Hotel Sophia Melbourne

Poor sound control between rooms and small room.

On arrival unable to locate reception staff. Domestic staff did not know how to contact. Duty manager rude. Domestic staff work under conditions that do not comply to OH & S standards. Kitchen closed @ 4pm for room service & no meals in Lounge no chef. Room walls so thin all activity in ajoining rooms was heard

Chose the hotel due to it's proximity to the CBD and knew from other reviews that the rooms were small; however, the cleanliness left much to be desired. Stained and dirty sheets\pillows are not acceptable. Noise insulation from the next room was also very poor. I'd give it a lower rating for facilities due to the lack of shampoo, but the included breakfast compensated (not that I too advantage of it).

Breakfast a shambles

Sofia presents itself as a "new" hotel and a "4 star" hotel. It is, in fact an old hotel, recently renovated, and is, at best, a 21/2 - 3 star rating. Their practice of holding a $150 "security bond" is questionable, although they do advise this in their conditions, so is no surprise. This suggests that they may have too many unsavoury guests who cause problems for them. But with no mini-bar, guest robes etc to walk away with, what other justification is there for for the bond.

Was not given correct information when booking, and when questioned on what we received were told they were not available to us. Needs clear guide lines on what you receive and who receives what!

The room is so small that I can hardly walk around the bed. I put the "please setup my room" sign at the door when I went out in the morning, and when I come back at nearly 4pm, the room is still not set.

Rooms are too close together, cleaning is either too slow or non existent in between even though we asked the cleaners on the way out of the hotel to make our room, the cleaners even checked the cleaning list and we were on the list. The provision of breakfast was a great benefit.

Room was tiny had no space to open a suitcase, room wasn't cleaned on 2 days of the total stay of 5, and coffee cups used once were not cleaned/replaced for the entire stay(And no way left of cleaning them hygienically ourselves), 24 hour check in/out was good, overall it was definetely not a 4 star hotel as advertised.

If you are looking for something a bit different in a good location, this might be it. Room was excellent, but the staff service and breakfast are definitely in the ordinary category. Very handy location for central Melbourne if you are prepared to walk. However, the location in King St. is a bit sleazy - 2 strip bars nearly next door