HotelChatter

Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel Renovations / Sydney Hotels / Park Hyatt Hotels / Australia Hotels / → All Tags

Park Hyatt Sydney Will Reopen March 1 at $855 a Night

Where: 7 Hickson Road, The Rocks, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

We knew the big, big revamp of the Park Hyatt Sydney was going to be a big deal. But deal is not a word you're going to hear in any other capacity when it comes to this harbour-front icon.

Apparently the hotel is on track to re-open in mid-February but is taking reservations from March 1 onwards. And the starting rate for a night on March 1st? $AUD 855 a night.

Before you think, but hey, that's Aussie dollars. It's got to be cheaper when you convert it, right? --check out how strong that Aussie dollar is. The rate converts to $893 US dollars. Ouch.

more ›

Hotel Openings / Sydney Hotels / Australia Hotels / Casino Hotels / → All Tags

Sydney Finally Gets a New 5-Star Hotel, and She's a Darling

Where: 80 Pyrmont Street [map], Pyrmont, NSW, United States, 2009

At last, there's some fancypants hotel action in Sydney! The city's most iconic hotel, The Park Hyatt Sydney, will soon emerge from an extensive makeover--and a brand new five-star hotel will open just around the corner. She's called The Darling, and she is part of the new-look Darling Harbour casino The Star (formerly known as Star City).

Apparently Sydney was feeling a little left out in the cold, with Melbourne's Crown stealing all the country's posh casino-hotel thunder. But the new Star will be home to a new spa and pool, new stores including Gucci and Bottega Veneta, and a bunch of new restaurants including one from David Chang—Momofuku Seiōbo, one that will be part of The Darling— Sokyo, and an outpost of one of our favorite restaurants in all of Sydney, Golden Century.

more ›

Sydney Hotels / Hotel News / Park Hyatt Hotels / Hotel Renovations / Hotel Reopenings / Australia Hotels / → All Tags

The Park Hyatt Sydney Will Be More Luxe Than Ever When It Reopens Later This Year

Where: 7 Hickson Road, The Rocks, Sydney, Australia, NSW 2000

Floor-to-ceiling windows GALORE at the newly-reopened Park Hyatt Sydney

Luxe travelers to the Land Down Under were dealt a blow when the iconic Park Hyatt Sydney closed its doors almost a year ago for an Extreme Hotel Makeover. After being stripped and redesigned nearly from scratch, the hotel is set to open later this year and promises to be more extravagant than ever. With all of the major nips and tucks it's received, you'd swear it doesn't look a day over its 21-years.

more ›

Hotel Club Lounges / Intercontinental Hotels / Sydney Hotels / → All Tags

Inside the Club Intercontinental Sydney

Where: 117 Macquarie St., Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

Over on Jaunted, you can get our inside looks at some of the world’s best airline lounges, so we thought we’d do something similar here and start talking about some of the hotel lounges we’ve frequented lately for our new series on Hotel Club Lounges. Today, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen takes us along with him to the Sydney Club InterContinental.

During our last stay Down Under, we spent a few days at the Intercontinental Sydney, and spent a fair amount of our time hanging around the hotel’s Club Intercontinental lounge, which has to be one of our favorites in Australia.

more ›

Hotel Openings / Hotel News / Sydney Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags

Sydney Gets a New Hotel with Park8

Where: 185 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

The folks behind Australia’s privately owned mini-chain, 8Hotels (the Diamant, the Kirketon), recently opened up a new boutique hotel called Park8 in the center of Sydney a block from Sydney’s sprawling Hyde Park, in what used to be the Central Park Hotel.

more ›

Hotel Bars / Sydney Hotels / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags

Hilton Sydney Transforms Into Covent Garden on Fridays

Where: 488 George Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

We might be in for record-breaking temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, but if your travels are taking you to Australia in the next few months, there’s already a brisk chill in the air foretelling of crisp winter days and nights to come. To mark the changing of seasons the Hilton Sydney is throwing a Winter Party that will transform the outdoor terrace at Zeta Bar into Covent Garden starting at 6:00pm every Friday evening.

more ›

Hotel Construction / Hotel News / Sydney Hotels / Australia Hotels / → All Tags

Sydneysiders Afraid New Harbour Hotel Will Turn City Into a Mini-Dubai

Where: Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

The best hotels in Sydney are undoubtedly the ones with harbour views—the Shangri-La, the Park Hyatt, the InterContinental, the Observatory. It's been years since a new hotel had the chance to muscle in on this priceless real estate but now there's one in development, it's causing a ruckus. The biggest complaint? That the proposed 698-foot-high hotel perched on a pier jutting into the water will turn Sydney's skyline into a mini Dubai.

The yet-to-be-named hotel is part of the larger Barangaroo project at Darling Harbour—a mixed-use retail, public domain and housing plan for the last remaining piece of harbour foreshore available for development. Many of the project's plans are still under public review, and unfortunately the Aussie public is giving a big thumbs down to the plans for the hotel.

more ›

Sydney Hotels / Killer View / Hotel Service / Australia Hotels / Shangri-La Hotels / → All Tags

It's Hard To Beat The Views At Shangri-La Sydney

Where: 176 Cumberland St, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

Yeah, mate, yesterday's Guess The Hotel shot was taken from level 14 of the Shangri-La Sydney, where we can barely tear ourselves away from the window.

Back when this was the ANA Hotel, the bar on level 36, now known as Blu Bar was the place to wow tourists. The newly renovated bar still provides knockout views, but there's nothing quite like knocking the socks off longtime Sydneysiders by inviting them into your hotel room to see this more personal view of their city.

more ›

Hotel WiFi / Sydney Hotels / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags

Wherefore Art Thou, Free Hotel WiFi in Sydney?

Australia loves its tech. Aussies were drunk texting long before Americans, and now they're just as attached to their Blackberries and iPhones. But when it comes to Hotel WiFi? That's a whole other tragic tale ...

We thought what we wanted was simple: A nice hotel in the Sydney CBD for one night this summer. A place we could rest comfortably in between jaunts and get some work done—with free WiFi. We had heard horror stories of guests being presented with $300 hotel internet bills at the end of a stay but shrugged them off as urban legend. Sure, broadband internet access in general is a bit wonky in Australia—it's not as widespread, or as fast, or as affordable as it is in the States. But surely hotels were at the top of their game, no?

more ›

Celebrity Scoop / Lady Gaga / Sydney Hotels / Sheraton Hotels / → All Tags

Lady Gaga Stayed in a Sheraton During Her Visit to Sydney

Where: 161 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000

A huge story broke on Saturday, when a Lady Gaga fan revealed that he was not only able to get hired as local, temporary crew for Gaga's concert in Wollongong, Australia, but that he scored a few pictures of her dressing room and even stole her itinerary for her Australia visit late last week.

Of course the Gaga devotees are geeking out over her schedule, which includes times for prayer before shows, a visit to the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple and also hours for "lite glam" and "glam," but we're most shocked at her choice of hotel in Sydney: Sheraton on the Park.

What's so special about this Sheraton? Find out, after the jump

more ›

Hotel Deals / Sydney Hotels / Brisbane Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / → All Tags

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.

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.

more ›