Apparently it’s possible for a place to be too comfortable... I think I ended up seeing less of Melbourne than I intended, just because I enjoyed staying “home” so much. (The excuse I’m going with is that it rained like 25 cm or something in the first four days.) The terrace is awesome, the beds are comfortable and the couch even moreso, and the shower has plenty of hot water with good water pressure. There is central air conditioning and a wall unit downstairs, both work great. We went out to eat twice a day but the kitchen had so much food that, with some minimal grocery shopping, we could have had meals in. The WiFi worked perfectly and the television has Chromecast, so we were able to watch Netflix using my account on my iPad. If you forget to bring your Q-Tips or travel adapter or whatever, you can pretty much count on finding it somewhere in the penthouse. Between that and the washer and dryer, you can probably pack lighter than you normally would for a vacation. Plus, this place has everything you would never think of when choosing somewhere to stay, from versatile lighting to a room diffuser to a wireless printer.
The location is great. It’s not at the busiest intersection in the CBD but everything—restaurants, bars, groceries, pharmacies and awesome shopping (from Muji and Uniqlo to Gucci and Louis Vuitton)—is all within walking distance. There’s a 7-11 across the street. One day I had to go to a doctor and I found one literally two buildings down. I didn’t use the tram once.
The only issue I could see people might have is with some very loud music coming from somewhere nearby on Friday and Saturday nights. Like, I don’t think you can even drown it out by watching television. And because all the windows are on one side of the penthouse, there isn’t a room that is quieter than others. I don’t know if it’s a regular thing or not, but we heard a lot of Whitney Houston and Cher until maybe midnight or 1:00 am on those nights.
Last but not least, Carla is the best. Super fun and friendly, and responsive. Having traveled more than 24 hours to get there, I was dead tired when I got to Melbourne. After she showed us around briefly, Carla was thoughtful enough to bring coffee back with her when she went to get us keys to the building. During that five minutes I managed to fall asleep on the couch, so she showed me to bed, then left a note with everything we needed to know. Later she came by to drop off a bottle of pinot noir. Before I booked this place, I read a review that said there’s no reason to stay anywhere else in Melbourne CBD, and it’s absolutely true. It’s worth the price.