HotelChatter

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Get $99 Rooms Down Under as Summer Approaches

Where: Australia

While northern hemisphere hotels are busy promoting their winter sales, Down Under hotels are advertising summer specials, and there's a particularly good one on offer from the Urban group of hotels, represented in the three major east coast cities.

The three places - Urban St Leonard's in Sydney, Urban St Kilda in Melbourne and the Urban Brisbane - have got together to organize a half-price summer sale. The deal is that if you make your booking this week (before Saturday, October 31), you can get your room for A$99 ($91) a night instead of the usual average of A$199 ($180). The sad thing is that the Aussie dollar is pretty strong right now, so if you're booking in another currency the deal isn't anywhere near as good as it might have been a few months ago.

The summer deal is good for stays between December 18 and January 18, 2010 in Sydney and Melbourne, while in Brisbane, apparently summer lasts a lot longer – the deal is valid for stays between December 18 and February 14 next year. Just look for the "Hotel Urban turns up the heat" prices when you book online – we saw plenty of $99 rooms left.

Tags: Sydney Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Shangri-La Hotels / → All Tags

Sydney's Shangri-La Upgrades Its Cafe Mix Restaurant

Where: 176 Cumberland Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

Sydney's Shangri-La Hotel already serves up drinks in a bar we approve of - its Blu Horizon Bar which has amazing views over Sydney Harbour and the Opera House. Downstairs, the all-day dining spot Café Mix has just had a revamp and earlier this month relaunched with a new look and a new menu.

The new look includes extra seating and Café Mix now seats over two hundred guests. You can get nearly anything you want here: there's Indian, Japanese, Chinese and Australian cuisine, plus (something we really like) a dessert buffet which includes a chocolate fountain.

To celebrate the new look there's a special on every Friday night until October 16. It's a seafood buffet with fresh oysters, king prawns, crab and lobster for A$99 ($85) per person.

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Tags: Healthy Hotels / Sydney Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Hotel Packages / → All Tags

Get a Taste of the Healthy Life on Hilton Sydney's Health Retreats

Where: 488 George Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

If you're looking for a vacation that's healthier than the average overindulgent getaway, here's a suggestion: the Hilton Health Retreat which they run four times a year at the Sydney Hilton. The next retreat is coming up soon, from June 12 to 14, so get packing for Oz fast and you'll come away feeling pretty good – or pretty exhausted.

The Hilton Health Retreat is a pretty full-on weekend, led by an expert nutritionist and a fitness pro. You have to undertake a fitness and nutrition assessment before you even get there, so those two experts can set about planning all the right activities for you.

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Tags: Sydney Hotels / Hotel Deals / Escape the Economy Hotels / → All Tags

'Ruddy Good' Deals at Aussie Hotels Mean 'Ruddy Good' Things

Down in Australia, the government's decided to prop up the economy by giving most tax-payers a A$900 bonus, and with the money starting to arrive in everyone's accounts, hotels are among those trying to tempt people to spend their bonuses. And in Sydney, the "stimulus package" deals are a-flying freely.

For non-Aussies, the names of the deals probably seem a bit odd. You have to know that the Prime Minister down there, who is (in a sense) the guy who's giving out the money, is named Kevin Rudd; and that in Aussie slang,"ruddy" is kinda like the Brits' "bloody." You following?

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Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Cookies / Sydney Hotels / → All Tags

The Establishment Hotel Woos Us With Cookies

Where: 1 Bridge Lane, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

If donuts are the new cupcakes, then cookies are the new turndown mint. It's no secret that we at HotelChatter love cookies. If you didn't, well then see our reaction when someone mentioned taking away our cookies.

Thanks to our sweet tooth, we were delightfully surprised to see that the hip Establishment Hotel in Sydney's Central Business District offers cookies at turndown.

And it might be really strange to hear us say this but it's almost as if Doubletree Hotels knew all along the power of the cookie long before the rest of the hospitality world caught on. Imagine that: Doubletree, the hotel cookie pioneer.

Tags: Sydney Hotels / Taj Hotels / Hotel Video Tours / → All Tags

Inside Blue Sydney at Woolloomooloo

Where: 6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo, Australia, 2011

Ok, we need to make this quick because we just got a call from the front desk saying if we were not checked out of here by high noon they were going to charge us $50 AU for each additional hour. Our location is Blue Sydney, W Hotels former first international W ever.

The wharf is gorgeous inside and out, but it feels a touch like "the ghost of W" in the lobby area. The bar, which was called "souless" by one Aussie we met, is almost always empty day and night. However, the rooms are nice, bright, and have incredible views out over the wharf.

If you're not a walker or a cabber, the location may not be for you. The hotel is located on the far side of the Royal Botanical Gardens. Actually, the 20 minute walk to Circular Key has been kind of nice; then again, not every traveler wants that kind of hike. Cabs are plentiful outside the hotel, but all in all it is isolated.

Room: 412

Type: Standard

Square Footage: ~350 square feet

Best Feature: The bright sunny view and the wharf quiet.

Biggest Surprise: Wolloomooloo is a very small quiet area and you will need to cab it out of here to most places if you are anti-longish walks.

Tags: Guess The Hotel / Sydney Hotels / → All Tags

Have A Go At Our Hotel Will Ya?

More Guess the Hotel fun!

Ok this one is easy, especially for any of you Sydneysiders out there. Most hotel mavens know the drill but in case you're new, here's how it works. We put up a snapshot of a hotel somewhere in the world, drop a few hints, and you put in your guesses in comments below. And away we go.

· This shot is the view from our current room here in Sydney and it was taken shortly after sunrise.

· The hotel is on the water, but possibly closer to the Cross than the Quay.

