A Hobart hotel with mountain views that won't break your bank

The 206-room, nine-storey DoubleTree Hobart opened late last year in Hobart's CBD. It's the first Hilton hotel in Tasmania.

It's only a short walk down from the hotel to the docks and the Saturday Salamanca Market - although the uphill walk back seems longer. The DoubleTree is clustered along with the Ibis and the Travelodge in a corner block of chain hotels. It's not the most scenic location in Hobart, but there are some impressive colonial buildings close by.

If the DoubleTree brand were an outfit, it would be business casual: not dress-down Friday (that's more Vibe) or work-at-home-Monday (Rydges, maybe), but Google-Meet-with-marketing workaday corporate gingham-chequered business shirt and ankle-clearing chinos. DoubleTrees are often lightly occupied at the weekends and can offer bargain stays to leisure travellers.

The Hobart iteration looks a bit like an office building, with upgraded old-skool office furniture and, of course, conference facilities. The well-trained staff are supremely helpful. The lap pool is lovely; the spacious sauna is wonderful; the fitness room could do with a bit more gym equipment. The bar reminds me of a mid-tier lounge at an airport.

I am upgraded to a King Guest Room Mountain View, with an outlook to Kunanyi/Mount Wellington, and the same remaindered-looking carpet that runs through the rest of the hotel. It's a large and comfortable space with a rain shower (yes!) in the bathroom. Toiletries are by Crabtree & Evelyn. There is no espresso machine. The mattress on the bed is great; the pillows feel a bit too high.

Every DoubleTree hotel welcomes guests with freshly baked cookies. I hate them, but other people may well feel differently. The breakfast buffet at the hotel's Leatherwood Bar and Kitchen is comprehensive but variable: the bagels are stale one day, fresh the next; the sausages are chicken one day, pork the next; there's a Himalayan-style noodle option one day and none the next. Dinner is expense-account pricey - a side of fries costs $16 - but there are discounts for Hilton Honors members, even if you join for free on the spot. I order the slow-cooked lamb shoulder with mashed potato and chimichurri. It's perfectly cooked but hotel-kitchen bland. The chimichurri seems little more than a rumour. The restaurant can get cold in winter. I wear my cotton napkin over my knees like a blanket. At every meal, guests are dining in their North Face jackets. The Leatherwood could perhaps prohibit guests from shrieking into their headphone-free FaceTime calls while their children play headphone-free racing games at the same table.

The DoubleTree is within walking distance of Hobart's major attractions, and even closer to some less-visited institutions such as the interesting Army Museum of Tasmania in Anglesea Barracks (closed on Monday) and the smaller Air Force Museum (open Wednesday 10am-2pm, and by appointment), which even the Army History Unit soldier on duty at the Army Museum has never visited. The intriguing The Chowk, which bills itself as a "Nepalese pub", is one of the closest bars.

The wonderful view of the snow-capped peak of Mount Wellington. A reinvigorating session in the sauna. Homicidal feelings towards the FaceTime shrieker.

The writer stayed at his own expense