I'm afraid to say that The Albany is a wannabe "hotel" that is quite inaccurately represented on it's own website, and most sites I could find. Basically, it's a glorified hostel that just about makes it as a low grade motel. Hotel?? No way... They impose quite ridiculous conditions for booking cancellations, and this speaks volumes... is it because so many (like us and the person in front of me in the queue for reception) stay for one night and then want to go elsewhere?? They must feel this is unfair behaviour, but I would say to them; Make your website and agents reflect the *true* quality of this place, then customers would *know* what to expect, and you'll have less people wanting to leave... We booked into a "superior" room for 6 nights but were glad to get out of there after one. We paid for the additional days they charge us to cancel the stay early so we could go somewhere else... after all, it's buyer beware. - Very misrepresented on websites - Basic "old" rooms, thin walls, very old bathroom - Very little security, all open to the street 24/7 by rear doors and not much more than cupboard door handles on guest rooms. - Awful continental breakfast. - "New bar" is a few bottles behind the reception desk. Just put it down to experience, I guess. Pass it on...

To call this a hotel is a shame. It is a roadside motel at best that offers nothing but headaches! Rooms overlook the parking lot with outdoor catwalks, and the rooms themselves are smelly, dirty and unsafe. Its debatable whats thinner the sheets or the walls. On top of that, everyday we came back to our room to find our door ajar and our room was made up. House Cleaning never closed the door over a three night stay, and the front desk wrote it off every morning. We were forced to just ask to not have any more house cleaning service. The area is very cute, but don't think that charm in any way is connected to the decor of the motel or its architecture. If I was a resident there I would hate looking at that building every day. Worst part, the front desk took my debit card for incidentals as we prepaid for the hotel. They assured it was only for damage to the room, but when I got home they had snuck a charge onto my card! I called/emaild several times to have the charges removed and they never called back. My bank couldn't get a hold of them either. Finally after three months I got a manager to email me back and he said he had no record of any such charges and that I would have to supply proof of their actions. Even after supplying proof the manager still dragged his feet and was not giving my $400 back. Thankfully my bank finally was able to handle the situation and get my money back. This was a sketchy and dirty place when I stayed there, but the true sketchiness occurred after checkout. DO NOT STAY HERE!! Melbourne is too great of a city to be host to this shameful establishment!

Where do I begin? I'd booked the Penthouse 2 bedroom room for my boyfriend and best friend and also cajoled a couple that we know to also book a room, to spend 3 nights in Melbourne over new year's eve. Should I begin with perhaps with walking into our 2 bedroom "Penthouse" room to find that it was musty and filthy, with rubbish still contained in the bin under the kitchen sink? Maybe, the fact that it was 42 degrees heat and only one bedroom had airconditioning? That when we requested (politely) a fan for the second bedroom the "night-manager" was impertinant and rude? That on the sunday night when we arrived we had dinner in the apartment and were laughing and enjoying ourselves (all five of us) when said "nightmanager" called us and told us we were noisy and this was our "first warning". We called him back to enquire about the fan, and to let him know that the ONE roll of toilet paper supplied was gone - he was rude and objectionable. Half an hour later still no fan or loo roll - I rang and asked him (politely) how long he was going to be (it was midnite and i wanted to go to bed with the option of loo paper during the night)and he replied in a threatening way that he had been busy with a customer. finally he knocked on the door - handed over loo paper (no fan) and gave me the kind of menacing look that I might end up in an alley way with a few missing limbs. Next morning we requested that they perhaps clean our apartment of the grubby finger marks, filthy bathroom with one out of 4 flouro lights working (all sticky-taped to the mirror), dirt on the couch and empty the bin - as it SHOULD have been when we first arrived. And that the night manager had given me a threatening look when handing over something that should never run out in a hotel room. The girl at the desk stroppily took on my suggestions and my complaint. BTW, in 42 degree heat my friends in they're separate room also had dysfuntioning air-conditioner. Next night I stepped out of the shower (new year's eve) to find that there was no hairdryer (years of staying in hotels has taught me I never need bring my own), so, rang and asked if one could be procured. One hour later I met my friend downstairs (with wet hair) and asked at the desk if one had been found. The youth at the desk nervously said they were still looking. But YES, a fan for my friend had been installed at her bedside. As one of the hotel laptops was broken and the other was occupied by myspacing kids I asked politely if the concierge could perhaps look up some ticket info for me. She did not cope very well with the request. Off to our party on NYE we asked the concierge to book us a 5 seater taxi - "I'll try. But you WONT get one!" she barked. One did in fact turn up - I turned to her and thank her "well done!" Later we were to find that they had charged us 75c for each taxi booking that was BOOKED OVER THE INTERNET!!!! Is this not a standard FREE courtesy of any hotel/motel? The saga continues with THEFT of money from our room. I had left $20 on the counter of kitchen as we trundled off to bed. My "flatmate" also saw this - and when the cleaner came we asked her to clean the living area only. when we got up, the money was gone. We went downstairs on our way out and asked politely if the cleaner was still around as perhaps she had "tidied away or accidently thrown out our money"? The stroppy concierge summonsed the cleaner who was Indian and of poor English and instead of investigating the matter herself SHE SENT HER OVER TO TALK WITH US DIRECTLY. The poor girl was confused and after rambling for 10 minutes said she didn't know where the bin was in our apartment and that it wouldn't happen again. She walked away and Miss Incompetent behind the counter ignored us and continued with her "work". I asked my friends STROPPILY "IS THAT IT? theft from our room and that is is - she is ignoring us!" So miss stroppy stormed over to me handing $20 between two fingers pointed in my face and said "TAKE IT - TAKE IT - THANKS - TAKE IT!!!!!" Almost as if I had stolen from them!!!! A hotel visiter standing next to us stroked his chin and said "interesting - theft?" approached the counter and said : "on a lighter note - its 42 degrees and my air-con doesn't work" She ignored him and as he suggested they might offer a $5 or $10 discount, she laughed, turned and walked off to another room. Interesting. While my friends were sleeping in that morning sweating like pigs with a 'do not disturb' sign hung on the door - the cleaner decided to enter their room anyway. Wow. As we checked out the next morning, I said to the girl behind the counter "this is the worst hotel experience I've ever had and the way the theft from my room was handled, was disgusting, with no regard to the cleaner and certainly none to me - I was made to feel like I had stolen from YOU". She snapped that she would pass it on. To whom I wonder? it was like mum and dad had left their snotty kids in charge of their hotel. The bin from our kitchen was emptied once in three days. Nice. I told her I would report this on trip advisor. Maybe that's why they called me and POLITELY told me that I'd left my robe in the room and they would send it to me - free of charge. Which they did. But I'm afraid the love came a little too late. To be fair - our bedroom, bed was nice, WITH airconditioning too. But what baffles me is that me and my friends can deal with a little shoddiness, but not utter disdain and rudeness on top of it. We were made to feel responsible for the emotional well-being of the staff. Quite sick. And our room on NYE was something like $350 per night - not that cheap, unless you're into being treated badly and paying THEM for the pleasure. Enough said. Book at your own peril.

