Sydney-siders will know that the future of the Swiss Grand Hotel Bondi Beach is a little uncertain at the moment: developers want to soften the famous "wedding cake facade" and turn the interior into a combination (smaller) boutique hotel and residential apartments. But since the council hasn't decided yet, any change is a long way off.
Just the same, there's been a flood of journos reviewing the Swiss Grand, which perhaps hopes to remind people you can still stay there. A recent Sydney Morning Herald review spoke of all the good sides to the Swiss Grand, the best of which is of course the view over Bondi Beach.
There's something odd about the Altamont Boutique Hotel in Sydney. Their website describes it as being "formerly Sydney's most exclusive boutique hotel."
We're not sure which bit is "former", but it is still a boutique hotel and still in Sydney. However we think what they're trying to hint at is that the building used to be a nightclub with hotel attached and a bunch of celebrities stayed here, apparently including Madonna and the Rolling Stones.
How ironic! Most boutique hotels these days are actually accused of operating like nightclubs with rooms attached (Hollywood Roosevelt circa 2005, several Morgans Hotels, etc.)
The NY Times dropped by Sydney's new art hotel, The Storrier, over the weekend, and gave it a pretty reasonable write-up. The Storrier's the first in a new chain of art hotels being done by the A Hotels Group--they're planning to have seven art-themed hotels up and running by 2010.
For a Sydney hotel, The Storrier is a little out of the way in Potts Point (and verging on Kings Cross), but it's in a great art deco building that kind of makes up for the distance to town. The NYT review doesn't really sell us on the décor, which it describes as "minimalist, vaguel 1980s-style", but cheap and fancy breakfasts definitely appeal to us. Back to the downside, though, WiFi is available but only for the ridiculous fee of A$10 (US$9.50) an hour or A$29.95 ($28.50) for the day.
So why should we stay at The Storrier? Well, the hotel itself has this to say:
The Storrier is the ultimate cocoon in which to chill and the ideal retreat to return to after burning the rope at both ends.
Poetic, and almost convincing. More persuasive is the fact that The Storrier comes at a reasonable price, from A$185 (US$175) a night.
In Sydney, you can splurge on a high-rise harbor view hotel if you're greedy for photos of grand ol' Sydney Harbour, or you can get historical and exclusive and try someplace like the Manor House Boutique Hotel.
It's still in central Sydney but rather than a high-rise, it's an 1850s building (old for Australia) that originally belonged to a guy named Edward Flood, who was one of the first mayors of Sydney. Flood is now long gone and these days his home is an 18-room boutique hotel, renovated and then filled with antique furniture.
Medusa Hotel bills itself as a chic boutique hotel in Sydney's achingly hip Darlinghurst neighborhood. This fashonista outpost opts for a reflection pool instead of a swimming pool, is without a restaurant or bar, but every one of their 18 rooms are style-concious in every way.
There are two big questions about Medusa. First, is this a gay hotel? The standard answer is "all types stay here", so no, it is not a hotel that exclusively caters to a gay clientele. However, Medusa is well aware of the market segments they appeal to.
Second, how much is too much to pay for a room at Medusa? Guest reactions to Medusa fall conclusively into two camps -- those who pay under $200 a night and those who pay over $200 a night. Folks who snag a room for anywhere between $99 - $199 seem quite pleased with their hip surroundings. On the other hand, guests who pay over $200 a night complain about the balky service and come away thinking the Medusa is nothing more than an overpriced boutique hostel.
We've tried out lots of great hotels in Sydney but the current #1 on TripAdvisor has so far eluded us, probably in part because it's such a small boutique hotel that it only has twelve rooms. But we're intrigued anyway about the Simpsons Hotel of Potts Point in Sydney, which is housed in an old mansion originally built in 1892--that's very old by Australian standards.
TripAdvisor guests give plenty of good reasons to justify Simpsons #1 rating, including the breakfasts in the sunny solarium, the free high speed internet service, a cosy living room with a fire burning in winter, the short walk from Simpsons to downtown Sydney, and the friendly staff who have plenty of good recommendations for sightseeing, transport and restaurants.
Rates aren't even that exorbitant, starting at A$175 (US$144) for a single as a rack rate. Special (higher) rates do apply at Christmas, New Year and Mardi Gras--which should be a good clue that it's also ranked highly as a gay-friendly hotel. But then again, Sydney's a gay-friendly city, so we figure we're all welcome at Simpsons, anyway.
It's not in Switzerland, and some say it's not even very grand, but the Swiss Grand Resort & Spa Bondi Beachdoes have the best location at Sydney's world famous beach. Without knowing it, you've surely seen pictures of the Swiss Grand because it truly is the backdrop to Bondi.
If you want to hit the shops in Sydney and hang out in the fashion district, a well-located hotel is the 16-room boutique L'Otel in Darlinghurst Road. It's right near the fashion heart of town, and the cafe strip is also right outside.
But whether the inside of the L'Otel really lives up to the hype is definitely not clear. A heap of recent guest reviews have plenty of complaints to make: it seems to have been allowed to get rundown and shabby, or sometimes it's even unclean, and several people have been upset that the quilts don't have covers.
Yet time and again the great location comes up as a huge plus. Whether it's worth the A$250 ($215) a night for the deluxe rooms (or almost half that for the Junior Victoria room) is up to you.
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by amandak
