we stayed for 5 nights. The location is great and the room is not noisy. I had an apartment with a seperate bedroom and a kitchenette. There was laundry facilities and everything I needed. I would recommend it to anyone. If you are travelling it is best to get a taxi.

Stayed 7 nights over Christmas holidays.
One of worst hotels I have stayed - toilet was blocked, filthy shower (extensive mould growth).
Got moved to another room which had similar issues - cold shower knob broken.
Fist and last time I stay in a Mantra hotel.

The Mantra is an apartment hotel, rooms are spacious with 2 queen beds, separate sitting area, 2 tvs and kitchen (microwave and hot plate only) but accommodation is basic. Very good for families, 4 could easily be accommodated. Located in the business area of Melbourne, OK on weekdays but surrounding food outlets and cafes are closed on the weekend. On weekends you will need to walk down Little Bourke to Hardware Lane and Chinatown for food. 2 blocks way from Bourke Street mall. I ordered room service twice and was very disappointed with the quality of the food - don't eat in! Rates go up on the weekends and when sporting events are on. The weekday rate was very reasonable but I do not think the weekend rate was good value.

We checked in Sunday the 15th of Jan in preparation for the beggining of the Australian Open. The night before I had checked back to this website to read the latest reviews and was a little worried after reading review upon review regarding issues with the airconditioner. I called up the hotel to ask if this was still a problem and the friendly gentleman assured me on the phone that someone was fixing it on the day of our arrival so by the time we got there it should be fine.

We checked in and I was still concerned. We got a room on level 1 and I felt a nice subtle chill when I walked in through the door and I was happy. Aircon control has two unlabelled icons. I took this to mean cold and hot. You select one or the other. Regardless, it didn't change the temperature of the room. What you feel when you walk in is how it stays.

The room itself was nice and clean. Two large TVs and a King bed as we asked for. As I read in a previous review the room was a little dark, but hey, you only come back to your room to relax and recuperate so there's definitely no need for bright lighting. Bathroom was well lit. The toilet was running and continued to do so until our last night when it had been fixed. I did fill in a little form left on the entertainment unit regarding if anything needed to be fixed on the night we arrived but it may have been overlooked until our last night.

After our first day back, we notice housekeeping had kindly washed our dishes and made our room. On the second and third day though, our dishes were left alone. I'm not sure if we were supposed to be doing our own dishes but I guess maybe we should've. I'm not sure how often they vacuum the rooms either but I noticed crumbs from snacks my son had still on the floor a few days later.

Also, from day 2 i've noticed little touches that i've experienced at other hotels that I noticed housekeeping missed out on here. The pillows were not arranged, though the bed was made. My pillows looked fine but the pillows in the middle were diagonal and the pillows on the left were slightly bunched up and diagonal the opposite direction. Even more minor but something I appreciated from other hotels, my son's stuffed toys were usually placed neatly on top of one of the pillows by housekeeping but here they were just left on the bedside table or the chair. Very minor but one of those little touches I appreciate.

I do wonder if the housekeeper changed over during the last day or two of our stay as there seemed to be more attention to detail the last two days. That is, the toilet being fixed, picking up on an empty box of tissues that needed to be replaced, etc.

The staff at the front desk and the restaurant were top notch indeed. The restaurant has a great "build your own pizza and get a free glass of wine". I believe it was a cheap $15. All the restaurant staff were very courteous and friendly. The front desk staff, as mentioned by a lot of people here as well were the same. Very friendly and helpful. My wife came down to ask about trams to the tennis - she came back with heaps of info and pamphlets about other things she was curious about that the lady had brought up with her. Top notch service. We were always greeted smiles smiles and they were very helpful.