· The hotel used to have a popular name but now it has a colorful name.

Put your guesses in comments below and we will unveil the hotel's full identity on Friday.

Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Sydney Hotels / Hotel Balconies / Park Hyatt Hotels / → All Tags

Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr Get Cozy at Park Hyatt Sydney

Where: 7 Hickson Rd, The Rocks, Sydney, Australia

The ultra-posh Park Hyatt Sydney is known for its killer views out onto Sydney Harbour — but obnoxiously hot couple Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr are giving Sydney Harbour a name for, er, its killer views onto hotel balconies.

We spied these pics of Bloom and his Aussie model girlfriend over on TMZ — and as only the most embarrassingly-obsessive type of hotel geek can, we instantly recognized that balcony as Park Hyatt's. The luxe hotel has 158 "grand mansion-style" rooms sitting right at the base of the famed Harbour Bridge, overlooking the Opera House (which these two seem to be doing here) in Sydney's historic Rocks district — but last time we hit up the place, we realized it was key to make sure to book a Harbour View room (otherwise the city view looks out onto a wall; bummer).

Hmm, wonder if they're taking V Australia to LA afterward? And hey, you never know: maybe the two were out on the balcony discussing Bloom's potential to get busy with little bit of hair dye to enter the Richard Branson lookalike contest. There's gotta be a reason Bloom still has that haircut.

[Photo: Flynet via TMZ]

Tags: Odd Hotels / Cockatoo Island Houses / Sydney Hotels / Jail Hotels / → All Tags

Stay In Sydney Harbour, Literally, at the Cockatoo Island Houses

Where: Cockatoo Island, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

When in Sydney, you might well be craving harbor views, but we've got a new alternative--just stay in the middle of Sydney Harbour itself.

We’ve experienced the camping version of a stay at Cockatoo Island, but if you want to stay overnight in more style on this island in the middle of the harbor--with clear views to the Sydney Harbour Bridge--you're in luck.

The Cockatoo Island Historic Houses are available for up to ten guests per house, and according to a Sydney Morning Herald review, these two historic houses (formerly prisons) have been elegantly refurbished and include three plasma TVs per house. The digs are available for A$400 ($260) a night during the week or A$1200 ($780) for a Friday to Sunday weekend stay. Those are somewhat decent prices for the views you're getting, especially if you're traveling with a group.

Tags: Room Rate Drop Watch / Sydney Hotels / Australia Hotels / → All Tags

Sydney Hotel Rates Not Dropping Yet

With ever cheaper flights down to Australia, we figured it was time to check if hotels in Down Under's tourist hotspot of Sydney were getting cheaper or not. Apparently room occupancy rates dropped a bit over the last year so we hoped this might mean hotels will drop rates.

However, the global economic crisis hasn't hit Australia quite so hard to date--they're not even in a recession (yet). Perhaps that's why we can't see too many fantastic Sydney hotel bargains.

For example, one of our faves, the Shangri-La Hotel, is still starting their room rates at over A$300 ($200), which ain't a price dip. We checked a couple of others like the new-ish Pullman at Sydney Olympic Park (non-package rates go down to A$243 ($160)) and Darling Harbour's Holiday Inn (lowest advance purchase rates start at A$180 ($115)) and were also disappointed.

One set of stats is even predicting room rates will continue to rise around Australia this year--not because there are plenty of people with money, but because hotels have to break even somehow with their falling occupancy rates. Come on guys, we'll stay if you make it cheaper, we promise.

[Photo: manarh]

Tags: Hotel Bars / Sydney Hotels / Shangri-La Hotels / → All Tags

Shangri-La's Blu Horizon Bar Rocks The Rocks

Where: 176 Cumberland Street The Rocks, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

We might have thought that the Shangri-La Hotel in The Rocks part of Sydney was a touch too pricey for New Year's Eve but with the fireworks over, we're keen to head to the Blu Horizon Bar on Level 36 of the Shangri-La.

Back in 2007 this bar won the Australian Hotel Association's big award as the "Best Hotel Bar of the Year" and there's no reason to think the standard has slipped since then. The view alone is probably enough to win over most customers, with panoramic windows looking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Some reviews say that you can have long waits for a table or that the drinks are too expensive, but since this is one of the most scenic bar locations in the whole world, we don't think there's much reason to complain. However, from Monday to Thursday crowds are much smaller, so grab your drink then and you'll have less people between you and the view.

[Photo: Amit (Sydney)]

Tags: Sydney Hotels / Holiday Inns / New Years Eve 2009 Hotels / → All Tags

Sydney Hotels Filling Up Fast for New Year's Eve

Where: 68 Harbour Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

With an ever-shortening countdown to New Year's Eve, it's hard to get a good rate in Sydney for the big night. We already decided the Shangri-La's rates were no great deal and now there are just a handful of central Sydney hotels with rooms still available.

One of them is the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour. Now, we're not usually big fans of Holiday Inns but when New Year's Eve is fast approaching, well, you know the saying 'bout how we can't be choosers.

The Holiday Inn still has some packages going for New Year's Eve (at least it does on lastminute.com.au--weirdly the hotel site itself claims fully booked like everywhere else in town). For A$699 ($450) you get breakfast and a bottle of sparkling wine. We still think this rate is far too high--you can stay at the same hotel for A$169 the week before--but if you're running out of New Year's choices then you'd better book fast.

One important thing to know is even though Darling Harbour rates a mention in the hotel's name, you shouldn't be expecting any harbor views. The Holiday Inn is kind of sandwiched between other buildings and good views are pretty much non-existent, so be sure to head out to celebrate the turning year.

[Photo of sandwiched hotel: Manigat]