W Sydney

The room and the hotel are quite nice. Fairly standard for what you'd expect from a high-end hotel. They want to be 5-star, but I've marked them down because: 1. We were left standing in reception for several minutes while one person was checking people in. The Concierge and his friend just stood around chatting 2. The location is great if you want to see Darling Harbour, but if you want to go to any other part of the CBD, you have to walk quite a long way up the hill to George Street to catch the light rail. We walked up and down that hill quite a lot over the weekend. 3. Whoever designed the bathroom was obviously considering form over function. The circular bath was too small to actually immerse yourself in - maybe if you're under about 5'6" you could get under the water, but the only way for me (at 6') was able to fit in the bath was sitting bolt upright and cross-legged. Not very comfortable. There is no screen around the shower, so water goes absolutely everywhere! The bathroom was flooded and the bathrobe hanging beside the shower got wet. My husband slipped on the entryway floor coming out of the bathroom because his feet were wet. Also, the lighting is so bad I couldn't see properly to do my hair and makeup, so I hope I looked OK! Black walls and downlights really don't work, and the two strips either side of the mirror were blinding, but somehow didn't illuminate anything. We'll stay at the Four Seasons again next time.

We attended a conference and stayed at the W Sydney. When we checked in they for some reason could not find our reservation, so we were asked to pay upfront for the room, though the organizer for our group had made note that the accomodations should be made to the card on file that she gave them. But, we did not know that at the time. We have asked several times to get a credit for what they charged us and it has not happened. Our organizer has called and requested the same. In the meantime, they have already charged the organizers card and charged us for incidentals. Absolutely do not recommend this hotel as each time we requested in person for the credit to be processed we were promised it would be and it never was. For the most part the people that work there are friendly and helpful, but found front desk not to be realible. The rooms are hard to organize your clothing and such. Ladies, bring a light up mirror, as the light in the bathroom and the makeup mirror provided are extremely dim. Shining stars, Bell staff, facilities staff, buffet and location.

I can't imagine a better place to stay in Sydney. The W is perfectly located in Darling Harbour. We stayed with kids, and they loved being right next to the Darling Harbour playground and so many gelato and ice cream stops. It's an easy walk to many restaurants, museums, and the light rail. As you would expect from the W, the rooms were clean and spectacular.

​The Good: ​Room & View: The room itself was lovely, and the view was fantastic—we had a great vantage point to watch the fireworks over Darling Harbour. We had a washing machine and full kitchen. That was really helpful. ​Where They Fell Short: ​Service: The service definitely needs improvement. We arrived around 8:00 PM, and the bell captain standing downstairs didn't offer to help us at all—he literally just stood there and stared at us rolling our suitcases. It was an awful first impression for a luxury stay. The checkin was OK, nothing happened just got room. ​Overall: Great views and beautiful rooms, but the arrival experience and front-of-house service were disappointing.

Mostly this was a very good stay and there are some very good features about the hotel. The location is amazing - right in the heart of Darling Harbour and with easy reach of restaurants, bars and facilities. It is also an easy walk up to the heart of the city for transport (busses, light rail, trains and metro) - and for other services. The first room we booked as supposed to have a good view but we ended up overlooking the freeway which was not appealing, then our room change to get the view we thought we had booked resulted in a much smaller room with an additional fee! The bed was amazingly comfortable and amenities and general facilities were good. Breakfast selection was good but it was crowded and two mornings we had a long queue waiting for tables.