Four Points Sydney Darling Harbor.
Premium City Side – 2 Single beds.

We ended up at this particular property as I had a free weekend night certificates gained from meeting a minimum annual spend on the Canadian SPG American Express Card. Being a Starwood Category 4, it was the only hotel in Sydney where we could use up the expiring certificates, which are given a one year usage duration.

We took the Airport Link train from the airport into the city. We walked to the hotel from the Town Hall Station with our rollie suitcases. It took a few blocks to get there (5-8 minutes) over mostly flat sidewalks with a slight downhill grade. We sure noticed this going the other way. We arrived to the hotel entrance on Sussex Street. The main entrance is actually at the rear city side of the property.



The hotel exterior is undergoing a large scale upgrade and the hotel has a few cranes on the roof, which takes away from the idyllic décor somewhat.

Overall, the hotel is somewhat of a strange location. The hotel sits beautifully on Darling Harbour with half of the rooms having a terrific water view. What the brochures don’t show is that the hotel sits on top of a freeway interchange, and that there is no direct access from the hotel to the water without walking around a city block and a freeway to get there. There was a direct walkway, however it was closed for refurbishment on our visit. The back side of the hotel overlooks a quiet 2 lane city street. The hotel is the white building structure here interlaced amongst the freeways. Unfortunately, there’s no way to take a great photograph of this buiding. It lacks the beauty, of say, the Burj Al Arab.







You can see the freeway running underneath the hotel in this shot. Thankfully, we never noticed any strong noise or vibration from the freeway.





On check in, points were offered as Gold Amenity, along with free wifi in the lobby. Since I was staying on several back to back reservations, the hotel was kind enough to apply the points bonus for each reservation, despite only one check in and check out.





The service of the concierge was very proactive in dealing with matters. When I approached the front desk, I was remembered by name each and every time. It was a bit unusual for a Four Points.

Our room was not immediately available on our arrival at 12 PM. I had read that many people were upgraded to the water side views when staying here. Regretfully, no room upgrades were available – unfortunately the hotel was totally full. An SPG Gold late 4 PM checkout on a weekday was offered without any negotiation or complications.

We went for lunch and a Victoria Bitter at the nearby Cargo Bar which was a great spot that we would visit several times on our stay while we waited for the room to become available. Darling Harbour itself, is an interesting collection of patios and restaurants. More on that in a bit…







After lunch, our room was assigned. The room was functional, if not a little compact. The room was well equipped with minimal scuffing or wear and tear. Surprisingly, the usual complimentary water for SPG floor guests was missing. I didn’t notice it the first day, but after the second day, it became something that was a bit lacking about the property compared to other Starwood hotels.











There was a small mini bar fridge with enough space to store some of your own bottles (duty free) and ample plug ins to allow for charging of devices. There was also an Ipod alarm clock and in room safe and instant coffee dispensing service

There was a full service, unattended gym located on the property.







The hotel also offered a rooftop patio bar, which was very sunny on our visit. The highlight was the views. And, I don't mean the view of the woman in the red blouse.









There was also a Starbucks coffee shop located within 5-7 minutes walk from the hotel on the waterfront with complimentary wifi with purchase. There was also complimentary wifi in the lobby of the hotel. It required a sign in on each visit.



Darling Harbour itself is an interesting venue. It’s a bit of a Las Vegas’y style set up of Darling Harbour. It reminded me of a poorly designed and disowned cousin of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. Darling Harbor appeared to have planning in various phases without any overall synergies that bands the area all together. The hotels of the area don’t really appear to connect to the harbour without running through various access points. There appeared to be a monorail running through the area at one point, which was now in the process of being decommissioned. The tracks are all gone, but the stations remain all boarded up.

On one hand, despite the odd nature of this place, you can’t beat the convenience of having lots of restaurants available at your doorstep. My sister found the area to be a bit over the top touristy, but I certainly appreciated the availability of any restaurant under the sun.

On the other hand, it’s a bit of a touristy experience of older couples and families out for a night out on the town, complete with a Hard Rock Café and a Margeritaville bar with the “it’s five o’clock somewhere bar” in bright signage. Despite the entertainment venue concept, we got stuck one evening with all the kitchens closing on a week night at 9 PM.

Did I mention that Darling Harbour was complete with 20 floating Santas, proclaiming Ho Ho Ho and a tipped over South Pole? It's either your idea of paradise or an eternal kitschy nightmare.





The Four Points Darling Harbour provided good accommodation for our visit. While not the nicest place to stay in Sydney, it was fairly well situated and appeared to be among the newer properties compared to the legacy buildings of the Shangri-La, Four Seasons and the Sheraton on the Park. Redeeming points here would have been good value with an upgrade. Unfortunately, we weren’t as lucky. I’d consider visiting again if I wasn’t able to get in at the Westin Sydney.