aaupgrade

Lounge is open 6.30am to 10.00pm 7 days a week:Additional notes from Executive Level Guest letter that is handed out at check-in:

A couple years ago they made a big deal about me taking a bottle of water out of the lounge. I specifically asked Charles about that during my recent stays and he said, they are mainly concerned about alcohol.

Rooms vary.

There are small and large rooms that are both renovated and not renovated. I experienced large and small renovated, and small non-renovated rooms during my stays in Dec and Jan.

Larger rooms are what would be considered standard size rooms at Marriotts here in the US.

The renovated rooms are nice, but with the following drawbacks:

1. They come up lacking for leisure travelers that want drawer space.

2. The lighting system may baffle you the first night after turn-down service as your night light may be on. There are 2 switches to turn it off, one above each night stand; however due to these being wired incorrectly, only one of the switches will actually be able to turn off the night light. Knowing this you can work around this issue.

3. Some of the new rooms have large showers only with open Euro design (no door) whereas others have a separate tub and shower with door. The open shower design and the fact that they did not put a clear silicon bead between the glass shower wall and bathroom wall, results in water collecting on the bathroom floor. Also not too big an issue if you are aware of it; but if you are not it makes you wonder where all the water is coming from because it appears as though the toilet is leaking.

Non-renovated rooms have a tub and shower with low water pressure. 27" CRT TV, traditional lighting, no WiFi (Ethernet only), and plenty of drawer space. I do not know what the larger versions of these rooms may have since I did experience those. I had this room over NYE as the hotel was full; ironically my boss (gold) and his wife, and my friends (LT Plat) had small renovated rooms. Two of us were on award stays over NYE, and the other was on a great AAA rate we booked 50 weeks out so it really was not surprising that better rooms were given to others who had paid over twice as much.

DYKWIA

The staff at the Melbourne Marriott are similarly good IME.

boss315

It is great to read a great review giving credit where credit is due! There are MANY dedicated and great Marriott employees out there; unfortunately, most of the forums focus on stupid trivial gripes and .....es.

Kudos to the Sydney Marriott!(one of my favorite in the world, too)

matthew gulino

Lounge was open during the day - My room (3106) had a view of the Opera House! Walk in shower, separate tub. The TV set was an old CRT-type model though - time to put in some LCD's Marriott

The TV was the only thing old and tired about the hotel though.

littlevoices

They need to be until their refurb is finished!

As for the OP: Glad you had a good experience, for me though the excellent service can't get away from the fact that the lounge is small for the location and number of executive guests. The food and beverage offering at Sydney is reasonable but can certainly be improved.

Personally I think my favourite Marriott lounge was the JW in Seoul which is huge, effectively had full meals out every few hours for "snacks" and good staff, it was a nice place to relax in.

matthew gulino

I haven't had the pleasure of staying at an Asian Marriott yet - from what I understand, they're in a class all by themselves!

Hopefully someday though!

Given that I'm used to US lounges, this one was out of this world good though

aaupgrade

That explains the title of this thread. While I love the staff at Sydney Harbour Marriott, especially Sally and Charles, the lounge food offering comes up lacking when compared to every Asian Marriott I have frequented. JW Seoul, Hong Kong Ren Harbour, Ren New World, and JW, Singapore, and Bangkok Resort. The size is also small especially when they are busy like over past New Years Eve.

That will be the case for pretty much every FA Marriott property outside of NA; however there are exceptions.

aaupgrade

You were in one of the larger yet to be renovated rooms which is the one I did not see during my stays. BTW, don't you love it when they put antiques in the rooms, so retro.

JetAway

Are the executive level rooms/club worth a U.S.$80 premium per day over a standard room for one person on a weekend stay?

dayone

It wouldn't be to me. YMMV.

mikelat

OK, thats some really good service from the lounge. When I stayed at the Circular Quay Marriott I was lucky to get a "Hello" from the agent staffing the lounge when I went it. I didn't mind too much at the time as I was new to status and lounge access. Now I know what I was missing

qwest01

Stayed at the Circular Quay Marriott on two ocasions in 2010 - gets my vote as the best lounge in the chain without a doubt. The Lounge Angels were the best. The rooms were also excellent - first visit - great view of the Harbour Bridge, second visit - great view of the Opera House.

In the lounge the unlimited alcohol availability - in the hours permitted was obviously a big draw to the US customers. The food availability was also excellent.

My second favourite is the lounge at the Singapore Marriott - again great service - Lounge Angels really look after their guests. Lounges across Asia in MArriotts are all excellent but the Circular Quay and Singapore Marriotts are my two favourites.

TrojanHorse

do you tip the lounge attendants when there is complimentary booze?

aaupgrade

I tip lounge attendants whenever they go above and beyond at any property, same with the concierge staff. Since I don't drink alcohol, whether it is free or paid is not a factor.

Delta3MM

Both are nice but has anyone been to the JW Marriott Bangkok?. IMHO it's the best in the chain, by a huge margin, over both these hotels. And yes, I've been to all three in the last year.

Billy