I've not been to Sydney a long time. I think I was there last over the Milennium new year. However work will start to take me more 'down under' so I'll get to try more Australian properties. Problem is, I think I like this property so much, I won't change.

Now I'm normally a sucker for hotels with a lounge. But some other people flying for the week were going to stay at the Rocks, so I wanted to pick my Accorhotels property not far from them. The choice was either the MGallery Harbour Rocks or the Pullman Grand Quay Sydney Harbour. 

I opted for the Pullman as a) the rates were almost identical b) the Pullman has better views. c) for the rate that I was paying I would have a large room at the Pullman.

As I found out later, the Pullman does not even have "small" rooms. They are all either 1 or 2 bedroom Apartments.

The hotel is located between Circular Quay station and the Opera House. In fact, the Opera is just 3min walk away. The stretch of apartments there is called "The Toaster" - supposedly a highly controversial development at the time it was built as people felt it would destroy the view there.

As you can see on the picture below, the property is right by the water and has no "Pullman" sign on the outside.The top 5 floors are not part of the hotel - those are private apartments accessible by a different lift.

Check In

 Choice of rooms are either 1 or 2 bedroom, harbour or garden facing. Being the smartass I am, I figured I'd book the garden room and get myself upgraded to the harbour view. The price difference over 3 nights was A$50 - silly me.

The hotel was full every single day of the week. I got no upgrade and was stuck with the garden view room. Not that this was a bad thing though.

Check in area isn't huge, but functional. Valet parking is available at A$35.- /24 hours.

I was handed a piece of paper during check in to chose the "VIP welcome I would like to have". First time I've seen this - Sure, it's no longer a surprise, but I do like the wide choice and the fact that some people have food preferences, this may be a good thing.

Room

The room is HUGE. It has a full kitchen including microwave and oven, washing machine and dryer, jacuzzi bath, shower, (bathroom is slightly run down), balcony with a table.

The bedroom is seperate and has a very comfirtable bed.

The large sofa in the bedroom is in fact a sofa bed. So if you're travelling with children, the 1 Bedroom Suite will be enough.

I opted for the bonus 300 points, yet water was still placed in the room with a welcome note.

Dining

Breakfast is unique. They serve everything a la carte. Service was a tad slow sometimes, but food was good. If your rate includes breakfast, you just chose what you want and the bill is then set to "0" upon checkout.

Service

The property has a pool on the 5th floor - the pool is shared with the apartment owners and hence requires some additional steps to get to. You need to take the lift to the 4th floor of the hotel and then a seperate lift to the Pool.

Again great views from here too.

Internet speed was "OK". But not the free internet. That is limited to 150mb. According to the log on screen, I would have had to pay for better internet (and it wasn't cheap). But a quick check with reception confirmed that they will simply waive any charges (maybe a Plat/Gold benefit? I'm not sure).

Location

Location is great. It's just a 2min walk to the Circular Quay station and you can't beat the view.

The bar gets quite full in the late afternoon/evening and serves some nice tapas. I used my Accor Plus card and had no issues with that either.

Overall

So finaly comments. The hotel does not have a lounge - and I would say that for this particular hotel I am not bothered about that.

The property is nice, great location and staff was always friendly.

I will certainly stay here again.

One comment regarding bookings. Considering they only have 1 and 2 bedroom suites, the only "upgrade" would be the view. The hotel seems to pack out full with tourists and the boat show was on while I was there. If you want the view, BOOK it. Don't expect on the upgrade as there is no availability.