Before I rant about the noise, I should mention that this hotel is very stylish. I instructed the travel agent to book it because it looked a little more distinctive in comparison with the other commercial hotels in the same central area.

You should not stay at this hotel if you are anything other than a very heavy sleeper or deaf. All rooms overlook a street, which being central, is active throughout the night. There is no double glazing (and further, the windows are quite old and don't seal well). There is a car park a few doors down which has an loud, beeping alarm to warn pedestrians of exiting cars. As far as I could guess, the car park must have been open until 1am and opened again at the crack of dawn.

The rooms are also inadequately insulated from the noise from other rooms. A neighbouring room's shower might well have been next to my bed.

The hotel were quick to point out in an in-room brochure that the hotel had recently changed ownership and was going through an upgrade, to include in room Bose speakers for your Ipod, and an extortionate new spa. However, I would suggest that they go back to basics and assume that guests of a hotel would like to get some sleep before they invest in unecessary extras at the expense of double glazing.

I am a regular business traveller for a large international organisation and have made sure that our travel service are aware not to book this hotel again. It is not of the standard I would expect as a business traveller.

We live in Melbourne but decided to stay at the Adelphi on the night of my partner's 50th so he could swim in the famous glass bottom pool. This was one of a number of unique surprise experiences I wanted him to have on his special day, and up to the time we checked in to the Adelphi all had gone to plan. As all the rooms had been sold over the internet I booked directly with the hotel and got a room (following a cancellation) for $355, the most I'd ever paid to stay anywhere other than the Sofitel in New York. Definitely more than I wanted to pay for a sleep and a swim in Melbourne but Andrew (the General Manager) assured me that my partner would be spoilt. Naturally I thought that might mean something a little more than a note with Happy Birthday written on it! My first impression of the room was that it was modern in an eighties kind of way but very tired looking. The black floor tiles were worn and our room looked straight into the building next door (yes it is rather dark and gloomy) . After a wonderful meal at the 100 Mile Cafe a few blocks away in Melbourne Central we went back to the hotel and looked forward to a swim and breakfast in the morning. But it wasn't to be - the pool was stone cold and breakfast wasn't included in the price! I expressed my disappointment to reception and eventually a concession was made that because the pool was cold we could have breakfast after all without paying extra. Yes the hotel is kind of quirky, but not worth the money I paid and definitely needs further renovation to bring it into the 21st century. In the end I felt embarrassed that I had lashed out and spent so much to stay there. My partner was nice enough not to say anything but I could see what he was thinking. On the positive side, the new dream mattresses are comfortable and Andrew has a pleasant phone manner. The breakfast was good too!

What a great boutique style hotel. The suite we stayed in seemed like a piece of art in itself and big!! The furniture was incredible, the stainless steel bathroom with fluffy white robes was amazing and that pool... I wasn't sure if I was stepping back to the hey days of the eighties or if the hotel had been cleverly designed to give that impression in a contemporary sort of way. I guess you have to be a unique person to really appreciate a unique place like this. I had heard of this hotel from such style bibles like Wallpaper and can recommend the experience to anyone who is in the know. Close to everywhere you want to be in Melbourne too! A real nice change from the rest.

PS the Flat screen TV was too big to throw out the window!!

Stayed over Grand Pris weekend when room rates were racked up to over $500. The `very moderne' bathroom was inconvenient with no towel rails, The shower splashed over the bench where the towels were stored. The floor was dirty, the black marble highlighting those areas where the mop had slid past the corners instead of into them. The reception staff were helpful but the breakfast staff in the dining room were well meaning but shambolic and inexperienced. The advertised fresh squeezed orange juice wasn't and the coffee was foul. I moved on to another establishment.