Now open: Australia’s first Hyatt Centric lands in Melbourne
The Centric is pitched as "a full-service lifestyle hotel" in the heart of the city for business and leisure travellers.
There are now four Hyatts to choose from on your next trip to Melbourne, if Hyatt is your go-to hotel group, following the opening of the city’s first – Australia’s first – Hyatt Centric.
Stationed on Downie Street and Flinders Lane in the south-western corner of the CBD, the 25-storey hotel sits about a block from the Yarra River and Southbank, around two blocks from Southern Cross Station and is a short walk from the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
That location certainly meets Hyatt’s criteria that Centric hotels offer "a cosmopolitan vibe in the centre of the action", making the property well-suited to both business and pleasure.
Designed by Architectus and Hecker Guthrie Interiors, the Hyatt Centric Melbourne's 277 contemporary guest rooms have been designed along lines "that showcase the city’s heritage and urban landscape."
Each features either a large window overlooking the city or Port Phillip Bay, while some have a private balcony. These progress up to the Premier Suite with its separate living, dining and bedroom areas.
However, as is the case with all Hyatt Centric hotels, there's no club lounge: the focus is more on lifestyle, either at the hotel's bar or its rooftop Toma Restaurant.
Toma is led by up-and-coming Melbourne culinary connoisseur Jordan Monkhouse, who learned his trade in leading city eateries Hellenic Republic and Bistro Guillaume and crafted Toma's menu of Mediterranean inspired dishes with locally sourced ingredients.
For that morning caffeine hit there’s Allie Lane, which true to Melbourne’s culture can be found in an outside laneway adjacent to the hotel.
Additional facilities for guests include a 25-metre indoor swimming pool and fitness centre.
Four Hyatts to choose from
The new Hyatt Centric complements the city’s existing Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt and Hyatt Place brands.
At the other end of the CBD from Centric, at the very top end of Collins Street, you’ll find the more luxurious Grand Hyatt Melbourne.
This towering hotel offers 550 rooms including 84 club rooms and 25 suites. There’s a Grand Club Lounge on the 31st floor open to Grand Club, Suite guests and World of Hyatt Globalist tiered members, along with two private dining rooms off the main Collins Kitchen restaurant.
A further 10 minutes walk toward Melbourne’s Parliament House will bring you to Park Hyatt Melbourne, where rooms are generally larger, but without the option of a club lounge.
Outside of the city there's also the Hyatt Place at Essendon Fields near Essendon Airport, with a second Hyatt Place opening in early 2022 in the Caribbean Park business precinct just north of Dandenong in the city’s east.
Hyatt Place is described as “the modern essentials” brand with a "select service" offering and more basic rooms aimed at those who probably won’t spend many of their waking hours in them, although World of Hyatt members can still start the day with free breakfast.
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1207
Hotel branding is doing my head in. All the majors seem to be obsessed with creating ever more brands to fill niches that don't really exist. I assume Hyatt Centric is filling the same place historically held by Hyatt Regency; is that correct?
20 Nov 2015
Total posts 478
The Hyatt Regency is still around and very much a five-star 'luxury' stay I thought, very different to the Centric. Hyatt still can't beat Accor for the most confusing array of hotel brands!
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1207
IHG is trying hard in the lots of brands stakes too. I stayed at Voco Singapore a couple of weeks ago. Despite the publicity saying it's a new groovy brand, the hotel was very much the old Hilton with new signage. In fact, I cannot identify any clear difference between Voco, Holiday Inn or Crowne Plaza.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Nov 2013
Total posts 475
That small round table with no ergonomic chair and no power/USB available? That's a massive oversight for any hotel trying to get executive/biz travellers.
I'll give this a big miss.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 33
Stayed recently for business trip- it is an great hotel but it is focused more toward the leisure or more agile ‘work from anywhere’ business travellers, so the Grand Hyatt fits best for me, but for us World of Hyatt members- having so much choice in one city is fantastic. The Hyatt Place Essendon Fields is also a very good hotel.
03 May 2013
Total posts 680
The brand thing wouldn't be so bad if Hyatt wasn't so hell bent on pricing itself out of the market(especially in Australasia). I used to be a Hyatt only person but have switched to Accor finding equally good benefits, service and rooms - for less.
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