Rydges rides again after major makeover
This much-loved 1970s hotel used to have Melbourne’s highest swimming pool. After a top-to-toe refurbishment, it’s back in the game.
Picture Melbourne’s skyline in the 1970s. There is no Crown. No 100-floor Australia 108 tower, no Docklands apartments. Even so, the city was already reaching skywards. In 1972, on Exhibition St near the corner of Little Bourke, the 23-storey Bryson Centre opened, a concrete, curtain-walled paean to modernity, a “city within a city” housing restaurants, a 600-seat cinema, Jaguar showroom and Hotel Melbourne, with the city’s highest swimming pool.
Today that small but groovy pool deck, part LA, part Palm Springs, remains delightfully retro, aside from a sensitive revamp as part of a top-to-toe refurbishment of the 370-guestroom Rydges Melbourne, officially unveiled on July 19.
Rydges moved into the building in the mid-’80s, providing a home away from home for corporates, tourists and those in town from the country, and still commands a loyal cadre of guests.
A total transformation in collaboration with Sydney-based designers Luchetti Krelle establishes the Melbourne hotel as flagship for the Australian-owned and operated Rydges. Super smart interiors and the latest technology, including self-service kiosk check-in, circumventing queues at reception, make it perfect for the co-work generation. But that homey feel remains at the heart of operations, a Rydges calling card across 46 hotels and resorts Australia wide.
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In the new-look lobby, the self-service terminals are discreetly positioned but if, like me, you’d rather check in the old-fashioned way, kindly receptionists are on hand. (I’m in the minority; there’s been a 90 per cent uptake of the technology, which allows guests to check-in online before leaving home, then retrieve a key card from the terminal upon arrival.)
The hotel’s fresh design is suave, with subtle references to the building’s ’70s heritage, and an Aussie bush palette providing for a medley of soothing olives, ochres and beige. Perhaps “sand” is more appropriate; the word beige is in no designer’s lexicon. Soft rounded furniture is plump and welcoming, with specially commissioned pieces from local artists adorning every room.
From the window and terrace tables in the ground-floor Bossley Bar & Restaurant there’s a lively view of Her Majesty’s Theatre and the Chinatown gates, underscoring the hotel’s excellent location in the heart of the theatre district and a few minutes on foot to some of the city’s best retail. The restaurant embraces the hotel’s overall comfy vibe, with a large circular bar and open kitchen, bespoke tableware and linen napkins. The food, courtesy executive chef Paul Griffiths (from sister property, QT Melbourne), is very good; the breakfast buffet hits all the right notes, as do dinners. Desserts are truly wicked. I hope the pina colada lamington is on the menu when any reader visits; it’s ambrosial. Otherwise try the Bossley’s Snickers. Then take a 20km hike.
Accommodation offerings include 310 standard king rooms, 35 suites and 25 apartments, which are competitively priced and perfect for longer stays. With oodles of space and loads of style (think chocolate brown leather headboards, midcentury-style low slung pendant lights and on-trend bunches of native flowers). A stylish bijou kitchen with stove top, an oven, well-stocked minibar and breakfast bar opens on to a spacious dining and living area with sofa and armchair centred around a large wall-mounted TV, offering casting and room service. There’s even a separate laundry with sink. Attention to detail is noteworthy, including the bespoke mugs and kitchenware. And the television screen saver, moody black and white videos of Melbourne’s city streets, rather like an arthouse movie, whets the appetite for a diet of coffee and shopping.
The large bedroom has a chaise-longue, signature Rydges DreamBed, as comfortable as it sounds, another large TV and deep bathtub set at the far end of the room. Soak those weary shopping muscles while gazing out the long bank of windows at the city rooftops. Curved walls clad in pale timber conceal the elegant bathroom with shower, toilet and large vanity.
“Refreshingly local” is a key brand strategy for the hotel, embracing Victorian produce (Port Phillip Bay line-caught fish and Gippsland beef), in-room bathroom amenities by Melbourne-based social enterprise Thankyou, and a comprehensive food-waste recycling program.
Many Melburnians fondly remember Rydges as the home of Bobby McGee’s “entertainment lounge” (a member of the hotel’s marketing team met her husband there in the ’90s). As part of the refurbishment this popular night spot has been transformed into an impressive ballroom, dubbed Centre Stage, with almost 7m-high ceilings and ginormous HD LED screen.
The ballroom forms part of a suite of top-notch meeting and events spaces with flexible configurations, including a large outdoor terrace with great city views.
Such a well-considered and executed refurbishment sets Rydges alongside sister brand QT Hotels in the design stakes. Add to this the latest technology and smart breezy service from a friendly young crew, and a landmark Melbourne building has become an ideal downtown address.
Christine McCabe was a guest of Rydges Hotels and Resorts.
IN THE KNOW
Rydges Melbourne is at 186 Exhibition St, Melbourne; rooms from $248; apartments from $343.