We had a wonderful time at Melba Lodge. Our family, consisting of Parents and five grown up children, some with husband/wife and 5 grandkids spent 6 nights at Melba Lodge. We booked out 4 queen rooms, the penthouse and the cottage. The building has a real country charm about it. The owners generously gave us a great discount on booking such a large group. We arrived on a cold winter's day. Heaters were on in every room ( much appreciated by us Queenslanders ) and the venue was warm and cosy. The beds were quite comfortable and breaky every day was delicious. Our family was delighted to be able to get together frequently in the conference room and to play billiards together each night. Our hosts David and Helen were extremely accommodating and every little thing we requested was attended to happily - even down to printing up some tickets we booked online on our computers. Having lots of family living in the area, we really appreciated being able to have children down for the night and have family drop in to spend time with us. The venue was plenty large to manage our then-extended family.
Thanks to David and Helen. We'll be back. What a lovely time we all had.

Melba Lodge is in a great location, but unfortunately over-rated.
Having stayed in many places, we appreciate its features may make it 4 star, in theory. However, it appears as neither a hotel nor a genuinely friendly B&B – more of a functional guest house. By saying it wasn’t “genuinely friendly”, we mean we didn’t sense the owners loved what they did & we didn’t feel welcomed. We just felt another one of thousands bedding down for the night.
We paid $175 for a queen bedded room which we expected to be small - but it had a meter of space to both one side & bottom of bed and approx 2 meters of space to the other side of the bed. TV in the bedroom was very small & on high cabinet, mattress firm but adequate; bedding looked clean but didn’t look new or smell fresh. Electric blanket was essential as the room was extremely cold. Ensuite had shower only, which was fine – but it looked old & was functional. There was heat lamp, but with high ceiling it would take while to heat. Bathroom was so cold our towels did not dry overnight, despite hanging up.
Breakfast was adequate and cooked food was fine – one tip for the owner, the two poached eggs side by side on toast with herbs in the middle of each, looked more like female anatomy. More tasteful presentation advised! Mushrooms were tasty & coffee was nice & hot though.
So in summary, all was adequate & clean, but just lacked ‘warmth’ in every way.

We needed a 1 night stay in the Yarra Valley to attend a wedding and managed to get a decent rate at the Melba Lodge on expedia ($175 for the night). Many of the other hotels in the area required a 2 night stay and that was just not possible for us so finding Melba was perfect. I was very worried as there was only 2 trip advisor (my bible!) reviews, the last being 2008. I shouldnt have been. Melba Lodge was wonderful! It isnt a hotel and if you dont expect it to be then you should be fine.

The owner greeted us as we walked in, gave us a friendly tour of the conference room, games room with bar, billards table and darts, TV room, dining room and our room. He showed us a small kitchenette where you could make tea and coffee etc and told us breakfast would be served between 9-10:30. The hotel is a quick 2 minute drive in to Yarra Glen and only a couple of minutes from some fantastic wineries.

The room was small but more than comfortable. It had a comfortable bed with nice linens, soft carpet, 2 side tables, a wardrobe, ceiling fan, air conditioner and TV. The bathroom had a shower, toilet and nice sink area. It had a nice country federation feel. The bathroom provided soaps, shower caps and quality toilet paper (cottonelle! Yep these things are both noticed and appreciated!!) The entire lodge was spotlessly clean and very well kept. It was quiet and nice and cool on a hot day.

Breakfast was delicious with freshly cooked eggs, bacon and toast as well as an assortment of cereals, fruit and juices. Overall we were very pleased with Melba Lodge and would be more than happy to stay here again.

Pretty much as expected, middle of the road motel, nothing special, clean, tidy, standard breakfast, situated on the edge of a main road.

This is advertised as '4 star comfort' 'boutique feel' and is a good example how meaningless star ratings are. Nothing more than a checklist of features and definitely not a measure of quality. Tiny room, dated decor, awful bed, antique A/C system, noisy plumbing are but some of the features not listed.

After our first night we asked to cancel the booked (via wotif, never again) and paid for third night. Though obviously hesitant the owner agreed, we booked alternative accommodation in Melbourne only to return later in the day for him to have changed his mind, refusing to refund our final night. We cut our losses without hesitation and returned to our vastly superior (and cheaper) accommodation in Melbourne.

It seems a shame that such a major tourist destination as Yarra Glen is blighted by an outrageously over priced accommodation cartel, we'd recommend spend a fortune for somewhere truly special, or base yourself in Melbourne.