Review of Hotel Realm 5*

We had a fantastic experience at Hotel Realm. Situated behind Capital Hill, next to the National Press Club, it's location was ideal. Better still. They've free parking on the weekend in the carpark underneath (not that parking was an issue on the street anyhow). We were in room 122 and it was spacious — with a large main room semi-split by a wall in the middle, with the lounge on one side and the bed on the other (TVs on both sides of the middle wall for the lounge and bedroom). Free Wi-Fi was a pleasant surprise. The bathroom was great, with heaps of products (shampoos, shoe shines, sowing kits etc) and a brilliant shower — great pressure and abundance of water. A big bath. But it didn't get any use. There was a small kitchen, with a washer/dryer, microwave, dishwasher and much more. It had a Nespresso machine and pods, plenty of kitchen utensils and everything was clean and presentable. As for the bed, it was large and very comfortable — with a couple of choices of pillows. Curtains that shut out the light. With shears for privacy if you wanted the light shining in. Breakfast was included and the staff were friendly, attentive and approachable. The breakfast itself was one of the better hotel breakfasts I have experienced, with a variety of food for everyone (except there weren't any Asian based dishes which are becoming more common these days. For anyone that is interested in Congee and the like). The two things I think need some work are: 1) The air-con was set quite high (around 23C) — which made the room quite warm in the evening. Even with it then set to 19.5C (minimum available) and the fan on high. It only reached 21.5C by the morning. This was less than ideal. 2) The TV programming is quite inventive, with an 'Apple TV'-like product. While there are good features about this (billing, computer access etc) — the TV quality (particularly the sports channels) was quite terrible. This was a bit of a shame. Nevertheless — it was a brilliant stay — so much more than I would have expected. We will definitely be back and return here instead of the Hyatt (which we've been to on a number of occasions).