Four Seasons Hotel Sydney

I was here for a night prior to the start of a work trip a few weeks ago. All in, it was excellent. I paid for acces to the Club, which was worth it. I arrived very early from the States, so it was great to be able to go to the Club to check in, have breakfast, and hang while my room was prepared. Staff there were very friendly and remembered me on each visit. My room was spactacular. A junior suite (I think) with an amazing view out over the harbor seeing both the bridge and opera house. Very comfortable bed, wonderful bathroom, great views. Food very good for breakfast in the lounge. Well equipped gym that I used as well. Location is wonderful for walking. Lobby is large and slightly impersonal, but the staff are what make this hotel shine. And the location. Would recommend if in Sydney.

So many wonderful things about this hotel . . . and we stayed 5 nights, so we got a great feel about everything. First, location-location-location . . . absolutely perfect. Walking distance to EVERYTHING . . . Sydney Harbour, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Sydney Opera House, Royal Bontanical Gardens, numerous restaurants . . . only to name a few. 5-star professional service entire stay, and always with a smile. A few names to mention as the people make up the hotel for sure: Jora - breakfast (thanks for the service and smiles); Jorge - Room Service/Housekeeping (excel at the small thing - which are the large things . . . extremely thoughtful - thanks); and Elisa - Front Desk (exceptional follow-through - thanks for looking after us). Rooms are exceptional - - - so clean, modern, and quiet = peaceful sleep and stay. Also, our room had a harbour view - - - so beautiful to see morning and night. Everyone at Fours Seasons Hotel Sydney provided us exceptiona service and always with a smile. Breakfast was incredible. Perfect - Perfect - Perfect stay . . . thank you to everyone at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney!

Overall a decent hotel - but don’t expect the typical Four Seasons brand experience. This is more like a, we’ll say Westin (or slightly lower) type hotel. Definitely not a 5-star property in my opinion, maybe a weak 4-star if that. Rooms are ok, bathrooms are small. Just has a very busy hotel vibe, not even close to a luxury vibe. Now I understand why this was priced so low compared to other Four Seasons around the world. Fitness center and pool are excellent.

This is a corporate-heavy, bustling CBD anchor don’t expect a exotic luxury getaway here. The Four Seasons Sydney is an energetic corporate hub with a grand lobby that is a non-stop carousel of conferences. Due to its vintage, the rooms are definitely on the tighter side. On the bright side, the bill won’t sting as badly as other global FS properties, making it a bit of a bargain for Sydney. You get full compensation for the compact room size if you book the Opera view. Watching the sunrise over the sails is magic. Plus, the legendary FS bed remains undefeated in comfort. Toss in a breakfast buffet that is vastly superior and more extensive than the usual Australian standard, and it’s a brilliant base camp right by Circular Quay.

We spent 4 nights here in the room we booked, a Deluxe Partial Harbour Room, for the first night, and then were upgraded to a Studio Suite for the rest of our stay. Amex FHR had communicated with the hotel prior to our arrival to indicate that if any upgrades were available, we would much prefer an upgrade to the more spacious 53sqm space without any view than to a similar deluxe room (26sqm) with full Sydney harbour or opera view. For us, the benefit of a larger space was much more useful than a drop-dead gorgeous view since the moment you walk out, you're already right on Circular Quay. This request is not the norm for most upgrade requests; the better view being much coveted. Even so, the check in agent had trouble locating an available Studio Suite for us for that first night. Much has been written about the cosy space of these 26sqm Deluxe Rooms and they make up more than 60% of all rooms in the hotel. If you compare this size to that of other similar hotels in the area & if you are staying for more than a couple of nights, space can feel really tight, particularly & especially in the bathroom, which is also rather dated in aesthetics! Fortunately, Four Seasons tries (and is successful in) making up for this shortcoming by furnishing the rooms with top quality luxury everything. If you can't change the hardware, go all out with the software! The Studio Suite provided a luxurious refuge after a long day out at work and leisure. I am someone who puts a high priority on hotel rooms being user-friendly above pure aesthetics or design; someone who clearly appreciates function over form. I look for enough hooks on the wall in bathrooms, light switches which make sense (ie situated right next to where the space is), compared to ultra-fancy-tablet-by-the-bed carrying mind-boggling switches, and enough tabletop space for all our junk piling up on holiday as the days go by! On this front, Four Seasons delivered magnificently, and more. I loved the simple but effective & efficient 3-button light switches next to the bed (so much so I took a photo of it!!) to provide you with 3 levels of settings. So, no accidental switching off on anyone in the bathroom (haven't we all experienced that in a hotel!) or unwittingly woken someone up in the middle of the night. Service in general was on par with what you'd expect from a Four Seasons - excellent, so was housekeeping standards as well. Breakfast at Mode had everything one would need, quality of food was high, though not necessarily exceptional, and the location cannot be beaten!