Sofitel Melbourne on Collins

The Sofitel Melbourne on Collins is a luxury business hotel that's also suitable for well-heeled tourists, but it doesn't offer much for families. The hotel occupies the top 15 floors of 35 Collins, a 50-story skyscraper that's one-half of the twin Collins Place towers. The towers were opened in 1981 after a decade of construction. On the ground floor there is a shopping mall with a number of luxury outlets and direct access to the hotel. The lobby is a calm space done up in the brand's signature hues of pale gold, cream, brown, and gray, with numerous small seating areas featuring gold-toned crushed-velvet easy chairs. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out on the mall, which itself is a bright space thanks to an impressive atrium-style ceiling that lets in lots of sunlight. The hallways and parts of the lobby are also dedicated exhibition spaces that change up to 16 times a year. The hotel even runs an artist residency program that lasts a couple of weeks at a time and often involves an acclaimed local artist creating works inspired by the hotel. 

The Sofitel Melbourne on Collins is located on Collins Street in Melbourne's Central Business District. The property is right by the Treasury Gardens in an area with plenty of high-end boutiques, galleries, cafes, and restaurants -- there's also a chocolatier right across the road. The historic Block Arcade is 10 minutes down the road on foot and many of the city's most famous theaters -- including the Regent Theatre, Athenaeum Theatre, and Princess Theatre -- are within a 10-minute walk of the hotel. It's a 20-minute walk from the National Gallery of Victoria and it takes about the same amount of time to reach the Melbourne Cricket Ground on foot. The Royal Botanic Garden is a 10-minute drive away, as is the Queen Victoria Market. The hotel is well connected to public transport, and the Parliament Railway Station is a five-minute walk away. The airport is a half-hour drive away. 

The Sofitel on Collins offers six types of rooms and suites, plus two individually designed suites -- the Imperial and Opera Suites. The base category is the Classic Room, all of which have either one king-sized bed or two large singles, plus iPod docks, minibars, flat-screen TVs, desks, and gray marble bathrooms with shower/tub combos. Decor features a muted palate of creams, greens, and tans. The overall look is understated and businesslike, if a little generic for a hotel of this category (although this is a common feature of Antipodean Sofitel properties). All rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows and Sofitel MyBeds, custom-made featherbeds especially designed for the chain. The next category, Superior Rooms, are differentiated from Classic Rooms only by their views, which look out on Port Phillip Bay rather than just the city. Luxury Rooms have similar amenities but with corner locations that allow for better views. With an open-plan design, Junior Suites feel much like large rooms, although they do have the added bonus of seating areas with sofas, soft chairs, and glass-topped coffee tables and they come with Nespresso coffeemakers, which only suite-category rooms have. Prestige Suites feel more suite-like, with separate living and sleeping areas and larger bathrooms. Guests of these suites get access to the Club Sofitel Lounge, as do visitors staying in Luxury Club Rooms (which are essentially the same as the other types of rooms but are on higher floors and include club access). The Level 50 Suites have a more contemporary vibe thanks to a mixture of cream, charcoal, and heather-gray furnishings and leather chairs. One of these -- the Ambassador Suite -- has a dining room table that can seat six and easily double as a conference table for business meetings. The hotel has two top-end suites: the Opera Suite and Imperial Suite. The Opera Suite can be connected to two adjacent rooms to form an even larger space, while the Imperial Suite can connect to one. Both have separate bedrooms with king-sized beds, butler's pantries, and dining areas that can seat up to eight people. The Opera Suite has a huge bathroom with an anti-fog TV, a spa bath for two, and double showers.

The large fitness center, So FIT, is filled with natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows and features the type of specialized weight equipment most often found in large public gyms, along with free weights and a few exercise bikes, treadmills, and other cardio machines. There are also a couple of massage chairs with leg massagers that guests can use after their workouts.The Club Sofitel Lounge is available to guests of larger suites and some rooms. This gorgeous space has huge ceilings with floor-to-ceiling windows and magnificent views of the Melbourne cityscape. Breakfast and a light lunch is served in the room daily and it offers an afternoon tea and a bar with canape service in the evening. Other facilities here include a meeting room (for a fee), computers with printers, and shower/changing areas. Wi-Fi in the lounge is free.The Sofitel offers numerous business rooms, from the Level 35 West and East Tower Suites with gorgeous views of the city to multiple ballrooms, the largest of which is a pillar-free space that can seat over 800 people. All come with audiovisual equipment and optional catering service, and even the smaller rooms have little extras such as Nespresso machines and tea service sets. The hotel also has a business center with a few desktop computers and printers for guest use. Wi-Fi is available throughout the hotel for a fee.

The 35th floor of the hotel houses a bar -- Atrium Bar on 35 -- as well as the No35 restaurant. The bar serves wine, beer, cocktails, and snacks, but it's the gorgeous interiors -- specifically the 15-story mirrored canopy -- that really makes the space worth a visit. The restaurant doesn't offer as much in terms of interiors, although its city views are gorgeous. The menus are also impressive, with a large focus on fresh, local, organic produce; artisanal ingredients such as Irish moss and Tasmanian wild clover show up in some of the dishes.Various types of tea service are served in Sofi's Lounge, a relaxed space with a similar gray, pale green, and brown color scheme as found in the rooms; the Afternoon Tea offers sparkling wines with finger sandwiches and pastries.The Sofitel even operates its own cooking and hospitality school -- Academy Sofitel -- and guests can attend for single-day culinary master classes, held on Saturdays (advanced registration is required). The Academy's Pantry also offers three-course Wednesday lunches and dinners created and served by students at substantially lower rates than what you'd find in a fine-dining restaurant.