My Husband and I booked two interconnecting suites for Christmas day for ourselves and our daughters. (Chaun package $460/+classic $289) We had booked and paid in advance as is requested and pretty stadard at christmas for the Christmas Dinner and were all looking forward to it. Upon check in we were affronted by the rude and unfriendly manner of the man at the concierge desk.
We could not fault the chefs, with a beautiful presentation of christmas fare.....however they were let down by service at this hotel, which we found truly shocking, nonchalant and understaffed and at times rude, the dinner was $185 per head that was supposed to include beverage yet at 9pm the staff were to busy clanking crockery and setting up for brecky to be bothered topping up the wine, which at cost price (to my horror) was $5 a bottle!! The tables were unclothed and informal, they initially say us next to an exposed junk/chair storage area, where staff were also cluncking cutlery and crockery that they were polishing, we requested to move and our new area was a little more pleasant. There was not more than half an hour of the promised christmas caroling (scuffy unlike the glossy brochure) afterwards there was no music at all in the restaurant for the rest of the evening.
We noticed a little brochure next to the phone for a guest relations officer requesting guest to dial if there were any problems. I picked up the phone and dialed only to be told "sorry she is no longer with us", that being said there was no one to take our complaint. Also don't bother to book directly with the hotel after 9pm as the "relations" officers go home before then and no one can take your booking.

The plastic occasional pool furniture was cheap and nasty and were positioned on what I could only liken to a concrete unwelcoming wasteland, the salt water pool is small and burns your eyes, the spa is lovely-however my husband had a massage as part of his Chuan spa package (which they changed the time on him twice) as they had again changed this time from 2pm to 1 pm he was half an hour late and only experienced 60 minutes of the 90 minutes-and was charged $290 mistakenly to his room ( which was removed upon pointing out) there was however meant to be a holiday surcharge of $55 for it, which was not put on the bill when my husband pointed this out at check-out he was told (after a phone call by front dest to spa) not to worry-nice gesture, but, when I checked our credit card internet statement I noticed the charge had been added two days after check-out. All in all we spent $1800 at the hotel in less than 24 hours, which we were prepared to do for a positive experience, though in the end we felt undervalued in an overvalued "fivestar" hotel.

The rooms are tired and thresholds and doors scuffed and dirty, T.V's are old and only offer a few channels. Movies on demand are offered.
Bathrooms are average our "blissful" bed was made up of two seperate singles pushed together.
Food and beverage need to recruit some staff from outside-the problem as I see it is this-If there is no experienced person who offers a diverse and lengthy background of excellence from which to provide direction and training you end up with these lackluster "teamplayers" who may have risen through the ranks, but lack experience in the real world of fine dinning and could never command the money earned by those at the top of their game-which brings me to the point of the five star bottom line, you gotta pay the money to lure someone from that background, and from the looks of it the Langham Melbourne is not willing to be a player in that league.

This is the worst five star hotel we have ever stayed at, out of, Europe/Asia/Australia/USA, We endered up going to crown which was magnificent and spending three wonderful days-I can't wait to write the glowing review.

superb elegant hotel for the slightly more mature discerning guest. great location, service, food and leisure facilites.
If you're young and flush for cash then to head to crown towers instead wheres its a lot more modern, big and flashy!

THE GOOD
The Langham is gorgeous inside. The lobby is truly breath taking - marble, brass and a water feature as well as seasonal decorations really make it something special. The Christmas decorations are gorgeous!

The staff are very attentive and courteous (although there's the usual bad apple amongst the bunch).

The Aria bar is a great place for a drink and a wind down. The live music there (usually a solo guitarist) is great!

The view from the rooms is super - nothing more amazing than looking across the Yarra to the city all lit up at night.

Quality of room service meals is good, and although not cheap are the standard price for a hotel of this calibre.

Beds are comfy, complimentary toliteries are of good quality and bathrooms are spacious.

THE BAD
Pillows are awful.

Drinks at the Aria bar are expensive ($18 for a coke and a glass of wine is a little over the top even for me).

Rooms are starting to look a little worn - ours had frayed carpet in a high traffic area - I expect a little better than that for the price we paid.

THE UGLY
The outside of the hotel is quite ugly - but in reality who stands outside their hotel looking at it!?

OVERALL
A great hotel with a luxury feel. Not really centrally located for getting around the CBD but definitely the perfect spot for SouthBank, going to the Casino and a romantic hideaway with that special somone.

We will definitely be back again in the future.

Myself and my girlfriend stayed at the Langham Hotel for one night on 16 December 06. We wish that we had stayed longer! The service and room were both perfect. I have also recently only stumbled across this website so this is my first review :-)

We booked the hotel via a discount website and got a good rate that included valet parking and buffet breakfast the next morning. We had no problems checking in and the valet gladly took the car with a minimum of fuss, bags were whisked away and we checked in.

The best part was the room, we have been used to getting the "internet room" which does not have a great view or is situated on one of the lower floors - we were so surprised when we opened the door and we were in room 2312. The view from the window was overlooking the city of Melbourne (see pics attached with this review).

The room was adequate and everything was clean, we rang down for the complimentary bottle of champagne and strawberries which arrived shortly after. Later that evening we dined away from the hotel so cannot comment on the food.

Later in the evening was one of the other highlights, we were sitting at the bar (which was superb) and Robbie Williams the pop singer walks past, he sat merely metres away from us and declined to have a photo with my partner (damn!) It was almost surreal as we were going to see him perform the next night.

I cannot fault the service of the staff at the Langham, when we were at the bar they asked whether we could move due to Robbie Williams being in the area, I asked whether we could get a round of drinks on the house and they had no problem. The next day at check-out we were not charged for any drinks that eveing - perhaps Mr Williams picked up the bill??

When we departed the Langham there was a small bottle of water placed in the car with a note from the hotel "one for the road" a very nice and thoughtful touch from the staff and if I am to stay in my hometown of Melbourne again - the Langham will be my top choice!