11 hours ago
2
December 8, 2025 — 5:00am
The hotel
Holiday Inn Bourke St Mall, Melbourne
Check-in
If you’re using proximity to the Melbourne GPO as the benchmark, then the Holiday Inn Bourke St Mall wins the gong for the city’s most central hotel. It’s part of the new Melbourne Walk development, which adds a new laneway connecting Bourke Street Mall and Little Collins Street. The hotel is part of a pair, sitting cheek-to-cheek with the five-star Hotel Indigo next door. It has an enviable location, but it’s still a Holiday Inn, which means affordable, as well as group and family friendly.
The look
The hotel is entered by its own lift on Melbourne Walk; we zip up to Level 1 where a fresh, timber-lined lobby merges into the communal lounge, bar and dining room. There’s a utilitarian charm, with blonde timbers, signature apple green and a neon “Hello” sign as perky as the staff who greet us on arrival.
The room
The 273-room hotel includes interconnecting and double-double rooms for larger families or groups, and five wheelchair-accessible rooms. Our room, 437, is a king city view overlooking Bourke Street Mall and the Myer building art deco facade; I can literally shop the Myer and David Jones sales from my bed, or pull the block-out blinds to spare my wallet. If you’ve woken up forgetting where you were, the unmistakable ding-ding of the trams running down Bourke Street will soon remind you. All the essentials are here: quality tea, iron and ironing board; some things like toothbrushes aren’t in the room but are available free from housekeeping. A special call-out for the spacious bathroom with an excellent shower, good-smelling, vegetable-derived toiletries in refillable pumps and some great tile action; the let-down is, as ever, poor lighting for drawing your eyes on.
Food + drink
With some of the country’s best restaurants within a 10-minute walk, it’s questionable whether you should eat in. But if you’ve had a big day and are ready to slump, or are trucking hungry kids, the inhouse restaurant doesn’t disappoint. Under the guidance of seasoned Melbourne chef Darryl Hand, the fish of the day is a crispy-skinned barramundi with a fresh parsley and mint pesto, and the dish of the day is wagyu in a black-bean sauce with asparagus. Both are well executed from the kitchen that serves both the Holiday Inn and the five-star Hotel Indigo, next door.
Don’t worry, you’ll also find burgers and other kid-friendly options on the tight menu, and kids under 12 eat free. Darryl, may I tweak the menu and suggest you add the chicken parfait as a bar snack in its own right, elevating it from simply an aside on the charcuterie plate? I’m sure many diners would thank you.
Breakfast is a frequently refreshed buffet including congee and a great fried rice, supplemented by eggs, salmon and avocado dishes hot from the kitchen. Impressively, it stays fresh and tidy until closing at 11am (10.30am on weekdays). The drinks list includes a strong showing of mocktails and cocktails, including a “suuuper smoky” mescal sour.
Out + about
Did we mention the hotel is right on Bourke Street Mall? The cosmetics behemoth Mecca is right next door, which includes the sweet little Mecca café on the top floor, pouring coffee, champagne and cocktails from the hand of Joe Jones, formerly of Melbourne cocktail benchmark Romeo Lane.
The verdict
A fabulous location – the well-oiled Holiday Inn hospitality machine and its super smiley staff make a city stay accessible and affordable.
Essentials
From $204 a night. Children under 12 stay and eat free. Holiday Inn Melbourne Bourke Street Mall, 296 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. Phone: (03) 9968 8688. See holidayinn.com/melbourne
Our rating out of five
★★★★
Highlight
Location, location, location. You’re in the heart of Melbourne city, with all its fabulous restaurants and shopping. There is no more central hotel in this town.
Lowlight
Two usual gripes: poor bathroom lighting for applying make-up and late at night, the off switch for the bedside lamp simply eludes me.
The writer stayed as a guest of Holiday Inn.
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