Hyatt Place Melbourne, Essendon Fields opens: Sleek new business hotel

Melbourne is the first city in Australia to have a Hyatt Place-branded hotel, a clever concept launched by the Hyatt parent company in 2007 to answer the needs of contemporary business travellers.

Opened on Thursday, June15, the brand is based around market research that showed leisure time was as important to business travellers as the work stuff, and that a nine-to-five predictable clock wasn't the norm. To that end, the hotels provide recreational creature comforts around the clock to make relaxing on the road easy.

Melbourne's sleek Hyatt Place bears all those hallmarks. It's a sparkling new presence in the old Essendon Airport area, now called Essendon Fields, a multi-use precinct.

"Hyatt Place was designed for today's multi-tasking travellers 24/7 lifestyle by combining stylish design and practical amenities with forward-thinking technology and purposeful service," said Robert Dawson, Hyatt's Area Vice President, Pacific.

That means 166 spacious guestrooms with separate spaces to sleep, work and play, as well as a "Cozy Corner sofa-sleeper", free Wi-Fi throughout, a free hot breakfast for guests in the Gallery Kitchen featuring hot breakfast items, fresh fruit, steel-cut oatmeal, Greek yogurt, and more, the 24/7 Gallery Menu & Market serving freshly prepared meals any time, as well as packaged sandwiches and salads, the Coffee to Cocktails Bar offering specialty coffees and premium beers, as well as wines and cocktails and the Odds & Ends programme for forgotten items that guests can buy, borrow or take for free.

There's also flexible meeting space and a 24-hour StayFit Gym.

Both hoteliers and the Essendon Fields proprietors believe the property's proximity to the new Australian Events Centre bodes well for MICE traffic.

Of course, it's not all for business travel. This is one handily placed hotel not only for locals – it lies in the middle of Melbourne's densely populated north-west – but also for travellers. It's on the Tullamarine Freeway, six kilometres from Melbourne Airport and 10km to the city. And, unlike the airport, Essendon Fields is serviced by a tram that goes all the way to the CBD. There's also a shuttle bus to the international airport.