United Places Hotel Botanic Gardens 157 Domain Road, South Yarra, Victoria 3141

"We had a great stay here, great location with easy access to some excellent dining options, the gardens, or the Tan if you're up for a run. Staff were lovely, very accommodating with any requests. The rooms were very comfortable and modern, giving us no reason to want to leave. Easy access to the city a short walk or car trip."

"We absolutely loved our stay at United Places. The attention to detail was incredible. Locally handmade ceramic mugs and plates, stunning furniture, and the BEST SHOWER I have had in my life. I've actually never had such a nice towel either... strange thing to focus on, but it makes such a difference! Staff were welcoming, friendly and professional. The room was a peaceful oasis in a stunning location. The absolute perfect way to celebrate 20 years together. Highly recommend"

"United Places elevates the hotel scene of Melbourne to an other level. First of all you can't have a better location, the service and the friendliness of the staff is perfect. All suites are fully equipped for what you are looking for travelling either for leisure or business. Now in Brisbane and missing UP so much."

"Lots of positives and a few negatives too. But let's start with the positives. The building and room layouts are on point, with some epic pieces of furniture and a very cool plaster moulded feature wall in the entry hall. The rooms have a dishwasher, laundry and cooktop. The staff, we saw three different women at the desk during our 24-hour stay, were all friendly and attentive. The real hero of United Places is the South Yarra location though. Two-hatted restaurant Matilda 159 is located conveniently downstairs (and the food is delish and the wine list spectacular), the Royal Botanic Gardens is just across the road and the NGV is a delightful 30-minute stroll through the gardens. Now for the negatives - Unlike The Ace Hotel or Paramount Hotel in Sydney or any other boutique hotel in the world, there is zero vibe. It's more like a serviced apartment than a hotel. The front desk is not regularly manned. There is no valet or parking. Upon arrival, we parked in a two-hour zone as directed but were told we were likely to get a ticket on Domain Street and to move the car 500m - 1km away. We ended up scoring a park about half a k away and having to walk back to the motel, only to have to set our alarm for 6:30am to get up and move our car again if we wanted to avoid getting a ticket (there were parking inspectors everywhere, we saw three during our 24-hour stay). I don't know why the building has not been granted resident parking passes like all of the other surrounding dwellings. As an architect and designer we were so keen to check out the fixtures and finishes, and whilst the rooms were great with some beautiful furniture, a few cheaper finishes like fake brass signage in common areas or cheap plastic or chrome fixtures in the bathroom and toilet just took the edge off it feeling like a true design focused hotel. The light switches are needlessly complicated. The towel rack in the toilet fell off the wall when I bumped it accidentally with my elbow. Of course, all of the above is totally fine and these things happen, but the fact the rooms here are $650 or $1050 per night - we left feeling it was just a touch overpriced for the offering. We'd stay again for the restaurant downstairs, the location and the friendly staff, but only if we were Uber'ing."