Zatrzymując się w City Stays, będziesz w doskonałej pozycji, aby odkryć wszystko, co ma do zaoferowania Melbourne.
„First off, this is an apartment, similar to homestays in China, but it has no front desk. Mark my words, absolutely no front desk! The security guards downstairs are for the entire building and won't store your luggage, open doors for you, or provide any other services. So, if you're thinking of storing your luggage when you leave, forget about it! This was my first time booking this type of apartment abroad, and I've flown to over 30 countries and 180 cities – this is definitely a first. They require check-in at 3 PM, but I communicated on the platform that I'd arrive early at 12 PM, and the host confirmed ”see you at 12 PM.” I thought ”see you at 12 PM” was just a casual ”see you soon,” but it wasn't. Since there's no front desk, staff have to travel from a distant office to let you in. Note that they don't have keypads; they have to physically hand you a key card. So, it's not like in China where even without a front desk, they can just send you a code for a keypad lock. I ended up arriving at 11 AM, found no front desk, panicked, and had no choice but to call them. I asked how to check-in and got a furious earful about how they said 12 PM, and why I arrived early, blah blah blah. I had no choice but to drag two 110-pound suitcases and wait for them for an hour on the main street in the cold early spring wind, only getting in at 12 PM. So, if you book this, you need to call ahead to coordinate check-in time, key card delivery time, etc.!
Now, about the room. I booked one with a balcony. The room is considered large for Melbourne, around 30 square meters, whereas many others are only about 10 square meters and are still rated four stars. This one is also rated four stars! Regarding star ratings, Ctrip often engages in dubious practices, with many ratings being self-assigned and not reflecting actual quality! I booked it mainly because the renovation was quite new. I don't know why for this apartment, for a week-long stay, the price for the last two nights soared to 1800 a night, while genuine nearby five-star hotels were only around 1200. Ctrip is completely out of line! The actual rental price for this type of apartment is around 2500 a week in Australia, where prices are calculated weekly. I stayed for exactly a week and paid more than double, Ctrip is quite shady!
**Facilities**: It has everything you need, as shown in the photos, suitable for longer stays. The only issues are the sink is too small, and the drainage is extremely slow; there's clearly room for a longer sink, but it's not there. There are pots, pans, and dishes. The washing machine had problems; it never completed a full automatic wash cycle. It would always error out, drain the water, and then require manual spin-drying, which was incredibly loud. It's an Electrolux brand, but honestly, our domestic brands are better quality. There's an air conditioner, but it's a floor-standing unit, not a wall-mounted one, but installed on the floor, not a cabinet unit. The performance is okay, but the noise is immense – louder than a 3-horsepower outdoor unit running inside your room. You definitely can't sleep with it on at night; it's too noisy. The kitchen allows cooking, with spices, plates, cutlery, toaster, kettle, fridge, laundry detergent, dish soap, hair spray, shower gel (no shampoo though), iron, dish sponge, and drying rack – everything! Key point: NO CUPS! There's coffee and tea bags, but not a single cup in the whole place!! No cups for brushing teeth either, not even paper cups! Luckily, we export glass cups, so we brought samples which came in handy!
**Environment**: The hotel's location is impeccable, in the city center, right next to Queen Victoria Market, Flinders Street Station, St. Paul's Cathedral, etc. You can visit all the attractions with a daily city walk. Across the street is a Chinese supermarket, Asian Dad, which feels like Yonghui Supermarket and offers better value than Western supermarkets!
**Hygiene**: Stayed for seven days, did all the cleaning myself, no cleaners. An apartment for 1800 a night, with no cleaning service. I had to take out the trash myself every day and almost couldn't figure out how to dispose of it. It's quite peculiar, like the wall chute design from China in the 80s and 90s; if I hadn't asked a local, I would have had no idea where to put the trash.
**Service**: The wardrobe broke the first time I opened it; it wouldn't close. I had to arrange for them to send a technician. Technicians start at 10 AM and arrive at the apartment around 11 AM, so I had to wait around and couldn't leave, worried that if the issue wasn't resolved in person, they might find an excuse to withhold the 200-dollar deposit.
**Service**: All the staff I encountered were Caucasian, no Chinese staff. Melbourne has a large Chinese population, so most companies have Chinese staff, meaning English communication is necessary. Overall, the value for money is high, mainly because the room is considered large. I checked out the local five-star Oakwood, and its setup is similar to this apartment, as long as the issues I mentioned don't affect your trip. Oh, and there won't be slippers, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cotton swabs, etc. Since not many people have stayed here on the platform, as someone who frequently travels abroad for business, an honest review is very important, so I haven't exaggerated anything. I hope this helps future travelers and I appreciate the objective reviews from others who share similar thoughts about other hotels.”