Before you book this Hotel in warmer seasons, ask for a room that not only has an air conditioner, but also one that works. We booked a "Superior" room, the air conditioning was on it's coolest settings, but it did not cool the room, and it was cooler outside. We had to leave the door open at nights, only for the mosquitos to enter and bite us. After no sleep (at 4am), the staff were very unhelpful and could not offer me another room - they said all the rooms had the same problem, it's like they don't care, they don't listen to people's feedback on how crappy some things are in this hotel. They apologised and offered me an complimentary night next time, but would I really want to endure that again, no way!!

I would say this hotel is only good for sleeping. However, both my husband and I did not have any 'major unhapiness' staying at this place. I guess our 'tolerance leve' is pretty high. The price is pretty cheap for this place. Let's break it down: Pros: - I find the location pretty good - The bed and pillows were really comfortable. Lines were clean too. - Staff was polite and inviting Cons: - The room was really small....I don't think I could walk more than 5 steps in the room. - The room was so small that there was no place to put our bags. We put it on the floor and had to shift our bags whenever we need to use the bathroom or whenever we need to open the door of our room to get out. - Bathroom was really really small......and old school. The water pressure was very bad. The worse thing is.....we stayed there during winter....and the tap in this place is not 1 unit. Meanings to say, U have to turn on the cold tap and turn on the hot tap and mis the temperature yourself....its not like the modern 1 tap unit where you just turn the tap until you reach your desired temperature......so the problem here is.....the hot tap is like crazy....it works for 2 mins...and it does not....for a while you shower in perfect temperature..and after 1 min, its freezing cold I almost peed!...and then it gets super hot my skin almost got burnt! Both my husband and myself spent like....45mins taking a shower!!!!! - In the morning, it was freezing cold ...the outside temperature was like 9 degrees celcius......I wanted to wash up and brush my teeth. When I turned on the hot water tap unit and collected the water in the cup (for brushing teeth)..I realised the water was murky.like yellowish.....and chalky! Both my hubby and I freaked out and washed our faces in freezing cold water. In conclusion.....this hotel is good for sleeping...the beds were really comfy.........but the main problem is the space of the room...the size of the bathroom and the water temperature .... Oh and the shower head sucks too....its really small and short....considering I am an asian lady...it was ok for me....but I guess for taller folks, they would have to bend down while showering and poor them, trying to control the temperature of the water with the 2 seperate taps. I would not stay here again. There are better places at this price range too. (The pictures on the website looks 10 times better)