Shangri-La Hotel Sydney

Overall happy with the stay. Rooms have not been renovated for a long time but maintained well as are the common parts. Location is good to access the rocks area. However it is all a hike uphill on return so of vs the other hotels in the rocks is no in easy to walk location. Breakfast was good, team friendly and resonable value. Room clean, noise quite if you could hear the road/motorway it is close to. Distances, 15m walk to Sydney Opera House, downhill. Longer on return given uphill. 10m to ferry. Rocks area has lots of places to eat etc. Overall would recomend and stay again. Views from some rooms can be very good.

The hotel is without doubt in a good location but I fear it trades a little too much on the location and the top floor bar. Views from the bar and restaurant are fabulous and I enjoyed watching the sun go down one evening with a table by the window with great views over the harbour bridge. However, other than one occasion when the service was attentive, I found the service to be both very slow and slightly off-hand. I used the pool which is OK but pretty underwhelming. I also had a 6th floor room with an Opera House view but the room wasn't high enough for a decent view of the Opera House and, on the last day, there was a cruise ship in the harbour which blocked the view. I was obviously on one of the lower floors but this was disappointing given I booked specifically for the view and the room was advertised as having a view of the Opera House - which it does but only when cruise ships aren't in town (and they're there a lot!). Room was good but nothing to write home about. Overall, I would say it was good but overpriced and a bit tired - not to the high standard you might expect from a Shangri-La.

Went to a Gala last night, and the food and service were terrible. My main dish was so bad that I got up and handed it back to the waiter. Now the tickets to this Gala were not cheap, and so i expected great, but received the opposite. Drinks were hard to get, but I did notice the staff with the drinks were standing around at the back of the room, talking to each other. I won't be spending money to go back there.

We stayed for 3 nights at the Shanghai La and absolutely loved it. We paid for an opera house view which was worth it for the view alone but our room was large, comfortable and very clean. I was celebrating a special birthday and when I arrived in the room there was a birthday cake for me from the hotel management which was a very nice touch. We had my birthday dinner at the Altitude restaurant on the 36th floor and it was really good and again with wonderful views. All the staff at the hotel were great, very friendly, professional and helpful. We would definitely stay at this lovely hotel again.

You'll possibly be tempted to book the Shangri-La based on the Horizon Club view, but that's the best bit. And frankly if you're in Sydney for a few days you'll see that view over and over. You can even book a room with that view and not pay the Horizon Club rates. Arrival at the hotel was so dull. The lobby has all the charm of a highway motel. It's lifeless. At least if you book a Horizon Club room you'll have a lounge area to sit in until 9pm. And then it feels like the hotel shuts down. The hotel location is good. But there are several in the area. All of them make using the ferries to Manly or the zoo, etc, really easy. What really bothered us was the cleaning standards of the Horizon Club. Management were daily trying to sell the space for wedding / anniversary parties who may stay at the hotel and proudly announced how it had all been refurbished. We could not help but snigger as the tables were filthy. They have a glass top where food debris somehow gets underneath. And it was there for 4 days. See photos. We also felt quite a lot of indifference from the staff. And then someone in hotel management from Malaysia informed me that Australian staff don't really need to work hard because there's an abundance of work available. So if they get the sack they know they'll walk into another job with ease. However, I must say there was one young woman who worked at the Horizon Club entry desk - dark curly hair - and she was amazing at getting things done, fixing issues, arranging things. She needs to work somewhere else at a higher level and get paid more. If I ran a business in Sydney I'd poach her in a second. Wish I could remember her name because she deserves the praise. Anyway, after 3 nights / 4 days days we'd had enough of this dreary hotel and moved to Darling Harbour. And that gives a whole new side to Sydney especially in the evenings being able to go out for walks and sit outside and eat, etc. We were in Sydney for 8 nights so at least we ended our last 5 nights at a better cleaner hotel.