Hi all, now begins another type of review that I think should be good to embark on, which is to review on the hotels I have been. This would be similar to those that you can read online on Agoda.com or Bookings.com but I think it would be nice to give a personal down to earth review that has more details to those who might plan to go to the same places. This was a problem that i had when i was choosing hotels, as some of the reviews were already outdated or the only pictures available are those of the hotels itself. So these review will help put things into perspective. Not only that, I will also mention items such as location and convenience so that future patrons can have a better idea what to do.
As with every new category of review, there needs to be a set of criteria to follow to allow for some comparison and consistency. Hence I would now have to come out with the criteria to do the rankings and this criteria might be subject to change or improvement as time goes by. Nonetheless we all have to start somewhere, so here goes.
For hotel reviews, I think it will be useful to start with some general details of the hotels itself and these information can be found on the hotel booking websites or the hotel sites themselves.
Details of Hotel
Name : Mantra On Queens
Location : 570 Queen Street, Spring Hill QLD 4000, Australia (This is actually the Brisbane CBD area)
Number of Stars : 4.5 stars
Room of review : Hotel Room
Highlights of Hotel : Sauna, Swimming pool, Spa, Fitness Center, Car park (charged at 20 AUD per day), restaurant at hotel ground level
Date of review : May 2013
Below are the criteria set for hotel review
Comfort 4/5
As you can see from the above picture, the room is a bit more nicely shaped then your usual hotel room, and it has a small sofa chair that seats one right next to the bed. It also has a tiny table top with a chair that you could probably use to do some work over here but overall it is a bit of small surface area. With regards to comfort, the television is well distanced away from the bed and the bed is large and is a singular complete bed. Do note that in some of my other hotel review, you will see that some of the beds are actually two smaller beds beside each other to form the queen size or king size bed, and in some cases you can actually feel the gap. Mantra at queens however has no such issue.
Pillows are plentiful but note that the blanket is actually the brown cloth. There is no additional blanket below the white bed surface. This is unlike the hotels i been to in Thailand where there is a outer and inner blanket.
The bed is pretty good, not too hard, nor was it too soft so it should be able to provide you with a cozy sleeping environment.
Next important issue for comfort is the air conditioning and heater system. In Mantra the air conditioning is hidden from view but is controllable. It does pretty well at keeping the temperature at whatever you set to, which was about 26 degrees for us during this winter period in Australia.
The room is spacious enough to allow good walking room and even if you want some more people over for a while.
Service 4/5
For a 4.5 star hotel, service becomes a very big issue. Checking in was pleasant and the staff was cheerful and very helpful in introducing the area as well as drawing out important areas on the map.
During our stay there, we had some problems with the washing machine. Calling the reception at 11 plus in the night, we had a cheery receptionist girl who wasted no time in coming up to help us try to solve the problem. Admittedly she was not trained in how to fix the washing machine, but she did good in actually volunteering their laundry services to help us wash and dry our clothing, at no extra charges.This is what we expect of a 4.5 star hotel in terms of service and she did this on both nights that we were there.
There was also no problems in helping us get an early check in when we reached there before 12 noon. Also, at the end of our stay there, we did not realize that the check out time was supposed to be 10 am. However, with a call to the reception, they allowed us to check out at 11 with no extra charges which is a very understanding and reasonable gesture by the hotel. Admittedly however, there should have been some way to inform us about the checkout time at mantra especially for those like us who come from overseas and are not used to the Australian style.
There was housekeeping daily and everything was done very neatly with refills of tea and coffee as well as toiletries.
Amenities 3.5/5
For amenities, Mantra was good in providing coffee, tea, microwave, as well as all the cups and cutlery for some sort of cooking within the hotel room. However, there was no facility for cooking such as electrical stove although this is understandable for a hotel room.
Shampoo and soap are all provided as well as ironing and washing machine that has the drying function. Of course some points are taken off due to the fact that the washing machine didn't work while we were there but all in all, it was pretty complete for a hotel room of that size.
The bathtub was actually strangely small and there is a bit of awkwardness in trying to keep the water in the bathtub when showering as the glass did not really prevent water from coming out. Hot water was readily available however and there was good water flow.
There was not too many spare power sockets and I probably could count about 3 spare sockets in the entire room.
Television and channels were probably the standard as all 4 hotels I visited had about the same mix of shows complete with working remotes.
The hotel did have a tiny tiny pool and sauna but these are really not used much during the winter periods. Nonetheless, its good to have the option.
