🇦🇺Hilton Sydney Guest Room Review.
Hotel Location
I had the privilege of living and studying in the beautiful city of Sydney for two years. Having not had the opportunity to visit Sydney since moving to Melbourne, I took the opportunity of the Christmas holidays to make a return visit using my Virgin Australia Travel Bank credit. I chose the Hilton Sydney as my holiday home. The rate for a single night went up from $185 to $280 due to the Christmas holidays, but I still thought it was a good deal.
The Hilton Sydney is located in the heart of Sydney. Situated adjacent to George Street, Pitt Street and Town Hall, it is safe to say that the hotel is the best located of all the hospitality providers in Sydney. To get to the hotel from the airport, you can take the airport express train from either terminal. The journey takes just 20 minutes and there's no need to change trains. Like Central Station, Town Hall Station is a major rail hub, so you can get anywhere from Town Hall Station.
Just outside the hotel's George Street gate is the QVB tram stop, which connects Circular Quay (Sydney Opera House) and the University of New South Wales. Unlike Melbourne, you will need to tap before boarding the tram, as authorised officers may check tickets at random. You can use Sydney's own Opal card or major bank cards (Visa, Mastercard and American Express) to tap on and off. You could be fined $550 if caught travelling without a valid ticket.
Hotel Room and Service
I chose the King Guest Room for my stay. It is 38 square metres, which is quite generous considering the skyrocketing property prices in the city. The Hilton Sydney underwent a major refurbishment during the 2021 lockdown in New South Wales. The hotel changed the carpet and wallpaper, installed a picture frame, a 55-inch Samsung TV, a flood LED light strip and a very nice bedside lamp by LightCo. The room is very comfortable and I would like to give a special mention to the Hilton bedding, which is patented and has been well received by the hotel enthusiasts. The hotel offers a range of 12 different pillows for you to choose from, and you can access the pillow menu from the TV in your room. You can call the front desk by pressing the "Magic" button on the Cisco VoIP phone in your room and a member of staff will bring it to your room.
Regrettably, the bathroom is yet to be renovated, which explains its classic look from the 1970s. Hilton Sydney was opened in 1974, and it was caught in a terrorist attack in 1978. The incident happened during a Commonwealth head of governments meeting hosted by the hotel. A bomb was planted in the trash bin in front of the hotel, which led to the death of 1 police officer and two trash workers. It was also the first terrorist attack incident in Australia.
The hotel staff is of utmost welcoming and accommodating. She explained hotel services and facilities in detail upon our check, and the front desk responded to every request from customers. We asked them where to find a public microwave to heat my partner's steam eye mask, and they deliver a microwave oven to our room for our use. The hotel has:
- Two restaurants (glass brasserie and cafe cino)
- Two bars (The Zeta Bar and the Marbel Bar)
- A gym (with Fitness Plus branding)
- A pool
Unfortunaly both bars were closed during the Christmas holiday, but we were able to enjoy continental breakfast at the glass brasserie. Â You can also find barista coffee and snacks at cafe cino in the hotel lobby.
Things to do
Because of its prime location in the CBD, the hotel is close to everywhere. You can get to QVB, the Opera House, Darling Habour and Chinatown within minutes.
Summary
Hilton Sydney is a very standard luxury hotel with outstanding services and facilities. While it may not have the best view or decor as you would find in Sofitel or Marriot, its prime location and easy access to the city can already win over many business travellers and tourists. Luke Mangan, the proprieter of glass brasserie, is an award-winning cooking master, and it can be a good reason for food lovers to stay. I was at the lowest ranking of Hilton Honors rewards program, but it does not stop the hotel from offering me free bottled water. I requested more water from the front desk when I ran out of them.
My only complaint with the hotel is the WiFi. The nice lady who checked me in was kind enough to provide me with Premium WiFi, but it gave me 20mbps (2.0 mb/s). This was barely enough to watch 1440p videos on YouTube, but the connection started to struggle when I switched to 4k30fps. Should the hotel refuse to offer me Premium WiFi, I would have to settle for Basic WiFi, which only offers a 5 Mbps connection. This is not enough for 1080p videos. Australia's internet has improved significantly with the expansion of the NBN. Many other hotels have started to offer 100 Mbps dedicated connections to guests. I genuinely think Hilton should do something to improve the network experience.
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