I was planning another diving trip up to Blue Grotto from Miami. After setting on a date with my buddy, we decided that I would pick him up at his house in Melbourne and from there we would leave early in the morning to make it to the spring in time to be one of the first once in the water. Rather than driving super early in the morning, I was looking for a hotel in the area. Many of the hotels were sold out as it was spring break time. That also drove prices insanely high. After checking available hotels and my options on points and free night certificates, I decided to book the Residence Inn Melbourne. It was the closest hotel to my buddy, and it also had actually rooms available to be booked on points.
Booking & Stay Details
The Residence Inn Melbourne was priced at $256/night or 30,000 points/night. This price was for the 1 King Studio at the hotel. As one of my Marriott free night certificates was about to expire in a few weeks, I decided to use that one to save a bunch of money and points. However, booking with free night certificates becomes increasingly difficult when you try to book through their Android app. The app will neither show you how many free nights you have, nor will it allow you to use them to book a hotel.
Therefore, I had to call the Marriott hotline which is a nightmare as well. But I finally got to an agent who actually wanted to help. He told me to book that property on points and he will then reimburse the points and use my free night certificate instead. He was waiting on the phone line while I made the booking through the app. Yes, one of the biggest hotel chains in the world can make booking hotel rooms so difficult that you just want to give up. Maybe that’s exactly what they want if it comes to using points and certificates?
Location
The Residence Inn Melbourne is located to the northeast of Downtown Melbourne. It is located next to the Melbourne Orlando International Airport. Behind the hotel is a small shopping mall/business district. It was great for me, as my buddy lived only 10 minutes away from the hotel. I might stay there again when visiting the airshow at the airport.
It was about a 2.5-hour drive for me to get from the Residence Inn in Pompano Beach, where I was currently staying to the Residence Inn in Melbourne.
Check-In
I arrived after sunset but was lucky enough to snag a parking spot right in front of the main hotel entrance. This made it easy to unload all my expensive diving gear as I didn’t want to leave that in the car overnight. I walked to the front desk and got greeted by the agent on duty. She was super nice and had even a surprise for me. I was upgraded to a King 1 Bedroom Suite. I also received my parking pass, which I was unaware of during making my reservation. There is a $5 fee per night to park at this hotel. I didn’t even think that anyone would charge for parking in this area but that seems to be a common thing with Marriott properties. Like the Courtyard in San Luis Obispo. It was the only hotel that charged for parking in the area, even so, there are a bunch of other hotels right next door. I had the choice between a market item or 500 bonus points as my welcome amenity. I got my room keys and headed down to the elevators.
King 1 Bedroom Suite (Room )
My room was located at the very end of the hallway, which would give me maximum privacy and less foot traffic from other guests.
As you walk in you have the living room space right in front of you. It comes with a work desk and office chair near the room entrance. Past that is an L-shaped sofa bed and a sofa chair. In the opposite corner of the sofa bed is a closet that has a TV on top of it. Between the TV and the sofa is a window that faces out toward the front of the hotel.
To the left of the room entrance is the kitchen area. It comes with a fully equipped kitchen including a full-size refrigerator, microwave, kitchen sink, and dishwasher. All the dishes were in the dishwasher to ensure they were clean. The front desk agent told me about that during check-in. They only washed the dishes but not the utensils, as all of them were still in the drawer. The kitchen area also features a small table with two chairs. It’s rather a small table but two people should be able to enjoy a meal there.
The door next to the dining table leads into a small junction area. It houses the vanity with a large wall-mounted mirror and a single sink. From this area, you can access the bedroom or the bathroom.
The bathroom is very small. you have to close the door to enter the shower/bathtub combo as the toilet is in the way. I don’t mind such small bathrooms, as I rather have space in the rest of the suite where I will spend more time than in the bathroom.
The bedroom can be accessed through the “junction area” and is separated from it by its own door. Right behind the bedroom door is a wall closet. You need to close the door to be to access it. A pretty inconvenient place for a wall closet but probably the only spot because of space constraints.
The King-sized bed is centered in the room. A big headboard sits behind the bed and a lamp is mounted to it on either side of the bed. Each base of the lamp has a power outlet. To the left of the bed is a nightstand while the right side of the bed only features a small table that is being placed as a nightstand.
Opposite the bed is a dresser that has another TV sitting on top of it. Overall, the bedroom is not very spacious either. There is not a lot of space on either side of the bed or to get between the bed and dresser. Not a big issue for me though, especially not for the one night I will be staying.
There is a window in the bedroom as well. The window faces out to the side of the hotel. None of the windows give you a particularly good view of anything. Mainly just the parking lots and the neighboring buildings.
Public Areas & Amenities
The lobby is beautiful and has lots of seating possibilities. Opposite the front desk is a whole area just to hang out and relax. It comes with a firepit, and cozy chairs placed all the way around it. On one side is a section with a big TV and plenty of seating options. At the far end of the lobby is a small business center. It has two workstations and a printer. However, there are no chairs to actually sit down on. The dining/breakfast area is adjacent to the wide and open lobby space.
There is also a small fitness center located on the ground floor. It’s nothing fancy but still good for a small workout. The fitness center is open 24 hours every day.
Nearby is also the guest laundry facility. It comes with quite a few washers and dryers. Unfortunately, all of them are coin-operated.
The outdoor patio features additional seating with large tables as well as BBQ grills for complimentary use by guests. All the necessary utensils can be borrowed from the front desk.
From the patio, you also have access to the heated outdoor pool. Inside the pool area are a few chairs and chaise loungers. The pool is open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day.
Dining
Breakfast
The hotel offers complimentary breakfast every morning but as I was leaving so early, I was unable to eat breakfast at the hotel. There is a pretty large buffet area in the breakfast room, but I don’t know how much this hotel cut back on actually serving a good breakfast. The one in Pompano Beach still uses the pandemic as an excuse to minimize offerings. It’s not even a continental breakfast they offer there. Again, I can’t say anything about the Residence Inn here in Melbourne. If I stay here again in the future, I will update this section.
Market
Next to the front desk is a small marketplace where you can buy snacks and drinks to get by for the night. Nothing special there either. Just a market as you are used to from many hotels.
Conclusion
It was a great stay. Everything went smoothly during my stay. I barely spent any time at the hotel anyway. I have just been there basically to get some sleep before heading out again early the next morning.
However, the hotel building made a solid impression and it looked almost brand new. I chatted with the front desk agent a bit and she told me that the building is actually very old but just a few years back they did a complete renovation of the building. You really can see that when you visit the hotel. That’s why they have touchless room key cards, which I love by the way.
Peter has a passion for Traveling, Photography, and Geocaching. These are the best ingredients for amazing adventures all over the globe. “Traveling is fun, no matter if you stay in a luxury hotel or travel like a backpacker.” Peter shares his experiences on his Blog www.gatetoadventures.com
Some of Peter’s photos are published on corporate websites, in-flight magazines, travel guides, and much more.
