I recently stayed here overnight before flying out of SYD the following morning. As alluded to above, the shuttle is free now, although despite a sign at the front desk saying that pre-booking is required, upon arrival at T2 I called the front desk to ask where to wait for the shuttle and was subsequently able to just hop on. Whether this is because I had just called (I never gave my name though), or because the driver thought I was with one of the two other groups being picked up at the same time (he did ask their names), I don't know.

Since I arrived mid-afternoon, I wanted to head into town for dinner and to check out Vivid again (3rd time so I'm not quite jaded yet ), whereupon I found another annoyance -- there's a QR code at the front desk for booking, which takes you to:

https://moxysydneyairport.247activities.com/

However, you can't book "the next shuttle" -- the first option I was presented as 1.5 hours out! I pointed this out to FDA #1, who didn't understand what I was trying to do:

"You have today's date selected, tap here to switch it for tomorrow"

"I want to go RIGHT NOW on the next shuttle"

luckily FDA #2 overheard and came over to instruct FDA #1, it seems the employee interface can override the time selection and force you onto the next available shuttle.

While going through the website though, I noticed another intriguing option, which is that in addition to "Airport Shuttle Bus Service" there is another panel for booking "Mascot Station Dropoff" (you can apparently book pickups from Mascot as well). Ordinarily this would be a boon, as I believe there is a significant fare penalty for originating a train ride at one of the airport stations, but if you start at Mascot, it's a lot cheaper. However this station only has hourly shuttle service and stops fairly early. And, similar to the T1/T2/T3 shuttles, you have to book like an hour or more in advance. Granted the van isn't huge, so I can see why they would want to preferentially book people in. But I don't understand the 1.5 hour advance restriction. I guessed wrong, showing up a half hour early on the return journey but the driver accepted me anyway

In any case, I happened to be visiting on a day where the train was free, apparently as a service recovery gesture for massive delays/cancellations the week before.

On departure the following morning I did not sample the breakfast since I had QF F access but did trade one of the drink coupons for a coffee. Similar to a report above, they did not run a separate van for domestic/international so I got to visit T2 and T3 before being taken to T1

Bottom line, the price was right and this works well for an overnight in conjunction with an evening arrival and/or morning departure, but if you have enough time to want to head into town, of course YMMV you might consider just accepting the premium and booking something downtown to begin with.

Click the + for room photos