Influencer Jon Wyeth outside the St Kilda apartment complex which he reviewed in a video, after saying there overnight. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
An influencer who stayed at a St Kilda apartment complex that some have labelled “the worst-reviewed hotel in all of Melbourne” says he feared for his safety during the experience.
He’s not the only influencer to stay at the property, Redan Apartments, which has a host of online reviews warning travellers to steer clear due to anti-social behaviour in the street outside the building, among other reasons.
However, a manager whose company oversees around 20 of the apartments, said the building offered a place to stay people for people living with a disability, or experiencing homelessness, mental illness or addiction.
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He also said that since being brought on board, his company had invested considerable time and resources into improving standards at the address.
Influencer Jon Wyeth, who boasts more than 220,000 followers and subscribers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, checked in for a night and posted an online video review of the hotel in May.
In the clip, Mr Wyeth shared that he searched internet critiques and news articles to discover some of the worst-reviewed hotels in Victoria’s capital and then booked into the Redan “to see if it was really that bad”.
Along with a friend, he filmed hair on the bedsheets in their room, “extremely dirty” pillows, “weird red stain on the curtains” and red stains on the mattress which they thought looked similar to blood.
Graffiti reading what appeared to be “Do not enter, insane”, was etched into one apartment’s front door.
Jon Wyeth checking how the mattress looked, after removing the bedsheets. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
The apartment complex offers accommodation to people who would otherwise be sleeping rough.
Mr Wyeth saw people fighting in the street outside and heard what sounded like someone chanting, coming from another apartment, for hours on end.
He ended up going to Kmart to buy a $7 blow-up mattress rather than sleeping on the hotel bed.
The influencer told the Herald Sun that he and his mate had also purposely spent a night at negatively-reviewed hotels in Queensland and NSW, “but the Victoria that was definitely the worst one” in his opinion.
“It’s so bad I don’t know how you can even pay money to stay there,” Mr Wyeth said.
He and his friend handed over about $110 for their “pretty grim” night, which Mr Wyeth described as “probably” the first time he’d ever felt scared for his safety while filming their online videos, due to the behaviour in the street outside.
“The craziest part was, as far as people go, it’s pretty hard to scare me away,” Mr Wyeth added.
He said the most concerning aspect of their stay was the behaviour of people outside the hotel, such as the people fighting, going through bins and throwing items at each other, plus the chanting coming from a room inside.
Mr Wyeth narrates the video review, saying he has “no idea what happened to the back of the bathroom door”. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
Mr Wyeth is not the only influencer to have completed a video review of the St Kilda apartments.
In 2025, content creator Tyler Durbo posted a YouTube video about his experience at the hotel.
In Mr Durbo’s video review, he and a friend noted a piece of paper or cardboard sticky-taped over a hole in their room’s bathroom wall.
Overall, the apartment complex has a 1.8 star rating out of five stars based on almost 300 Google reviews, stretching back several years.
It also has a 1.2 star rating out of five stars on TripAdvisor, from 116 reviews.
The apartment which Mr Wyeth and his friend slept in at the complex. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
The Redan Apartments’ manager, who asked to be known as William, said many people wrongly believed the property was a hotel run by a single owner.
Rather, it is a building made up of approximately 52 individually-owned apartments, originally established as a hotel about five decades ago.
“We currently manage around 20 apartments on behalf of individual owners, providing serviced apartment and short-term accommodation management services,” William said.
Other apartments are owner-occupied, leased privately, managed by different agencies or simply left vacant.
The apartment that Mr Wyeth and his friend stayed in is managed by William’s firm, but they were merely an intermediary for bookings and not responsible for its state.
A light fixture on the apartment ceiling. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
“While we co-ordinate bookings and guest stays for the apartments we manage, many aspects of property maintenance and presentation, including cleaning standards, furnishing choices and certain upkeep responsibilities, are ultimately determined by the individual owners,” William said.
“As a result, the quality and condition of apartments within the building can vary significantly from one unit to another.”
He added that any guest experience relating to a particular apartment should not necessarily be taken as representative of all apartments within Redan Apartments or the building as a whole.
William also said that the complex regularly provided accommodation for people who have nowhere else to go, including individuals referred by support organisations, people with disabilities, vulnerable people between housing arrangements, and people experiencing financial hardship.
A “weird red stain on the curtains” in Mr Wyeth and his friend’s room. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
He said that like any accommodation provider, his firm’s priority was the safety of residents, guests and staff.
“I acknowledge that this building has many problems,” William added.
“Some are physical, some are operational, and many are the result of much broader social issues that exist throughout St Kilda.
“I have been managing apartments here for two years, and during that time I have had many difficult and, at times, very negative personal experiences.
“There have been incidents involving people with serious mental health issues, drug addiction, homelessness and anti-social behaviour.”
A hallway inside the apartment complex. Picture: Supplied/Instagram@jon.wyeth.
But William said it would be unrealistic to expect that these issues “could simply be solved by one manager or one company over the course of a couple of years”.
“When our company became involved, the property already had a poor reputation,” he explained.
“We have spent considerable time and resources trying to improve standards by carrying out maintenance, improving cleaning procedures, replacing furniture and bedding where necessary, and generally trying to provide a better experience for both owners and guests.”
He said several matters highlighted in the reviews and videos, relating to the building itself, were the responsibility of others and not the management company.
“Many online reviews and stories associated with this property also span many years and relate to previous operators or apartments that have never been under our management,” William said.
Internet personality Jon Wyeth travels around Australia to share his thoughts on different experiences, such as food and tourist attractions. Photo: Supplied.
He said the hotel’s St Kilda location was a short distance from Chapel St and other busy areas, which have long faced significant social challenges, including homelessness, drug addiction, mental health issues and crime.
William said he believed that Redan Apartments reflected both the community around it and Melbourne’s broader housing crisis.
“As affordable accommodation becomes increasingly difficult to find, older buildings like ours inevitably become home to people who have very few alternatives,” he noted.
“Another reality that is often overlooked is that many people simply cannot access mainstream accommodation.”
William said it was easy to spend one night at the apartment complex and label it one of the worst places to stay in Australia.
“It is much harder to recognise that, for many vulnerable people, this may be the only stable roof they have, and that the people working here are trying every day to balance compassion, safety and practicality in a very challenging environment,” he concluded.
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