Our group came to the consensus that the remodeled rooms are nice for business/solo travelers, but not as much so for leisure travelers as there are no drawers for storage. The rooms that have yet to be remodeled have 22" televisions, low water pressure and 2 drawers in the dresser.
All-in-all I really like the Sydney Marriott as my stay over New Years was my second and my third will be next week. The location, lounge and its staff make up for the small rooms and other shortcomings.
BTW, the lounge letter specifically states "Food and beverages served in the lounge must be consumed in the lounge". The staff seemed to overlook this rule on my stay over NYE, but enforced it strictly during my previous stay. We will see how it goes next week.
Below from my Happy New Year post:
New Years Eve the lounge closed at 10 PM as it does every evening, but their evening spread was awesome and included Morton Bay bugs, shrimp, chicken fingers, bread, and an assortment of other smaller finger food. We had reservations at Cafe Sydney so we did not stick around for dessert, but it did look like chocolate covered strawberries were the main feature.
Lounge hours are 0630-2200, WiFi in lounge is free, and internet in guest rooms is $20 until Jan 7 when it will be free for Plat and Gold elites.
Drinks were free 0530-2130. Lounge is packed but staff knows everyone by name. There are at least 3 staff on duty at any given time. I spoke with manager. They did not sell upgrades to EL this week because of all the Gold and Plat elites here.
While this lounge and its staff are wonderful, the Asia lounges I have been to are better: Singapore, Hong Kong JW, HKG Ren Harbour, and Seoul. Bangkok Marriott Resort is nicer in terms of the lounge space and they give you free buffet breakfast in the restaurant.