Markie

Official Web Site

danger

The Australian website Traveller has a review of this property that includes a lot of photos. Search the site for Hyatt Regency Sydney or Google Australia's largest: inside Sydney's giant new hotel.

RTW1

And if you decide to read it... know it's sponsered content where the stay (in a suite) was paid for by the hotel. So no surprise that it only contains praise...

It's nothing more than an advertorial, something the poster fails to mention time and time again. And something that should have no place in an FT thread that is for (unbiased) reviews from members.

DCF

I have mixed feelings.

I stayed dozens of times as a Starwood Platinum when it was the world's best Four Points hotel.

The main rooms are the same as before - nicely appointed, but on the small side.

The new high-rise building is weird, and has been done on the cheap to the point that it doesn't even have its own elevators. Just more smallish rooms in a triangular corridor configuration. The rooms are lovely again, but the corridors have cheap carpet and cheap walls.

The new Regency Club is very good indeed. The food and drinks are comparable with the Park Hyatt in Melbourne, and the views are nice. Probably the second nicest hotel lounge in Sydney behind the Shangri La.

The funny thing is that the Sheraton brand in Australia is a higher end of the market than in the USA, and this hotel's rooms and public areas weren't considered good enough for that. Yet now it's a Hyatt Regency!

tom911

Enjoying my 10th floor studio suite with a view of Darling Harbour this afternoon. Will add some more photos in the next day or two.

mechu

View looks pretty nice

The 50+ sqm suites here doesn’t seem to offer a lot more space vs the standard rooms.

Anyone who stayed in both can comment if it’s worthwhile to use a TSU here?

tom911

My 10th floor corner studio suite in the tall tower on the right of the two white Hyatt buildings:







For now the rest of the photos (lounge and views) are in this Sydney folder:
https://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Au.../2017-Sydney-/

Now, about the highway noise. The highway runs next to and under the hotel. From my corner room, I could look right down below and see the traffic lanes as they went below the hotel. The noise didn't bother me much during the day as I had the TV on in the background, but when I woke up at 5am it was hard not to hear it, including accelerating motorcycles, and this could be an issue if you're a light sleeper.

m0hamed

Sorry, but I strongly disagree. I stay at the PH MEL and both the liquor and food much more premium.

serfty

Ha! that would rate the HR Sydney wines* as pretty ordinary. Nothing premium about those at the Melbourne PH. (The 'harder' stuff is not bad though.)

* Red - I rarely drink white

Brituchenite

Great photos!

danger

After my most recent stay at this hotel I think it's fair to say that there's a lot the team gets right but there's also some shortcomings

I think the Regency Club is outstanding, the best in Australia to my mind. I haven't been to the Park in Melbourne for some time but I would be surprised if the food offerings were better. The buffet here is extensive with at least two hot options plus a third at a chef station, a rarity in a lounge. There's a big range of antipastos and cheeses as well as vegetable sticks with three hummus choices. Over the course of my recent fortnight-long stay, some of the hot options included dim sum, pork sliders, butter chicken croquettes, pesto gnocchi, Wagyu beef sliders, lamb sausage roles, butter prawns, ricotta arancini balls, chickpea curry and garlic prawns. There's also always sushi and some salad choices but only ever two desserts. There's the usual range of spirits and three beers, including two local options. There's always lime slices which I appreciate as most hotels seem to think lemon is enough to make a G&T. I don't drink wine but they don't look like anything special. Breakfast offerings are equally extensive, again with a chef to do eggs to order and another couple of rotating hot options like bacon, beans and hash browns. There's plenty of cereals, mueslis and fruits. Presentation is always great and the views from the lounge are obviously one of its big selling points.

In my multiple stays I've never had anything other than a harbour view room. One big disappointment is that this hotel designates a larger room as the entry level suite, rather than a proper suite with a separate bedroom. That always leave a bad taste in my mouth. But these rooms are still very nice, spacious with a huge tub and a smallish balcony, as well as a lounge suite and a super comfortable bed. The regular rooms have USB charging points bedside while the suites don't but instead have double power outlets on both sides.

Housekeeping is generally very good although like most hotels they completely ignore requests to not have towels and bed sheets changed. I don't understand why hotels can't get that right. I'm not sure if it's a top tier benefit or not but I've always received an evening turndown. Sometimes amenities are re-stocked (after my long stay I realised how much I don't like Pharmacopia) and sometimes they aren't.

The gym is too small for a hotel of this size and doesn't have enough equipment. It's actually split across two separate rooms, one for weights and one for cardio. Another big drawback is the lack of a swimming pool. Sitting in the lounge you can gaze across at the beautiful infinity pool at the Sofitel to remind yourself how nice it would be.

Incidental charges at the hotel are also high. It's $80 a day for valet parking, $18 to launder (not dryclean) a business shirt and $8 just for the privilege of having room service, by far the highest charge I've ever seen at a hotel. When there are many food options in the immediate vicinity, that doesn't make sense to me.

Rates can be pricey but, by-and-large, it's a good choice I think.

m0hamed

danger