Just got back from a quick stay at the Four Seasons Sydney. The Sydney hotel market reminds me a lot of Singapore - most hotels whether "luxury" or not are in a pretty close price range and not many are very highly regarded.

As I only needed a room for the night, I decided on the FS since I did not need anything special like the Park Hyatt as I did not expect to spend a lot of time at the hotel.

FSPP benefits were the standard:

• One-cat upgrade (received)
• $100 USD food and beverage credit (received and properly accounted for on bill; tips are extra)
• Daily buffet breakfast

Check In

Knowing I would be arriving from IAH very early, I had my TA (thanks BESVISOR) request a check in as early as possible. And I bizzarely received a call from the hotel a few days before check-in "reminding" me of the posted check in times and that I couldn't be assured a room before then. Just an odd call to reveive, tone was polite and all, but I would rather the hotel not call me about that as I booked through my travel advisor partially to arrange special requests, but I digress.

I arrived at the hotel early in the morning, ~07:30, from the airport link train and easily found the hotel just a block or so from the Circular Quay stop. I didn't reveive a greeting or even really a glance from the doorman as I walked in, but the front desk agent was polite. He went through my registration details and let me know my pre-blocked room was not ready and flatly refused to give me a timeline as to when it would be ready. He kept reciting the 3pm check in time. It took a few back and forth questions just to get him to tell me it was vacant and on the "priority" housekeeping list.  With that in mind, I made a note to check back in a couple hours to see if it would be ready.

Room

I checked back about two hours later after grabbing breakfast and talked to a very polite agent at the front desk who again said the room was not ready, but seemed genuinely concerned about it and promised to expedite things.

Shortly thereafter, I got the keys to my room and made my way up to the 28th floor.

Overall, the room was good. It was absolutely tiny (sub 300sqft) but I knew that going in and didn't find the need to buy up to larger rooms. I booked a city view room and did receive a one-category upgrade to a partial harbour view room. Which was a little bit of a stretch as I really couldn't see the Harbour Bridge or the Opera House. It was more a view of everthing West of there.

Upon entering the room, the bathroom was immediately on the right with a separate tub and shower and a single vanity. The shower had nice pressure, but I found the bathroom lacking amenities. That could be because of the lack of space, but there was not much more than a few cotton balls and q-tips. I would have expected toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving kit, etc. to be there as well. (I can't seem to get the bathroom pictures to post properly)

Moving into the room there was the king bed on the right facing the TV and next to the window was a desk and chair.

The room also got sufficiently cold. I kept it around 18.5, and it was held there throughout my stay.

There was also a minibar in the cabinet below the TV with your standard offerings. I didn't see a price list, nor did I take anything (Preferred Partner $100 credit does not apply to honor bar)

Overall, the room was well appointed and cozy. But If staying more than a night or two, I would definitely book a bigger room.

Dining

I got coffee service and fruit delivered through room service mid-afternoon and it came quite promptly and ended up being about $36AUD after the "room service fee" and tip. But the coffee was needed and the fruit fresh.

I also received a welcome amenitiy of some meringues and jam

The hotel has a couple restaurants: Mode and Grain. I only had a glass of wine at Grain, but the bartender was very polite and was more than happy to give me recommendations on things to do.

Breakfast was at Mode and had a nice sized buffet. It only had western options, but they were done well. The pasteries were especially good!

Service

The service was generally good. I emailed back and forth with the concierge and their response was shockingly quick (minutes in some cases). They helped make a couple restaurant reservations for me.

The lady who brought my coffee and fruit through room service was probably the nicest lady I've met. She asked where I was from and I told her Chicago and we got talking about her family who lives and the suburbs here and how she is planning a trip to visit them.

The doormen never acknowledged me when I came or went and were not even there some of the time.

Location

The location was great, steps away from Circular Quay station and The Rocks. But there were a lot of road works across the city and roads were closed to through traffic in the evenings due to Vivid Sydney, so take caution if arriving by car.

Everthing I wanted to see and do were easily accessible by foot, so this was not an issue.

Overall

Overall, the hote was alright. I didn't have high expectations, nor did they exceed them. But the price was quite good and for a quick stay it met my needs. 

Four Seasons App

Being a millenial, I do have to take a second to discuss the Four Seasons app. I think it's by far the best hotel app and you can do just about anything on it. The chat function is especially nice and allows for questions and requests to be answered very proptly.