First, I arrived at midday and I went to reception to see about check in time. She informed us we could check in immediately. This was great and unexpected. I was given the room swipe cards, but I had to ask about internet. There is no free wifi in the room, you need to have a laptop or such to use the internet via an ethernet cable. I thought this was unreasonable for a central city hotel. I traveled all around NZ and most hotels had provided either free wifi or reasonably cheap wifi ($5-$10 per day). There was a 15minute free wifi option in the main lobby area, but this isn't exactly ideal. Also, you needed to request a login password from the reception area, I was not impressed.

The room - very nice, clean, stylish, roomy and comfortable, quiet (couldn't hear the road or people next door), Flat screen TV with movie channels. The bathroom was big and spacious, nice big bath, great shower, two vanities.

The pool and gym - looks exactly like the pictures. Located on the fourth floor, follow the signs, you need to walk past several rooms to get there. When you do though the images you see of the pool and gym on the website are exactly what you get. The pool was so good, perfect temperature, great depth, was really enjoyable. It was very quiet when I went for a swim, it would have been a nice touch to have music playing in this area.

The concierge - Firstly, no one offered to take our bags up when we first checked in, not a huge deal, I'm 26 I can do it myself, my suitcase is rolling anyway, but the offer would be a greater touch of service. I then went back to the concierge that night for some information about places and what to do. Basically the concierge didn't really know anything other than to recommend a $40 bus a bout tour. I asked for suggestions of places to eat and was refered to the hotels restaurant, I said, "can you suggest some others as well, maybe for lunch tomorrow when I am walking around Queen street", response "there are plenty of nice places to eat, you will see them walking around". I don't know, just expected a greater level of service. I even asked about public transport as I figured I would be walking all day, I might take a bus back to the hotel. The concierge just seemed to dismiss the idea, they didn't have timetables, no knowledge of what bus to take etc. I ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel, but I wasn't on a strict budget but when I was in Queenstown and other areas I took the bus all the time as it was a $5 return from the hotel compared to a $15 taxi each way and I was going back and forth about twice a day.

Check out - great check out time of midday. Loved that, was a really relaxed end to my holiday. I went to reception returned the room key and I asked to settle my account. I bought a few bottles of water from the minibar (surprisingly reasonable priced) and used the phone. He said the phone was free because it was a local number ( I was using a calling card I bought in NZ) and so I payed for the water. When I returned to Melbourne I went to close my prepaid travel card and I was told I couldn't because I had a $1 pending transaction from Rendezvous, so I guess the phone wasn't free because I was charged for using the phone, I just wanted to pay for it when I was leaving so I could have closed my prepaid card.