Sofitel Sydney Wentworth

A fantastic place to stay Clifford the concierge was extremely helpful All the staff friendly. Food fabulous and location for me was perfect Highly recommend for a stay in Sydney

Have been a frequent customer (50 times +over) of the Sydney Wentworth Hotel, it had many changes since the upgrades, and we were looking at birthday celebrations with our daughters and booked 2 rooms at over $1500+. The check-in is almost akin to catching a Jetstar flight and the line up to have personal service for a 5-star hotel requires you to line up 10 fold deep to experience 5-star face to face customer service. The real kicker is that when we celebrated our daughter's birthday we headed back to our rooms looking forward to a good night sleep. My daughters including my wife and I in two separate rooms had the worst sleep with pillows provided that could not be made comfortable. The end result was that instead of our planned breakfast my daughters decided to drive back home to their own beds to catch up on their sleep. My wife and I made our way to the front desk and complained. The front desk arranged the Manager to meet with us to hear our complaint. Dez the Manager was very friendly and professional and pointed out that the Hotel is 24/7 service and that lord behold we should of arranged a pillow selection from one of the options on the new TV screen drop down options. Lord behold when your driven 4hrs to your destination, had a big afternoon and followed that with dinner and then you're ready to fall asleep and you're tossing and turning all night to 4am the first thing that springs to your mind (thankyou Dez the Manager) is to turn your TV screen, look for the drop down section for pillow selection and then try the many varieties of pillows. How wonderful, even better I could select my pillow before I arrive. God forbid it seems that the customer has got this all wrong and its all my family's fault and we didn't give the Hotel the opportunity to rectify this at 4am in the morning. Never knew that the Wentworth has also taken Jetstar check-ins and Sleep doctor to new levels with the staff and Management trained to professionally deflect legitimate customer complaints and make the customer feel that 'well maybe I should have known this beforehand and you should be happy to fork out a few thousand dollars for the privilege'.

If you’re looking for a good hotel in a central location for business or sightseeing this is a solid option. The rooms are quiet, comfortable and the beds are standard Sofitel - which is say heavenly. The bathrooms are outdated and cramped, but overall the room is a good size and fairly modern. There are several F&B options onsite including the breakfast / dinner restaurant on Level 5, the bar on Level 5 and then more upmarket dinner drinks / dining on the Ground Floor. The bar on L5 is fairly soulless and filled with event attendees or people having after-work drinks, very difficult to get into if you’re visiting on a weekend or when there is an event on at the hotel which is every day - this is off putting for guests. Value for money - I have certainly spent more on a central city location so I was pleasantly surprised. The main drawback of this hotel - the lifts -they’re awful. If you’re trying to go out for dinner or get downstairs from breakfast you could be waiting half an hour. Queues were back through the lobby every day. It would make me think against staying here again. I have had shorter relationships than it takes to get downstairs in one of these lifts. Overall - we always found the service to be good. There were queues for check-in most days but they have self check-in available which no one was using, or indeed encouraged to use.

I am a frequent traveller, too much for work but thankfully I do get to sneak away for leisure. And in the journeys I have made, and the places I get to stay - luxurious, average and downright roughing it out, some will surprise you and others, they really surprise you (eyebrows up in shock). I do like to say, luxury do not mean the best of the best; roughing it out may not be the worst experience either. But when you go into luxury, you do expect some good things. This stay with Sofitel Sydney Wentworth was my first, ever. And the simplest reason why I gave it top score was really the fact that I slept so blissfully for 2 straight nights like it was my own bed at home. I know it sounds ridiculous to just score it on the basis of the bed; but the bed and pillow and the blankets is so crucial to me these days because being away from home, the adjustment after a certain age is harsh. Whether it is work or leisure, our movement can be rapid, long and if enough rest isn’t sustained, it compounds. This hotel, as I am very certain of my write up, compounds the feel and mood, to then set you up for the rest. From the ambience in the foyer; the light touches of deco, flower and colours of the floor, furnitures, to the placement of things that gave space but not too much space; and then the lead up to the rooms through the dimness of the corridors; it was a progression of telling your body to relax. It did not occur to me that was perhaps the intention because by the time I’m half way through the corridor, I am eager to enter my room and into that soft setting that melts all the stresses and exhaustion of the day. Their standard rooms may not be oversized, but even with two young children in tow, it was plentiful. The hotel never scrunch on the size of the bathroom, and the bathtub was a bliss. The main bedroom even have surprises with a hidden nook by the window - that became a secret play area for the kids, much hidden behind the curtain. And even with all the lights on, it still gave the room a beautiful sense of peace and tranquility. There’s no harshness to anything - they all blended naturally with everything in it. And being Accor gold member, the treats that came is always appreciated. But not just that, we treated ourselves to breakfast service in the room. The food was delectable -amazing in taste and presentation. Work travel to Sydney is a frequent thing for me. I’ll make this hotel my choice, and only choice, hereon. Thank you Sofitel Sydney Wentworth for such a grand experience and treatment. We are throughly amazed.

From the moment you arrive at Sofitel Wentworth Sydney you realise your on your own. Pulling up to the front of the hotel your quickly ushered to an adjacent building at the rear of the hotel where a third party contractor will park your car. At this point you unload and then manoeuvre your luggage back up a series of corridors and staircases to the lobby area - where you are greeted by a bank of computer terminals. After you check yourself in and create your keys a printout will tell you which room you’re allocated. From here you start to work out how to find your room. Unfortunately, because of the self service culture at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth there is no one to ask for assistance or clarification on inclusions, directions or facilities. After waiting an extended period for access to a lift you find yourself at your room…… your small dark noisy space where you start to think maybe Ive made a mistake and this hotel choice wasn’t such a great idea. (You can see by the attached photos how the room is misrepresented). The building was built in 1966 and while they have renovated - the building bones are still 60 years old. The bathroom is small and an outdated design and in our case had grout mould and some blemishes in the tub (which I don't want to think about too much). Its was just grubby. I suspect the buildings unique design is also its biggest nemesis. The rounded facade acts like an echo chamber with street and venting noise just bouncing back and forth across the space with the small glass room doors inadequate to suppress the volume. We paid extra to get a Juliette balcony - which was a big mistake - it meant we were low down closer to the road noise and just above the party bar which blasted until 10pm. A 5 star hotel is supposed to be a fabulous experience where you come away feeling rested, pampered and having been well looked after. Unfortunately the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney feels more like “last one out turn off the lights”. Other areas of concern included; - Wifi totally unreliable and keeps buffering - No information in the room on the hotel. The TV options for information are all adverts for the hotel and its history but no access to meaningful information. - Restaurant seating is disappointing with everyone packed in tight next to each other (shoulders almost touching) and knocking your table as they get in and out. Why is it when hotel chains introduce new technology and upgrades it means less support and services for the customer and more convenience and cost reductions to the company. The Sofitel Wentworth Sydney is a great example of “ you are on your own”. You look after yourself as there are no staff to assist. The phone service is an AI support - which works about 50%of the time for advice or assistance. We never actually spoke a staff member other than a server in the buffet breakfast area. There are so many stunning hotels in Sydney - but the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth is not one of them. Our recommendation is to avoid this one.