Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour — Hotel in undefined

Stayed 3 nights in June. Paid around $255 per night for Deluxe Room, 2 double beds, Non-Harbour side (Guests have to pay extra for harbour view) For us, this hotel location is perfect. We walked all the way to The Opera House from the hotel. Reasonable walking distance to Chinatown and Paddy Market. Also a really short walk from the hotel to Pyrmont Bay Wharf to catch the ferry to Circular Quay. Staff and service were great. We ran out of soap and they quickly came with a replacement bottle. The lifts were fast. Will come back to stay again!

Restaurants: Did not eat at the bar or restaurant.

Power points: 7. Enough power points to charge your family's devices.

Internet: Slow speed, if you don't sign up and create an account. Fast speed, if you create a account with your email.

Kettle/Fridge: Fridge was working and ice-cold. Kettle works. Tea, coffee sachets provided. 6 milk single use cups were in the fridge.

Iron/Hair dryer: Dryer works and does the job to dry long hair. Did not use iron/iron board

Hangers: Five hangers provided. 3 had clips to hang your towels to dry and 2 were non-clip style

Bath: Water didn't take long to be Hot and strong water pressure!

Air-con: Working well and was cold

TV: Works and had the option to cast your devices to it. We did not cast our device but was watching ABC channel. All free-to-air channels available.

USB ports: The provided removable clock had two USB ports that did not charge our devices, during our stay. The clock was working. There is a console next to the TV but it only has two power points and two Network ports. We brought our USB chargers.

View: We did not choose the harbour view so our view was looking into the apartments across the street. The windows had sheer curtains and a blockout blind for privacy.

Swimming pool: A small pool for families with kids to play. Not for doing laps. Lots of tables and chairs. Only three reclining benches by the pool . Lots of clean dry towels for guests to use. The pool was 2.1m at the deepest end. Fake grass all around the pool so no skidding/slipping occurs.

Tennis court: Did not use the court. Refer to photos

Gym: Refer to photos to see equipment available. Aged 16 years and older only. Mens toilet has one shower and one toilet. The rude guest before us did not flush and was so stinky. There are some outdoor exercise equipment outside (Refer to photos)

OPAL Card: The only immediate store is the IGA convenience store on Murray Street just facing the hotel. We bought our cards here. You can buy adult and youth cards and recharge here.

How to walk to darling square: Refer to photos. Basically, exit through the back and turn Right. Go down the stairs at the end. Take the elevator down to level 1. Cross the tram tracks and walk towards Sydney ICC convention centre. Form there, you can turn right to walk towards Darling Square, or Turn Left to get to...

Stayed for several nights

Positives: Great service at the reception (only the reception), very friendly experience during check in and check out Smart TV allowed casting of Netflix from my mobile so long as the WiFi is connected. But it only worked once out of 6 nights I was there Bed was quite comfortable. Got at least 7 hours of sleep in my last 4 nights. This is in spite of my room facing directly to the construction site at the harbour. The construction noises have not been nuisance to me during my stay I upgraded my room to a harbour facing one and paid AUD40 per night. Bait and switch moment. I thought I got the shorter end of the stick (that it was absolutely not worth it) when I saw the construction site. However, on Sat night there were beautiful fireworks that lasted for about 10 minutes. My room practically was a front row seat which made the paid room upgrade somewhat worthwhile (see photo)

Negatives: Hotel ground floor is dark and not well lit, didn’t feel like a 4 star hotel The quality and design of my room is dated and is screaming for an upgrade Bathtub didn’t look clean, one of the towels also had some black stains Amenities aren’t well stocked - no room slippers (had to call to request for one), no shaver Electrical outlet by the TV seems quite faulty. Only 1 worked out of 3 Night blinds require quite a bit of maneuvering to get them down. Other hotels I stayed in usually have a night curtain. Not sure if this is an Australian custom, but it sure was a hassle to get it moving Breakfast is honestly subpar and nothing to look forward to. The menu is the same every single day that I skipped once to get breakfast outside. Save your monies, don’t get the breakfast unless really needed While on the map it looks convenient to head to darling harbour / ICC / light rail (Convention station), the reality is that you need to go through a car park which is not straightforward initially and definitely takes more than 5 minutes. This is the path leading from the light rail to the hotel: (1) From light rail, go into the car park; (2) take the lift from the car park to level 4, (3) from level 4, walk to the other end of the car park, (4) once you are at the other end of the car park, go up a ramp that leads you to the ground floor of the hotel, (5) once at the ground floor of hotel, take another lift up to level 1 to check in at the reception I requested for a late check out and was given one until 12pm. Almost at 12pm sharp, someone came knocking on my door already… Guys, calm down I am about to bring my luggage out and vacate the room. What’s another additional 5 minutes? After I checked out, used the restroom at level 1; in less than 3 minutes, got disturbed by the female janitor to get out. I really can’t get my peace on my way out

TLDR: Will not stay again;...

Was talked into going back to this hotel by my friend. Unfortunately still poorly run. Was checked into a dirty room that had not been cleaned and then was charged more than the advertised rate. The rooms and the hotel are tired and dated.

After a long flight I arrived at the hotel and hoped for an early check in. The hotel wanted $75 for an early check in fee if checking in before the 3pm check in. time. Then the staff had the audacity to ask for the room payment but I had already paid the accomodation with the third party booking website. The Assistant Front Office Manager advised me that there was no rooms available until 3pm however the receptionist who was helpful had already advised me that she would place a room on priority with housekeeping. When I mentioned that to the Assistant Front Office Manager she advised me that there was no rooms available as the priority of this hotel is for group rooms as this is a hotel that caters for large group bookings and my room would not be ready till 3pm as per the terms and conditions of the hotel. The early check in fee is clearly just a money grab by the hotel as it’s clearly not customer service and it does not cost the hotel any extra money as the room would still be cleaned by the hotel on the day regardless. I also called the hotel the day before my arrival to enquire about the possibility of an early check in and the staff member who took my call was very friendly and helpful and did not mention to me that there would be a fee for an early check in. If I was advised of this I would have cancelled my booking during the free cancellation period and not been through the very unpleasant situation with the Manager.

The Assistant Front Office Manager was rude and didn’t know how to acknowledge a guest with a smile. She just came out from the back office and just stood there without introducing herself to me. Not a good first impression. And when I mentioned that I worked in hotels many years ago and I understood the operations of the rooms division, she then said that since I worked in hotels I should understand the booking terms and conditions and then she walked off.

I have checked in to hundreds of hotels throughout my life in Australia and overseas and I have never been asked for this early check in fee before. And as mentioned earlier if I was aware of this fee I would have definitely cancelled my reservation.

Just a side note : Perhaps the owners of the Hotel should allow housekeeping to purchase ironing board covers that don’t fall off with the profit provided by the early...