had a Christmas booking and asked to change the dates after explaining that our daughter and her family had been in Melbourne for nine weeks because their baby was born nine weeks premature. They had been going between the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Mercy Hospital. After many long weeks, we had no idea the hospital would send them to our local hospital’s special care nursery. We didn’t know they were being moved closer to home, which is two and a half hours from Melbourne. Even after I explained all this to both companies, they still took my $850. I asked to change the dates because we wouldn’t be in Melbourne. They kept the booking instead of cancelling it, but then cancelled it and kept the money. Absolutely disgusting!

After the place we’d stayed at nearby before this, which was like a haunted mop bucket pretending to be accommodation, this apartment felt like arriving at a heavenly spa. It was spotless, comfy and convenient, just steps from the Austin Hospital. The service made us feel like VIPs without any attitude, and the beds were comfortable. There was a late-night evacuation, which gave us a bit of unexpected excitement and some community bonding during an otherwise relaxing stay. Honestly, this place restored my faith in travel. I’d book again.

We booked for one night, and the room itself was clean with a well-equipped kitchen and bathroom. But parking is only on the street, which made check-in awkward. It was less of an issue later in the evening, but still inconvenient. The bed sagged badly in the middle and was incredibly uncomfortable. The pillows were long and high, not the standard ones usually provided. Without the parking problem and the bed, I’d have rated it higher. This definitely isn’t five-star accommodation, and an uncomfortable bed is unforgivable. I can’t remember the room number, but I would have included it so staff could lie on the bed and see how bad the sag is.