The Westin Melbourne

The Westin Melbourne

The Westin Melbourne offers a city staycation that’s not only in the heart of town (literally moments from everything) it’s also a gorgeous retreat from the hustle and bustle.

Where: The Westin Melbourne, 205 Collins Street MELBOURNE

Cost: from about $338 (correct at time of publishing) book at westinmelbourne.com

If you’re familiar with Melbourne city then you will be familiar with The Westin – it’s literally on top of the Theatre district and in the heart of all the city action.  We have walked passed the doors on numerous occasions as we’ve cut through from Flinders Lane to Collins Street on our way somewhere – so it was an absolute thrill for the kids to actually go inside.

All the staff we encountered were just delightful – we were really spoilt (and it’s a big place, so I am pretty confident we didn’t receive any extra attention due to the fact we were there as media).  All our interactions with the check-in, room service, maintenance (yes our remote control ran out of batteries mid-movie and within 5 minutes a maintenance person came and replaced them!) and concierge staff were a pleasure.  In fact, after we checked-out Charlie realised he’d left a $5 note in the room – whilst one staff member went in search of the note – the other produced his wallet and insisted we didn’t bother waiting that we take his $5 and go enjoy our day!

The Westin Melbourne is a lovely hotel – it’s beautifully presented and generously proportioned.

It’s a big hotel (262 hotel rooms as well as some residential apartments) and yet during our stay it was never crowded or busy.  There were two sets of lift wells and we rarely saw anyone else waiting for the lift.  But there were definitely people around.

Given the Westin is in the centre of town you might expect it to be noisy – with our windows and curtains closed we didn’t stir all night… it was one of the best sleeps I had all holidays!  The bed was supportive but also super soft (amazing to sleep in) actually patented as the Westin Heavenly® Bed with pillow-top mattress. Our room was the two double bed configuration (alternatively you can have it with one king size bed).  For bigger families (or those who need more space) you can have adjoining rooms that share a small private hallway area.

The kids were thrilled to learn there was a pool – once we were checked in and settled into our room we made a beeline for the pool (which is located under the hotel).

The pool was mentioned as a lap pool on the hotel website – in reality, it was a generous size with plenty of space for the kids to mess about.  There was also an adjoining spa and this kept them busy for a good hour before we returned to our room to enjoy a bath before dinner.  While we were down in the pool area the kids also explored the gym (which for those of you who like a work out it’s worth noting this is a serious gym and offers all sorts of extra services to guests).

Easy eating options for families (within The Westin) are the Lobby Lounge, Allegro Resturant and room service.  Room service is always novel – and The Westin offer a healthy menu option for kids.  Healthy simple meals can be a relief for parents, especially when you are away for longer than a few days, don’t have access to a kitchen and want the kids to actually have some food with nutritional value!  Immi chose the chicken and broccoli pasta with red sauce for dinner – she was a little unenthused about the wholemeal pasta, but she polished off the chicken breast and fresh (not soggy!) broccoli.  The serving was quite generous, so she was quite satisfied despite not eating the pasta.  For breakfast we shared the International Breakfast – it was big enough for the three of us!

And while we had the most lovely time luxuriating in our room – we also had fun in the city.  We visited ACMI and the NGV Ian Potter as well as catching some Melbourne International Comedy Festival performances happening in Federation Square.  The Westin offers it’s kid guests a complimentary activity booklet to help their city experience be a memorable one.The Westin Melbourne

Commercial Disclosure: during our stay at The Westin Melbourne we were provided with accommodation and breakfast.  During our visit we also enjoyed a Westin High Tea.