We used points to purchase our two-night hotel stay in Canberra. Originally, Chris had booked another hotel in another hotel group on IHG points, but he checked a couple months ago to see if anything else had come up in Canberra under the Marriott group, which we are also loyal to. He found out that this new hotel had just opened called the Midnight Hotel, which is an autograph collection hotel under Marriott in the heart of the city. Because the hotel was only about a couple months old, we didn’t have much information to go off of, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised when we first arrived in the front of the hotel and immediately found the service on par with some of the best hotels in Asia. The entire staff, from the moment we walked in, was friendly and kind, and truly tried to go above and beyond. They gave us free breakfast a la carte for both mornings at the incredible Braddon Merchant restaurant, which shares the same space as the hotel, told us about their fully free mini bar, which I’d never heard about in my entire life at any hotel in any city in the world, and even gave us free refills on the mini bar, which included things like hyper local wine from the Canberra area, San Pelligrino blood orange drinks, and even locally made milk! They also gifted us a sample box of Enigma Fine Chocolates, a local chocolatier who hand makes chocolate just a few blocks away from the hotel.

I’m not used to service this good or attentive in Australia, or really anywhere in the western world, so I was really surprised and excited that we got the opportunity to stay here. It definitely set a whole new standard for us for Australian service and hospitality overall.