NOVOTEL MELBOURNE ON COLLINS – ACCESSIBLE ACCOMMODATION

On my recent trip to Melbourne I popped into the Novotel Melbourne on Collins to check out their accessible rooms.  I am a fan of the hotel after our family stayed there a couple of years ago.  We were lucky enough to win a trip to Melbourne (exactly why you should all be entering our Christmas giveaway – we are proof, people do win things) and we stayed at the hotel.  We were surprised at the large size of the room we stayed in and that made me want to check out the hotel’s accessible accommodation.

I was thrilled to find that the hotel offers good quality, spacious accessible accommodation and even a choice of room type.

DELUXE KING ACCESSIBLE ROOM

The deluxe king accessible room is extremely spacious.  There is room on either side of the bed for transferring from a wheelchair and the bed can either be made as a king or a twin bed.  A large window allows plenty of light into the room.

The bathroom is spacious with hand rails throughout, lever taps and a flip-down shower seat.  Entry to the bathroom is via a large sliding door.  It would be wonderful to find more bathrooms like this one in hotels.

QUEEN ACCESSIBLE ROOM

The accessible queen bedded room is large but not quite as spacious as the deluxe king room.

The queen accessible bathroom offers both a bath and shower (accompanying family may prefer a bath).  The shower has a flip-down seat, lever taps and grab rails throughout.  This bathroom is also roomy and good for wheelchair transfers.

FAMILY SUITE

When we visited this hotel we stayed in the family suite.  The queen bed is in the main room along with the lounges, television, mini-bar and desk.

Off the main lounge area there is a separate bedroom with two single beds.   BJ’s early wakings meant that this was the ideal set-up for our family.

The bathroom is not accessible in this family suite.  The shower is over the bath and it is a much smaller bathroom than the rooms featured above.  BJ loves a bath and we didn’t need an accessible room for our stay so we were very happy with this room.

LOCATION

I’m a fan of a central location and when we stayed at this hotel we didn’t hire a car.  We could walk to many attractions and used the tram system.  The hotel is next to the historic Block Arcade, one of my personal favourite shopping haunts in Melbourne.  It is within walking or wheeling distance to the major shopping areas and a short walk to Southbank which is great for outdoor dining.

We used the Skybus service from the airport to the city and return.  You can read more about their accessible service in this blog post.

FACILITIES

The pool is not accessible with several stairs up to the pool itself.

The restaurant and bar area are accessible.

BJ was very sick while we were in Melbourne and we ended up spending a half day in emergency at the Children’s Hospital.  The staff at the hotel were accommodating allowing us a late check-out and assisting by providing breakfast in the room for Hubby who missed the buffet breakfast included in our package.

The location and size of the rooms at Novotel Melbourne on Collins are hard to beat in my opinion.  For more information head to the Novotel website here (I love that accessible rooms are listed and easy to find. Not all hotels do this)

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