Hilton Sydney

Revisited one year later. Room and gym remained wonderful. Sadly the executive lounge lost its expansive 37 floor views to a smaller dark windowless room on level 2. Opted to have breakfast at the Glass Brasserie which was extremely crowded. The small business area with a couple of computers and printer in the executive lounge was also lost and replaced with a single computer and printer on a ground level public space hidden near reception. But location can't be beat, staff and valet continue to be friendly and helpful.

We spent four nights here while in Sydney. The hotel has lots of excellent assets going for it. It is centrally located in the Sydney CBD, with most things such as Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, The Tower and many of the museums and historic buildings. There is also a tarm stop right outside the hotel. Purchase an Opel Card and you are able to roam the city and harbour at will. Check-in went smoothly although there was a large conference going on at the hotel and you could see a lot of staff were involved in this. Overall we found the staff friendly and professional. Be it in reception, room service, housekeeping they were all helpful. The Restaurant staff were especially friendly and service was quick if you required something extra at breakfast. We had a King room quite high up which gave us some good views over the city, either from the room or waiting for the lifts. The room was modern quite spacious and well furnished. Our king bed was very comfortable. The bathroom on suite again had all the modern touches and every extra one could think of. Tea and coffee in the room and the complimentary bottle of red wine was a nice touch. Really enjoyed it. We had booked breakfast with our room and have got to say this hotel has one of the greatest varieties for breakfast you could ask for. Set out in buffet format its minor exploration mission to check it all out. Having said that the traditional full English is always a good choice. We ate in the restaurant one night and had a great experience. Great menu choice, stakes were delicious and an excellent red wine to sip made for a perfect evening. Now for the ripoff. As we were flying in from the UK we requested an early check-in after a long flight. Apparently this is not allowed and we had to book an extra night. So we stayed four and paid for five. Then on the last morning we were charged for our breakfast, even though it was already paid for. As we did an express check out we only discovered this when we returned home and saw the charge on the credit card. I sent a number of emails to them asking why, but didn't even get a reply. Needless to say my Hilton Honours Card was consigned to the bin. Will definitely not use this chain again. There are lots of better choices.

I recently stayed at the Hilton Sydney, booking through Amex Travel which included a $100 USD credit to be deducted from our bill at the end of our stay. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and I had to call to address a double charge. Although the issue was partially resolved, there is still a $10 discrepancy that remains unaddressed. Our booking included access to the executive lounge, which offers breakfast, afternoon drinks, and canapés, as well as a room upgrade. Not sure if we were given a room upgrade as already paying for a decent room, we were given an accessible room (which is fine, I have a walker but can manage with a normal room), an accessible room is supposed to cater to wheelchair users. The room had several issues: the tiles were very slippery, there was no shower chair, and the door did not stay open, making it difficult to manage if in a wheelchair. Additionally, there was no suitcase rack, which is a common amenity, especially in accessible rooms. When I requested one, it was delivered, but the room was too cramped to accommodate both my husband's and my suitcase racks. The food and drinks at the executive lounge were great and generous, staff excellent here. It is a room with no windows though so kind of in and out vibe rather than enjoying the view from being in the city. The overall vibe of the hotel seemed to cater more towards business travelers staying overnight. While most of the staff were friendly, the front desk staff could benefit from training on the specific needs of accessible rooms. Despite informing a staff member about some of the issues, nothing was done to address them. Our room was located one room away from the lift, and we could hear the lifts constantly dinging and whooshing by. This made it difficult to sleep on the first night, although we got somewhat used to it by the second night. We visited the pool, which is shared with Fitness First and felt more like a functional gym space than a relaxing hotel pool. The tiles were very wet and slippery, the spa was about 20% full and appeared to be closed due to mold, and the indoor pool was freezing. The sauna was wet, slippery, and had no lights, so we ended up leaving. These facilities are only suitable for athletic individuals looking to work out, not for relaxation. My husband and I often treat ourselves to "staycations" at hotels in Sydney, but this is the only time we would never go back to one. We couldn't wait to get home due to the cramped room and overall disappointing experience. I would not recommend the Hilton Sydney and feel like our stay was a total waste of money.

This Hilton is well run from all directions. We arrived around 8:00 AM and asked if we could store our bags and could they recommend a place for breakfast or tea as check-in wasn’t for another 6 hours. The reception staff were very accommodating and asked us if we wanted to see if they could see if our room could ready well before to the 2 PM check-in and suggested their cafe for teas/snacks or the one across the street in the mini office complex mall. After about two hours, we were in our room, well before the stated check-in time. The hotel is located in a great spot and centrally located. The tram stops right in front of the hotel and a 5 min ride terminates at Circle Quay (Ferries). A short walk will bring you to the bus that takes you to Biondi Beach. Near the hotel is quite of bit of shopping and cafes. The room was modern, clean, and reasonably spacious, Noise level was very quiet, but we were on one of the top floors. Everyone of the Hilton staff that we interacted with were friendly, professional, and helpful. Recommend if you want a clean, modern, well-run hotel central to many things in Sydney.

Service: We stayed for three nights the second week of February. We checked in on a Saturday night and this hotel seemed to be having a lot of events going on. Even though staff was busy, our check-in was handled smoothly and our bags were promptly delivered to our room. Throughout our stay, service was exceptional. Room: We stayed in a King room on an upper floor (22?) that had a partial view of a historic building. The room was quiet and we heard no noise. However, I was very disappointed with what they call our "Magical Sydney" room. There is nothing magical about their "state-of-the-art" lighting system. There are reading lights over the bed and only one our of four was working (not on my side of the bed). The tall lamp with the foot switch did not work. Furthermore, the bathroom light switch is outside the bathroom and has a unique set-up that has tiny small writing on it. If you need to use the restroom in the middle of the night, you have to bring your cell phone over to the switch to see which one is the bathroom light. Then you turn it on from outside the bathroom, which brings a lot of light into the room, waking up your partner. When you are done using the restroom, you have to go back outside and try to find the light switch to it off and use your cell phone light to read the small print on the buttons. Adding to the commotion you make when using the restroom at night is that the bathroom door was super squeaky. The buttons were falling off one of the light switches in the bedroom and we had to put them back on. Also, there was a luggage dresser with drawers and the bottom drawer would not stay shut. General hotel: We purchased the breakfast buffet with our room and it was excellent, as was the service in the restaurant. I think they had just about every option a person could ask for. Although expensive, it was worth it. The location of the hotel was ideal, with a tram that stops right outside the door. We went to the Marble Bar in the basement, a World Heritage site, and it was unique. I would recommend everyone stop in there for a drink during their stay. They had a band playing that I thought was good and it seemed to be a happened place- very busy. I would stay here again, but I would ask that maintenance be performed on the room. We were too busy and did not request that things were fixed. I also would go so far as to ask for a taped sign over the entry/ bathroom light switch so the writing could be seen. Adding a nice plaque over the light switch with larger print or even a dim motion-activated nightlight by the bathroom would be a more "magical" experience.