Good location, average room

Mixed stay here for 5 nights on a first time visit to Australia. Room was rather old fashioned and didn't feel clean. Bathroom was small and sink was outside the bathroom. Breakfast selection was pretty good however. Forget using the pool - you can barely fit in there.

The hotel is right on Flinders street so is a 5 min walk to places like Flinders station, Crown casino, central square, south bank etc. Also, the bus stop for the free tourist bus that circles the city tourist attractions is right across from the hotel. Plus the tram station is very close by too.

Another bonus, is that this hotel is often one of the first drop off stops for day tour buses on their way back from an excursion. For instance we went on the penguin tour to Phillip island which returned us at midnight (but could have been much later), and we went to the Great Ocean Road which was fantastic.

Nice place, nice time!

Stayed here over Christmas week and had a lovely time. We were pleasantly surprised by the size of the rooms as I've lived in smaller flats. Would have liked a bath in the bathroom but other than that it was perfect. The staff were lovely and we had no trouble parking.

¡Buen sitio, lo pasamos bien!

Estuvimos aquí la semana de Navidad y lo pasamos de maravilla. Nos quedamos gratamente sorprendidos por el tamaño de las habitaciones, porque he vivido en pisos más pequeños. Me hubiese gustado una bañera en el cuarto de baño, pero a excepción de eso, todo era perfecto. El personal era encantador y no teníamos ningún problema para aparcar.

Great value for a family with one small child

The Clarion Suites was a great find. It's location, on William at Flinders, places it within a couple of blocks of Flinders Street Station and at the intersection of a couple of tram lines. The under (glass roof) cover pool is great, and the breakfast buffet is reasonable, particularly since many of the online tariffs available throw it in anyway! The one-bedroom suites are ideal for a family with a young child - our daughter is six - as she has a reasonable sofa bed (and her own TV) to herself while we have a desk (there should be a law against having to work at night!) and a TV in the bedroom. Sure, it would be nice to have a two-bedroom suite but these are far more expensive at other places (and at the Clarion Suites they appear to be just adjacent one-bedroom suites or studios in any case!) Highly recommended after three stays . . .

Second time and never again!

Second visit - first was a pokey room at the rear overlooking an office block. I was advised to pay the extra for a river view next time, so for a family visit booked a 2 bedroom apartment - with a riverview - direct with the hotel, not a cheap internet deal. Arrived via rental car and spent 20 minutes trying to navigate through the floors of the hotel's very narrow carpark, only to discover it was full (even though we had advised we needed parking). Front desk suggestion was to use a nearby carpark, but mentioned it wasn't open 24 hrs and would be closed when we came back from visiting friends. Great start!

Our 2 bedroom suite turned out to be two seperate rooms - a very small single and a one bedder. Our "riverview" was a view directly into the windows of the trains that thundered past across the road. There was no river to be seen. My complaints to the front desk were met with the news that there are no two bedroom suites - just ones next door to each other (not with an interconnecting door). I was also told everything on that side of the hotel was sold as a riverview. Reception said they had no other rooms available - and "don't blame them, they didn't take the booking." Apparently I should have specified a higher floor!

I made a quick phone call to a nearby hotel that I had also stayed at previously. They came up with two spacious rooms on an executive floor with access to their club room, free parking by a concierge, and a complimentary bottle of champagne in the room to make up for the bad start to our visit to Melbourne - all for only a few dollars more.

Clarion Gateway calls itself 4-41/2 stars - 3 star at best. Problem was poorly handled by overworked reception staff. Car park is a mess, and the hotel is not up front about what it is selling.

Never again.

Bloody Fantastic. What a great surprise.

This hotel was a sensational surprise and a bargain for what you get against other Melbourne hotel prices. This was a honeymoon present for my brother and his new wife and they are still raving about the size of the apartment, the friendly helpful staff, the breakfast, THE SALE PRICE we were lucky enough to get and best of all the magnificent view of the city and river across from Crown Casino on his balcony on 11th flloor. We are recommending this hotel to everyone.

Lovely staff

Me and my mother stayed here for a weekend in May. The concierge was great, went out of his way to give us a great room. The suites are lovely, very modern with great views over the southbank. Breakfast was great, lots of variety. Would stay again if we are in Melbourne, no complaints about this hotel

Ideal Melbourne city apartment

We were a little dismayed when we arrived at our 10th floor Clarion Suites 1 bedroom apartment as it was directly overlooking the train line and the trains thunder past very often. There isn't much point in having the terrace door open. However the bedroom was double glazed and after a while we barely noticed them. The apartment was really well appointed with washer/dryer, granite bench tops and 2 TV's but the best thing was the view. Looking directly over the Yarra river to the Southbank and casino areas which is a picture at night and we could even see the harbour.Staff were very helpful for all enquiries and we would stay there again.

Loved gateway suites melbourne

I have stayed at Gateway Suites in Melbourne, and the people were very nice (but who isn't down under) the rooms were always clean, the staff was very helpful. My daughter has been back on several occasions and when not staying with friends she has stayed at Gateway Suites.