Karen - Gold Passport just confirmed with me:

This makes me want to go before they close next year! How cold is it in Sydney in August? :)

Thanks, Peter. Thanks, Karen. It's good to know about the closure well in advance.

Are we absolutely sure it will still be a Hyatt when it reopens?

Interesting question ---- to my untutored eye this looks similar to Madrid...

Well none of us know for sure of course - but my guess it that it will be since its owned by Japanese investors and they are pretty focused on the Park Hyatt flag.

A couple exterior photos from my Sydney visit last week. I had a prepaid hotel elsewhere booked before the current free night promo, so did not stay here. Two photos here with more linked below.

http://tom911.smugmug.com/Hotels/Hya...94_xBkHf-S.jpg http://tom911.smugmug.com/Hotels/Hya...15_vuLgi-S.jpg

I stayed there on Friday night and asked what was happening. They said they have stopped taking bookings for March onwards as that is when the refurb is due to start, but they don't know for sure whether they will close completely to do it or do it in stages keeping part of it open. The person I spoke to said it will remain a Hyatt.

This was my first stay there and I was very impressed, especially with the fab room I got at the end of the corridor on the third floor (311 ?) with views of the opera house. Great value on a free night stay. :)

Stayed here last month on 3 BWB nights. Overall a fantastic stay. Was put into a very large room on the 1st floor with city view--was a little disappointed upon hearing this, as I hoped for an opera house view--but when you step out onto the balcony and look left you still get a very nice full view of the opera house. It was very nice.

That said, after I checked-in, it was possible to still book a full Opera House view room for the 3 nights I was there, so I was either not upgraded to the "highest room type in my category" (Reservation just said Park King), or they view Opera House View rooms as a different category (BS IME). Regardless, this is a wonderful hotel and we had a wonderful stay, so I wasn't going to make a fuss. The entire staff, from butlers to reception to waiters in the restaurant, is phenomenal. The complimentary Diamond breakfast, when taken in room, is the best I've had at any hotel. They were happy to customize for our preferences as well, no extra charge.

As for the construction, the head of the butler team told me they had tried to begin construction on one end while remaining open, but it was too noisy and would close for "hopefully only 2-3 months."

She emphasized the bathrooms needing a makeover. I thought they were quite nice, though elegant like the IC Amstel, not new and high tech like the PH Shanghai. Shame they are going to tear out all that beautiful marble.

She also said they are going to add an additional level to the hotel that is all suites and geared towards VIP guests. While this is probably a good idea, I truly hope it doesn't make the hotel seem any bigger. IME, this is THE nicest hotel in Sydney. It's elegance is in how understated it is--"our mansion on the harbour" as they call it--rather than being a downtown behemoth like the IC or the Four Seasons. I like how it is nicely tucked under the bridge and truly hope that another level won't make it into an eyesore. It currently does not detract from the beauty of the harbour in any way. Hopefully it will not after the construction.

Especially for a diamond member, this hotel is an incredible value on award, and I highly recommend it.

The butler team is striving very hard to do a great job, and they do, but sometimes they try too hard. The concierge was not great at offering several options--we wanted to go skydiving (we did!!) and he could only recommend 1 company. There are at least 4 in Sydney. Due to time constraints, their suggestion wouldn't work for us, and we had to do the research on our own to find one that worked. Not how I would've liked to have spent 2 hours one morning in Sydney, but we were heart set on skydiving, and it was more than worth it. :D

awpeters: great to hear you had a nice stay. did you manage to suss out what you could order for breakfast?

I'm not sure was suss out means, but breakfast was either in the restaurant (full buffet + a hot entree, never charged for any extra juices, coffees, etc.) or in the room (full park breakfast--whichever was more expensive $45 value and included a hot entree from the second page). Thus breakfast in the room was usually juice+coffee+bread basket+fruit+yogurt+granola+hot dish (i.e. eggs benedict. The truffled eggs are fantastic).

When I first ordered breakfast for in room, I asked what was included with my diamond benefit. The girl on the phone started listing things and when she was finished I responded "so basically, whatever I want" to which she replied with a very enthusiastic giggle and a "yes!" ^^

They also allowed customizing off the menu. For example

Day 1 - ordered in room
Day 2 - in restaurant, noticed buffet had smoked salmon (i love) had not seen this anywhere on room service menu.
Day 3 - asked if I could have "norwegian" eggs benedict, rather than the standard with ham, as i had seen smoked salmon at the buffer. They happily obliged. ^

As is always the case YMMV.

Whatever you do, you can't go wrong. There was an overwhelming amount of food and it was all delicious. I was never billed anything except the gratuities I added to the bill.

The convenience of ordering in room is *really* nice. I wish PH Shanghai and other Hyatt's in general gave this option. Especially the morning we left at 6:30am to go skydiving, being able to nibble on food as we woke and packed was a really nice convenience. I guess from the hotel perspective, filling up the restaurant makes it look better to other paying guests. And, if they're comping a delicious and massive breakfast, perhaps they'd rather have paying guests see this to inspire them to order more :D

thanks awpeters! suss out = find out or similar =)

we'll be sure to take advantage of the order everything =)

one more question, how did you get to the hotel? we're thinking of taking a train then a taxi? or did you shuttle bus it?

The closest train stop is Circular Quay but it is a 10-15 min walk to the hotel. A bit of a pain if you have bags but lovely if not. Not sure if a cab would take you that short a distance!

Markie: Thanks for that - what do you suggest instead? It seems the train to the city is quite fast, 15 minutes, whereas a shuttle bus would take much longer. !

AFAIK cabs here are obliged to take you 1 block if you pay what is on the meter.

The Train ex airport is a major gouge and for 2 persons a cab from airport is the only sensible option really.