The Hotel is in a great location very close to Southern Cross Station and very central overall. The Casio is within walking distance, as are restaurants, cafes and amenities.
We are a family of four and had a superior room with 2 double beds on the 1st floor, there was no view and hardly any light from the window as it was blocked by a wall. The room itself although small and felt cramped for the 4 of us was sufficient as we didn't spend much time in it.
The hotel is definitely in need of refurbishment, but the excellent customer service we received from the staff overlooked that.
The pool area was great for the kids, it was clean and well presented. A good place to relax with a drink.
The breakfast was ok, although the hot buffet kept running out and had to be replenished, but staff were great in managing that.
I would recommend the hotel for short breaks and if you are not too fussed with decor.

Stayed at the Holiday Inn in Feb 08. Hotel nice warm feel about it, perfect for tourists. Close to major attractions, Spencer St railways station DFO outlets etc.
We stayed in a KingBed Suite which was very nice. Had one side a bedroom, and about the same sized room again as a living area. Big glass windows overlooking Spencer St and the Grand Hotel opposite. The windows were double glazed, but it was rather noisy on the 5th floor from the trams and trains below. We ordered off their takeaway box menu, which has no room delivery charge and the food was above our expectations for the price. No worries getting replacing my feather pillow with a rubber one either. Staff very friendly.
Would recommend this for the tourist as it just has a good feel about it. Friendly and welcoming, unlike some sterile hotels in Melbourne where you can feel out of place and not so welcome.
Recommended!

The rates at the time was high because of the australian open but holiday inn's website had a pretty good rate and I booked it there. What they don't tell you (or at least was not obvious and I looked all over the site) until you book the hotel is that the cancellation policy is horrendous.

If you book it at the discounted rate(and I did it 6 months in advance) you cannot cancel. Unlike other places who lets you cancel or deduct one night's stay deposit, holiday inn keeps the whole thing and thank you for your business. I almost had to change my travel plans but luckily did not otherwise I would have lost my entire deposit. However, I stayed there 7 nights and after the first 2 nights I had to change my travel plans and decided to stay 6 nights instead of 7. The front desk told me it wouldn't be a problem and they would refund me the 7th night deposit. I asked if he was sure that I could get my refund and he said yes, they would only keep the money if I didn't check in at all but since I had checked in and is staying there it should not be a problem to get a refund.....Yeah right. Funny how when I had to checked out the story changes. But I had to leave so I didn't care. I'm sure thats what they were counting on.

Now as for the hotel itself. The service is wonderful. For long term stays (I'm guessing one week) they provide you with extra amenities like a choice of pillows. The hotel is very clean and the facilities are very nice. Hotel staff in general is very courteous. The room is TINY. It was fine as I stayed there by myself. But for a couple, it would be very tight. They didn't even have enough room for a desk. I barely had enough room for a suitcase and a small bag. The room also needs updating as its kind of old especially the bathroom. The age is showing but the comfort of the room is fine. There was construction next door. I only heard it on one morning.

The hotel is convenient to southern cross station which is where the skybus arrives from the airport. The station is about 2 blocks away from the hotel so its a simple walk. The hotel is in general very quiet.

Have beeen using trip advisor so prolifically to get my next trip just right that I started feeling churlish for not helping others out. My fella and I stayed here on a summer break in January and whilst this isn't that flashest boutique type hotel it more than served its purpose.

We arrived before the teeny room I had booked on Wotif was available but we were quickly upgraded to something larger and ready right away. Good service and done with a smile.

The room was very large and I fell in love with the airconditioning (it was January and about 40 degrees) and the space. Very quiet too overlooking the pool rather than the street.

That's pretty much where our experience with the hotel's facilities end as we just used it as a base. One thing I wouldn't recommend is trying to walk back from the other (trendier and full of the nice bars) end of Flinders in high heels.....