Stayed at the Novotel Canberra for a week in January. I was there for a 2 day conference and the rest was for leisure, as I had never been to Canberra before.

Upon arrival I was immediately upgraded to an Executive room (I had pre-booked a standard). I was told that this was because I was staying for several days, which I found odd, but hey, I wasn't complaining. The room itself was great. Very spacious with a king bed, writing desk, couch and large bathroom. It also had it's own kettle (great for making my own tea in the mornings) and featured a separate fridge. The second fridge was great as the minibar one was way too small to keep anything else in. I kept several bottles of Pepsi Max in the second fridge as there was no way I was paying $4.00 for a can from the minibar. My main disappointment with the room was the bed and pillows. The mattress on the bed was WAY too soft. It was like trying to sleep on a sponge. I personally prefer a firmer mattress, as to provide some back support, but this thing had none. I woke up with a sore back and shoulders the first couple of days I was there, then I must have gotten used to it. The pillows also had no support or firmness. They appeared to be those foam ones that completely "deflate" and collapse the moment you rest your head on them. There was a spare pillow in the closet but this seemed to be exactly the same, so I just decided to put up with it.

Cleanliness of the room overall was good. Bathroom was cleaned everyday and towels changed. If I used any cups or cutlery in the room, these were always washed and put away the next day. I notice however that they must not change the sheets or pillow cases everyday. One of the pillows had a stain on it. I didn't sleep on it, but every day I left it on the bed when I went out, just to see if they'd change it, and every day I came back and the same pillow was still in the room. My only other criticism was with the dust. Every morning I would wake up and my mobile, clothes, wallet, sunglasses, everything would have a fine layer of dust covering it. I assumed it was coming from the air conditioning, and led to me having sneezing fits several times throughout my stay. It was not a big deal, but I would be more concerned for a child or asthmatic staying there.

I had buffet breakfast included in my package everyday I was there, which I thought was great. It was the usual layout and fare for a hotel breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit, cereal, toast, tea, coffee, juice, etc. The woman who greeted and sat you when you arrived at breakfast was outstanding (Gabrielle or Giselle I think her name was, something like that). Very friendly, able to solve any problem or request you had, and (unlike other staff) remembered guests names and room numbers.

Overall customer service at this hotel was a bit hit and miss. Some staff were great, such as the lady mentioned above, and others were not so great. The concierge was very friendly and helpful, as were all the room service people. Reception staff however left a lot to be desired, which I thought was odd considering they are the first and last people you see at the hotel. When I arrived to check in I was standing in the foyer for several minutes waiting to be called next. There were no other guests at the counter, just 2 staff members doing something on their computers. I decided just to stand there in silence with all my luggage and see how long it took one of them to notice me. I was asked "can I help you sir?" after several minutes, but needless to say, I was unimpressed. Also, the red/orange haired girl on the front counter seemed to have about as much personality as a car battery, and there was no offer of anyone to help with my bags or show me around my room. In fact, I never saw any porters/bellhops at all, which I thought was odd for a 4 1/2 star hotel. The other thing I noticed was that a large section (perhaps majority) of the staff are Asian. Not that I have a problem with this, it's just there were some communication problems when calling room service, or when speaking with house keeping. No big deal.

Parking at the hotel was easy enough, though it may have helped if parking had better signage. I saw many other guests parking out the front of the hotel, getting all their luggage out and going to the front counter, only to have to bring everything back to the car after been told to drive around the back. Once you drive in the car park staff greet you and ask if you wish to park the car, or have them do it for you. The car park is so small and the spaces so narrow that I found it easier just to let them do it. The only thing I didn't like about this arrangement was that you had to leave your keys with staff overnight, and essentially by parking there you were giving them permission to drive your vehicle at their discretion. One morning I came down and my car had been moved from one side of the lot to the other... not sure why that was deemed necessary. Also be aware that parking is $18.00 per night. There is a price discrepancy in the hotel literature. In the small booklet in your room which tells you all about the hotel and its services, it quotes parking at $15.00 a night. Yet it is billed at $18.00 (I suspect the booklet is out of date). Just be aware of this, as I had a car for 3 nights and was expecting to be charged $45.00 and ended up paying $54.00!

Location of the hotel itself is fine. A short walk to the main bus interchange and to Canberra Centre (large shopping complex). Please be aware that this hotel is on the north side of Lake Burley Griffin and therefore the opposite side to the Parliamentary Triangle. If you want to be able to take a short stroll to Parliament House(s), High Court, Portrait Gallery, Archives, Library, etc. then you may need to consider staying somewhere closer. Otherwise buses are relatively frequent and affordable (pick up a My Way card and timetable).

I had only some other very minor issues with my stay.
The TV in the room was frustrating to watch. There were about 25 channels but no way to input numbers on the remote. If you turned the TV on and wanted channel 23, then you had to sit there pushing the "up" button over and over to get to the desired station, then repeat the process if you wanted to go back down.
The elevators were ridiculously small and slow. Anymore than 3 people in the lift and it felt cramped, though this is more a reflection on the building design rather than on the hotel or staff.
Also, prices in the bar on the 1st floor were somewhat inflated. $6.00 for a beer? $9.50 for a scotch? I guess this is pretty standard behaviour for a hotel but geez, don't go down there if you're thirsty. They advertise Happy Hour/s at this bar from 4 - 7pm, however this only appears to apply to the 2 or 3 beers offered on tap, and if you don't drink those, then you're paying full price.
There are terminals on the ground floor that allow internet access. There are 2 Macs (which are free), however these seem incredibly slow and do not appear to let you access Hotmail. There are also 2 PCs which are a lot faster, but are coin operated ($1.00 = 10 minutes). I did not use Wi-fi at this hotel so cannot really comment on it.
I also did not visit the gym or pool.
Finally, I find it odd that after apparently spending millions of dollars on a recent refurbishment of the hotel, they did not consider sound proofing the rooms. I found this by far to be the most frustrating thing about this hotel. I was on the 5th floor yet you can hear every car, every truck, every loud drunk on a Saturday night going past the hotel out on Northbourne Avenue. Even inside the building, you could hear every person who walks past your door and make out every word of their conversation as though they were talking directly to you. Saturday night was the worst as there appeared to be a group of people who had obviously gone out for drinks and found it necessary to come back to the hotel and stand outside my door laughing and chatting. Later, I heard another drunk guy walking past on his phone screaming "I am going to kill you! I will-- kill you!"... charming. I would have thought, like most hotels of this star range, that the Novotel would have security or duty managers roaming the floors at night to keep an eye out for things like this, but apparently not. I know the hotel can't control the volume (or courtesy) of other guests, but I still think the walls or door could be improved so that you don't have to hear, or be woken by, every sound outside your room.

The negatives I have mentioned here were quite minor, and overall I enjoyed my stay. I only paid around $150 bucks a night for the week, and this included breakfast plus one of those days was the Australia Day public holiday. If I had paid a lot more I probably would have expected better. The main reason I chose this hotel was for the price and value for money. I was weighing up my options between the Novotel, the Crowne Plaza, or the Quality Suites Clifton, but Novotel was less than half the price of the others per night, and so the decision was easy. As I said, overall I was satisfied with my stay and I would probably stay at the Novotel Canberra again, if I still got a good rate and breakfast.