Rydges South Bank Brisbane

This was our second time staying at Rydges Southbank and both times we have stayed 2 nights and happy with our stay. Its very central to get around southbank and walk over to the city and the valet parking was convenient although a bit expensive for us. The beds are comfortable, warm with ample pillows, its easy to find our way around and the buffet breakfast was the highlight! There was some loud music within the building from about 7pm onwards, im not sure if it was from a function or another room but it made it hard to stay asleep which was annoying. The staff are friendly, helpful and very accommodating. I would recommend you get a room with a balcony as its nice to get some fresh air and take in the views of the city and river, even though some of the view is blocked by the building in front. Overall a great stay

Very comfortable rooms but very poor hotel service and experience – Our recent stay at Rydges South Bank was very disappointing. We arrived to chaos with the valet parking area swamped with cars due to an event. There appeared to be only two staff working though they had no identifying uniform, insignia or name tags to identify them as hotel staff. They did not welcome us to the hotel. One of the staff told us to park in front of the carpark entry and then another person came and told us we needed to move. We had to ask them if they were staff as they did not introduce themselves. We then proceeded to check in, we had booked a two bedroom suite. We arrived in our room to find only one bedroom. We rang reception and discovered that the interconnecting door had not been opened despite the booking. This was rectified but the hotel was disorganised and staff seemed to be struggling. We ordered room service, the QR code ordering system didn’t work, so we did this via reception and the guy seemed slightly annoyed by this. The room service arrived uncovered and was cold on arrival. The room was clean and well appointed and the beds were extremely comfortable with lots of space in the room. Though the tapware in the second bathroom was not very functional with tap too close to the sink to allow easy washing of hands. The sink in the bar area took 3 minutes of running the water before hot water emerged. The day after arriving we went out leaving the ‘Please Refresh my Room’ sign on the door we arrived back later that day and the room had not been cleaned. Our door keys also stopped working which made us feel extremely unwelcome. I had to go to reception to ask for our keys to be fixed and also asked if the rooms would be cleaned, by this time it was 4.35pm. The woman at reception did not explain what was wrong with our keys and didn’t really apologise for the lack of service. She just tried to give us a couple of free drink cards, which we didn’t want. There was also a very annoying blinking light opposite our bed, my husband asked if this could be looked at in the morning as it kept him awake. Nobody attended to this and I had to ask a second time and someone eventually came and put duct tape over the light. We went out to dinner and came back to about 50 people waiting at the lifts due to another event. The overall feeling of this hotel was that the reception staff were not well organised, and that we had to ask for basic things like having the room serviced. Having our keys stop working was really the icing on the cake.

A great hotel in so many ways – There’s a lot to like about Rydges, Southbank. It’s not “perfect”, but it definitely does tick a lot of boxes in a really positive way. Hubby and I recently returned from a four night stay there, having stayed there once before in August last year as a pit stop on our way home from Bali. As a measure of how good Rydges at Southbank is, when we decided to return to Brisbane for our four night R&R break, we knew we had the choice of staying anywhere we wanted to. Brisbane has a lot of hotels to choose from, but it was a conscious decision to return to Rydges and we’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Why ?? Well, first, the location is brilliant. Southbank is really “the place to be” when in Brisbane. As weird as it may sound, there’s a “vibe” in Southbank that I don’t think you get in other locations either in the city, or anywhere down near the Story Bridge or Kangaroo Point. Trust me, I know, because over the years we’ve stayed in several different locations and nothing beats Southbank. You’re right on the river, surrounded by lots of great eateries, and close proximity to everything.

On both occasions with staying at Rydges, we stayed on the 10th floor in a River View King Suite. We are a couple in our 60’s but one thing we crave in accommodation is space and this room was perfect for us. At around 60m sq in size, these rooms are located on the corners of the hotel & they offer beautiful views of both the river and city skyline. It’s essentially a one bedroom suite with separate lounge and living area, a small round dining table with chairs, as well as a work station desk. It has a private walk out balcony which is quite big, and the ensuite bathroom is great with everything you need. Great shower, instant hot water. At night, the city comes alive with lights, and it was always such a nice relaxing feeling walking out onto the balcony at night and taking in the city colourful lights. The big wheel is right there in front of you and looks amazing.

Both our stays at Rydges included buffet breakfast in their signature restaurant, Bacchus, which is ambient, relaxing and just has a good “feel” about it. The buffet breakfast there is nothing short of wonderful. Seriously, everything even the fussiest eater could want. For me, it started with fresh orange juice, perfectly cooked poached eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, freshly brewed coffee, and I’m in breakfast heaven. The chef will also prepare the most stunning omelette you’ve ever had, there’s pancakes, scrambled & fried eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, steamed buns, baked beans, as well as a good selection of pastries and fresh fruit, yogurt etc. We’ve stayed in a lot of hotels, and Rydges at Southbank has one of the best buffet breakfasts going. The hotel also has another casual dining venue on their ground floor, “CBD Cafe Bar Dining”, which many guests also take advantage of.

On both our stays, reception staff were fantastic, and there was really a sense that they went above and beyond to “look after us”, and it showed. On our recent visit, in knowing we were a repeat guest, they even had our room ready for us on arrival, despite it being only 10am in the morning. This was a big bonus for us because, firstly, we hadn’t previously told them we’d be arriving well before the hotel policy of 3pm check in & secondly, Brisbane at the time was enduring heatwave temperatures and extremely high humidity and even at 10am, it was exceptionally warm, and it was great not having to be out in the heat waiting for our room to be ready. Big “brownie points” for that one. They even threw in a free late checkout for us, which was excellent considering our afternoon flight back home, as well as sending some delicious Rydges chocolates to the room during our stay.

Concierge was also great in advising us the best way to get to the cricket at the Gabba, which we attended during our stay.

The big ticks continue with the overall price at Rydges. Certainly, we had one of the better rooms with the King Suite River View, and with daily buffet breakfast included for both of us, and we definitely think the price we paid at well under $400 per night was great value for what we got. It’s a 4 star hotel, basic in some respects, but it doesn’t pretend to be a luxury hotel or 5 star property. They always made us feel like “valued” guests and that’s a big one for us.

Like I said, there’s not a lot to fault here, but one element that’s not quite up to par is the pool area. The pool is small, and visually unappealing and somewhat uninviting, and so we didn’t utilise that area, and didn’t see many guests who did during our stay. That’s honestly the only negative I could say about this really great hotel.

A special thank you to the Reservation Manager who we know went above and beyond to make sure our stay at Rydges was everything we wanted it to be … and more. So appreciative.

I have absolutely no hesitation in highly recommending Rydges Southbank as an excellent base for your next stay in Brisbane.