Location 4/5
This criteria is pretty interesting and i would say it might be pretty subjective in a sense. Good location basically depends on whether you would actually want to go to various places. But of course if you are from overseas, you probably would want to explore much of the place. So this current points is indicative of how close the place is from the many many unique or must-visit places of Brisbane!
Mantra on Queens scores high because it is basically on the very outskirts of the CBD area, so its not in the place with many of the main hotels. Yet it is within walking distance to the Queens street mall area, about 10 to 15 minutes, walking distance to one of the stops for the free red ferry city hopper and unlike many of the other hotels in the CBD, this one is close to Chinatown, where there are many shops selling food not only of the chinese culture but many many various foods like vietnam cuisine as well as fast food. Perhaps the furthest location of interest from Mantra would be southbank where there are many eateries and shopping. Still, it makes for good walk and is probably not more then 30 minutes of walk and you can always use the ferry to get there also.
It is also in between the train stops of central station and fortitude, so no matter where you get off, if you are using the train, you will need to walk there. Of course if you stay there for many days, then the time where you will spend carrying and lugging all your luggage will be pretty minimal. Aside from that, right below the hotel is Europcar rentals. So if you have a second leg to your trip like I did, you don't need to rent a car on the spot, but can get one when you are leaving. Remember though that parking at Mantra is charged at $20 per night so I personally won't recommend it cause parking in the city area is troublesome and probably not worth the time. Get there via public transport and leave there via a rental.
There is even a woolsworth (super market) right opposite the hotel that saves you a lot of effort if you want to cook food or get instant noodles or supplies like that. I believe the apartments might have cooking facilities but please check this yourself.
Cost Efficiency 3.5/5
My two nights there were at about 150 SGD per night. So this is probably not a cheap choice especially for long stays. But Brisbane itself is probably a good place to visit for about 3 to 4 days maximum unless you plan to do a lot of shopping. Plus it did have all the amenities such as washing machine and dryer so you can travel slightly lighter.
Summary
Comfort : 4 (Good beds and all around cleanliness. Almost everything functioned properly)
Service : 4 (Cheery staff from start to end, plus very helpful at solving guests problems)
Amenities : 3.5 (Nothing too fancy, but at least they are there as an option)
Location : 4 (Pretty convenient and I guess it is already one of the best locations around)
Cost Efficiency 3.5 (Pricey, but you do get quite a lot of things that you will use like washing machines, driers, and you could save on the transport since you can walk)
Overall 3.8/5
Overall, my experience at Mantra was a good one. When I entered, I did feel that I was going into a highly rated hotel, but that was only after the difficulties in finding out where the entrance was in the first place. The cheery service that was provided from then at giving us our early check in, helped improve the impression. Even after the washing machine did not function properly, the accommodating and helpful receptionist was there at the late hours to troubleshoot although she didn't know much, but more importantly, she volunteered the hotel's resources to help us get our clothes washed. This should be the service standard expected in every hotel. Wrote a feedback card at the end of everything and I even received a response to my email after that. Mantra obviously wants to improve and do well, and for that I wish them all the best. Maybe some day, I will visit their other branches and do another review for you guys.
Thats it for the first review on the hotel i stayed at in Brisbane. Share your comments if any. I will try to get up the other reviews soon!
This is the review for agoda that i just attached for a summary
Mantra is located in walking distance from the following places, CBD area, Queenstreet Mall, Chinatown, Ferry terminal for free red citihopper ferries, Southbank. In fact, the furthest location that should be visited is Southbank and you could ride the ferry there. Besides that, Mantra would probably be one of the few hotels that is closest to Chinatown area where you can fulfil your asian food cravings. It is also in between central station and fortitude valley so if you take public transport there on the first day, you probably do need to lug your luggage for a bit. But after that, you do not need to worry about transport as the rest is all walkable.
Aside from that, Mantra has good customer service. We had problems with our washing machine at 2300hrs and even then, Hayley at reception was able to come up to our room and attempt to help us. Even though she didn't solve the problem, she offered to help bring our clothes to the hotel's laundry and we could collect it from reception the next day. It is this kind of service that makes Mantra a 4.5 star hotel.
All in all, for all the sights of Brisbane, put 3 or 4 days in Mantra and you can have a very carefree shopping experience. However, don't bother driving around as parking is charged. We enjoyed our stay there and I believe other people will too.
For a more complete review, visit http://d-d-reviews.blogspot.sg/2013/06/hotels-mantra-on-queen-hotel.html
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