World Traveller 73 
Review: Westin Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
This post is one chapter on our trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne with The Great Ocean Road, exploring The Yarra Valley and the beaches of The Gold Coast via Qantas First Class. This trip was booked using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
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Read More From This Trip
- Introduction: Melbourne & Whitsunday Islands, Australia via Qantas First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines Premium Class: Seattle – Los Angeles
- Marriott LAX, Los Angeles, USA
- To Malibu for Lunch, California, USA
- Qantas First Class Lounge: Tom Bradley International Terminal Los Angeles, USA
- Qantas First Class: Los Angeles – Melbourne
- Westin Melbourne, Australia
- City Visit: Melbourne, Australia – Part I
- City Visit: Melbourne, Australia – Part II
- The Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia
- The Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles, Victoria, Australia
- Qantas Business Lounge: Melbourne
- Qantas Business: Melbourne – Hamilton Island
- Qualia Luxury Resort, Hamilton Island, Australia
- Pebble Beach at Qualia Luxury Resort, Hamilton Island, Australia
- Cruise to The Great Barrier Reef, Hardy’s Reef, Australia
- The Great Barrier Reef via Hamilton Island Air Helicopter
- Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet, Australia
- Virgin Australia: Prosperine – Brisbane
- Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa (Gold Coast), Australia
- Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia – Part I
- Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia – Part II
- Qantas Business Lounge: Brisbane
- Qantas Business Class: Brisbane – Sydney
- Pier One Sydney by Autograph Collection, Sydney, Australia
- Qantas First Class Lounge: Sydney Kingford Smith, Sydney, Australia
- Qantas First Class: Sydney – Dallas
- American Express Centurion Lounge: Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Dallas – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines Flagship Lounge: North Satellite – Sea Tac, Seattle, USA
- Alaska Airlines: Seattle – Vancouver
Review: The Westin Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
“Overall, this is an excellent property using Marriott Bonvoy Points that is well located and well situated in the Central Business District of Melbourne.”
We met the Blacklane driver who transferred us to the Westin Melbourne, which is located in the middle of the Central Business District (downtown) of Melbourne. We could have taken the public train from the airport, but it would have resulted in a 15 minute walk at the other end; the last thing we were interested in doing after coming off a long international flight from the Americas. As a result, Blacklane it was and we were there in about 35 minutes.
Arriving to the Westin Melbourne:
It was a great first impression on arrival to the Westin Melbourne with a beautiful new lobby with high ceilings. Entry to the hotel is through a small dark porte cochere off the main street. The door staff took care of the bags and we headed in to check in.
How we booked:
We were on 3 separate reservations here over 4 nights; two reservations were under 3 credit card certificates (in MrsWT73’s and my names) courtesy of the Canadian American Express Card, and the last night was on a paid discounted rate that I couldn’t get the webpage to accept in combination with the points rates. We had debated staying at the Sheraton Melbourne but ended up picking this place as the average daily rate here was much higher; representing a better value on points. The rates were over $400 AUD at the time of booking and had increased to almost $573 AUD during our stay, making this property a great use of points as a Category 5 or 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy Rewards a night. We applied Suite Night Awards for the larger “Deluxe Spa Studio” but they had failed to clear. If our floor was any indication, there did not appear to be many suites available for upgrades, let alone paid occupancy for purchase
Since we had arrived to the property at 8:45 AM, our room was not yet available. The kind front desk agent was able to align the room so that we could keep the room for the 4 days and just asked us to visit for key re-coding during our visit. We had attempted to apply suite night awards to the room and they failed to clear. The host apologized about the lack of upgrade, but did offer us access to the gym downstairs so that we could freshen up. He also offered us a complimentary coupon for a drink, wine or coffee at the bar. I went down to the gym and took a shower and there were a few other travelers down there doing the same thing.
We went out sightseeing for the first day and came back to the property at around 2:30 PM.
The Room: A City View 38 sqm – Guest Room
After stopping at the front desk, we led ourselves up to #530, which was a “Westin Standard (38 sq m), Guest room”.
The room was well equipped and a nice size that was easily able to accommodate two people.
It was facing the back of the property, which had absolutely no view. This was okay however as the city appeared to be digging the foundations for a major subway station immediately out side the front view side of the building, making it a bit of a noisy experience during the daytime hours. You can see the impressive view out the room windows.
The room featured a comfortable desk, which was handy for setting down the laptop and other devices that needed charging.
The bathroom was super spacious, which was appreciated while travelling with your wife.
There was also a full mini bar and proper glassware right in the room. I always appreciate this since it seems it’s always a struggle to wait for glassware when it’s not automatically provided.
I am a bit surprised that they didn’t label the hotel a Westin Grand as it had many more amenities that some of the Westin’s that I’d stayed at through the Americas’.
The hotel participates in Make a Green Choice Marriott version, which means 500 Bonvoy Points for forgoing housekeeping. Its no longer the great earning opportunity it once was, but more points are better than no points.
Food and Beverage, including a Platinum Breakfast:
“The breakfast room was among the highlights of the stay. It shone brightly with full daylight windows that offered great historic city views and was a focal point for starting our day”
We had an included Platinum Breakfast almost every day of our stay. Thanks to the upright footprint of the hotel, the breakfast is located on the second floor in the Allegro Restaurant. We were treated to the full buffet breakfast, valued at 40 AUD per person. The breakfast room is in a large L shaped space with large windows that overlook the Melbourne Town Hall across the street.
The breakfast offered an egg station and all the usual hotel breakfast goodies including cereals, fresh fruit and salad.
On our last night, we had message left for us indicating that the front desk had noted that we had applied suite night awards that had failed to clear, but that a suite had come open. The hotel offered us the ability to move, should we be interested in the upgrade. We were heading out to the great open road and were planning on being out of the hotel for almost 18 hours of the day so we passed on the opportunity. Having said that, I really appreciated the effort that the hotel made based on the availability as we hadn’t pressed for it or otherwise asked. As a Platinum member at the time of the stay, I really felt taken care of when they were likely quite busy.
My thoughts on The Westin Melbourne:
We had a terrific stay at the Westin Melbourne. It was a great value on points and the location was as good as it could get for sightseeing around Melbourne. We would easily look forward to another stay at this property.
World Traveller 73 
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