Platinum Apartments Freshwater Place are a prime location, probably one of the best in Melbourne if you’re a tourist. We stayed in a two bedroom apartment, which is not serviced (although you can have cleaners bought in for an extra charge) so be aware of that. Overall we were a bit disappointed by the overall experience at Platinum Apartments Freshwater Place. Firstly, it’s quite noisy. We didn’t have a balcony, you couldn’t open any windows but there is a constant noise (which we were told was the sound of the city) which sounds like Chinese Lion Dancing is going on the whole time. It’s not even facing the river directly and this one of the noisiest apartments we’ve stayed in, and both my wife and I have lived in Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and Bangkok and found this to be extremely noisy. Again, we were told this was just the sound of the city but we’ve stayed at the Langham just down the road a few years ago and had a river facing room and didn’t notice any noise. Apparently the noise is from the trains.
The second big complaint at Platinum Apartments Freshwater Place is the water pressure. In the kitchen the water pressure is such that it takes 8 seconds to fill up a 240ml cup. It’s about as powerful as my 4 year old son’s wee – no exaggeration there. Actually come to think of it, his wee is way more powerful and he could fill up a cup in 4 seconds. The shower is also bordering on pathetic. I’ve stayed in 3 star hotel with better showers. It’s the most unsatisfying shower I’ve experienced in the last 5 years of travel and I’ve travelled at least 40 times in that period. You don’t feel you’ve had a shower and the pressure is not enough. It doesn’t help it was bit cold in Melbourne (11 degrees at night and early morning) so you could never get warm in the shower. To some, maybe most people that won’t be a problem but for a bit of a shower guru like myself, I need a good one!
The last complaint of Platinum Apartments Freshwater Place is that you need a key to go everywhere, in and out, there’s multiple doors, into the lift. I suppose that’s a good thing but in my opinion it was way overkill and inconvenient. Especially when we had 3 of us not including Grobbler. However, it’s not all bad at Platinum Apartments Freshwater Place. On the plus side there’s a nice roof top garden and indoor swimming pool. It’s very clean, safe, and as mentioned, great location with loads of restaurants around and a good supermarket less than a minute away.
There is no concierge as such so you’re on your own, so to speak. One of toilets leaked (water kept coming out after you flushed it) and despite the owner knowing this, it was never fixed. Beds are ok, not the most comfortable but not the least comfortable. There’s a washing machine and dryer as well as dish washer so you can stay a while here. The owner put things like butter, peanut butter, cereals and things like that so we had something for breakfast the day after we arrived. You don’t book these directly on booking.com but have to contact the owner directly.
Be aware that if you’ve seen the photos on trip advisor and are expecting a balcony, you will need to check with the owner if you in fact you have a balcony and river view, as we didn’t. No windows and no balcony mean your apartment will smell if you cook anything. If you’re used to living in an apartment with a balcony or windows, this can be a big deal. But if you’re a bit of a neat freak like myself and smelling out the apartment before going to sleep keeps you awake at night, then it’s important to have a balcony or at least a window to get the smells out and let some fresh air in.
We stayed 7 nights at Platinum Apartments Freshwater Place and overall were a bit disappointed, mainly due to the lack of water pressure in the shower. The noise I guess you get used to. Don’t think we would stay here again but can see how it’d be fine for some people who are less anal about showers than myself! Perhaps it was just our apartment but with no balcony, no river view, no windows, the noise, especially at night, and the lack of water pressure, considering the price, this is not great value . Overall I’d give it a 7/10. If the shower was decent and it wasn’t so noisy, and it had a balcony, these would be awesome apartments to stay in.
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Check out things to in Melbourne with kids in our Melbourne Travel Guide for kids and families here.
