Harbour Rocks Hotel — Hotel in Sydney

The hotel is in a great location however that was the only highlight of our stay.

We noticed some weeks ago this lovely garden area at the back of the hotel whilst strolling through the back lanes of The Rocks. My wife enquired with the hotel and booked a night for Australia Day as she was told this area was guests only. Upon our arrival it seemed otherwise and the garden is not only for guests but anyone walking in, therefore no chance of getting a seat nor can you even book a table.

A few hours later we finally snagged a seat, a lovely cocktail and some snacks from the bar. We also had our children and friends coming in to meet us for a drink and dinner. I went to the bar to grab another drink only to be told the bar had closed (at 6pm ?).

There was another bar (Eric’s Bar) at reception which upon ordering we were told no rosè, cider and other menu items were not available. At 6.15pm this was quite a poor effort and quite frankly staff could not have given a stuff. Not even a mention of the daily happy hour between 5pm & 7pm as promoted on the website.

There was also a Middle Eastern ‘Tayim’ pop up restaurant in place down on George St that was promoted by the staff at check in. This had also closed early as we were informed by the lady collecting glasses. Shortly thereafter the music also stopped which was somewhat a message in itself…. Mind you this is 7pm on Australia Day.

Our children arrived and were told they could not come in. Had to go up and say otherwise to get them past the same lady who previously collected the glasses …!!

Getting any service was like pulling teeth. Staff were obviously not enjoying their work environment and it seemed a chore to be there.

Room was dusty. Taps and toilet both had leaking washers so could not turn off the water. Poor renovation works throughout the room and dated.

Thought we would do our bit for hospitality and have a night away from home on Australia Day however what a let down.

Breakfast was included at Creperie Suzette which is referred to as ‘Paris in The Rocks’ and quoted as ‘one of the most instagrammable spots in Sydney’ 😳. The menu was handed over with most items crossed out as being unavailable at 10.15am

Ordered one of few items left available which was the galette with goats cheese, walnuts, figs and honey. Shortly thereafter were told there was no goats cheese left and we could substitute for mozzarella or parmesan. 🤔

Decide to then go for the other option with mushrooms then to be told no mushrooms left 🤬. Staff were super disinterested in providing any level of service and blamed everyone other than poor management.

We left and went around the corner to a French patisserie which surprisingly had everything.

Spoke politely to the Manager who turned out to be the Manager of reception only and nothing to do with food and beverage. Took no responsibility for poor management/coordination and just palmed us off to bookings.com where we made the reservation. We did however receive free parking with thanks.

We are a small business, have been impacted by Covid and fully appreciate the current environment. I am spending and making the effort to do my small bit to help out hospitality however give me something back here. Customer service starts with a smile and surprisingly smiles come for free.

At least look like you are enjoying your job, be thankful you have one and give us, the customer something to walk away with that will bring us and others back.

You have too much competition to...

Its rare to find a "middle of the pack" review these days. We are more likely to write glowing reviews about places we loved or angry rants about places we hated. However, I think this is a fair review for an average/disappointing experience.

Let's start with the NEGATIVE, because it's always good to end on a positive note. Early on in my 3-night stay, I slipped on the top of the stairs and fell down 5 hard wooden steps and winded myself. Still having difficulty breathing and a really painful back for the next hour, I decided to politely bring it to the attention of the staff. Showing little to no concern for my pain, the receptionist asked if there was water on the stairs and seemed very unsure of what to say or do... so she did nothing. A little bit later, a different receptionist helped me find a doctor in the area and booked me an appointment (much appreciated). However, when asked if the hotel would subsidize the cost of the doctors visit, she said she would talk to her manager while I was gone and would get back to me. She never followed up with me on this and I never had a manager reach out. A simple, "I'm so sorry that you got injured in our hotel", would have gone a long way. I was in the far, top corner of the hotel which meant beautiful views, but also a painful two nights and three days of climbing stairs cautiously (there is no elevator in this hotel). At checkout, on top of being charged in full, they automatically added a "charitable donation" to my bill. They did not ask if I wanted to donate, but the worst part was that they didn't give any information about which charity they were donating my money to. To summarize the NEGATIVES: No elevators No follow up Mostly unfriendly staff Bathroom was small and not thoroughly cleaned (small hairs from a men's razor surrounding the sink after checking in) Have to pay $10 a day for wifi (Seriously?! It's 2018, just add it to the room cost and avoid drawing attention to the rip off.)

This downtime with a back injury meant a lot of extra time in my hotel room, which was actually a lovey space. So here are the POSITIVES: comfy bed Harbourside views (including fireworks from the opera house) Great location for access to harbour, public transit, and the main street Beautifully decorated hotel in a heritage building Delicious breakfasts and room service

I understand first hand how difficult the service industry can be. But, it is little things that go a long way. I'm disappointed in how the hotel handled my injury, especially because I brought it to their attention without ever causing a fuss. If they read this post, I hope they take it as constructive feedback to improve the service...

I planned on staying for 4 nights but had an emergency and had to leave after the first night, from check-in to having to leave, the staff were sensational, were very helpful and friendly the whole time. Cannot speak highly enough of them.

HOWEVER, the property condition is unacceptable for an MGallery hotel.

The common areas of the building are well maintained and very lovely, however the room was awful, there were multiple large stains on the carpets, someone had clearly attempted to clean them, but it made the stains very obvious and large. The blinds were torn, one was stuck down as the chain had disconnected from the blind, and the other blind would fall closed when touched, so I had to be very careful not to go near the window!

The bathroom was completely unacceptable for a hotel, the tiles around the room were cracked, the sink was unusable because of the positioning of a very wobbly shelf over the top of it (installed because there was no storage/bench space as part of the sink). The shower was a bath-over shower which is not ideal anyway, however the shower head was below shoulder height (I am only 5,10, not exactly a giant!) which meant I almost fell over in the very poorly maintained and cleaned bathtub when trying to shower.

My room service breakfast was delivered in a cardboard box with no plate to eat from, so I had to crush the cardboard to make a plate myself to eat using the plastic cutlery provided.

The air-con unit in the room was extremely noisy, and was clearly very very old, as the formally white plastic was brittle and yellowed due to age, not a very nice interior design touch.

The carparking was borderline dangerous, the hotel doesn’t have onsite parking which is not usually a problem, as there is a carpark across the road that they can provide for $50 a day, however this carpark is so overcrowded that during the day I had to leave my keys with an attendant in the carpark and could only leave it there for 20 mins. I took the car after checking in and left for a few hours, returning around 10pm, to leave the carpark there is a very dark set of stairs that leads you to a dark alleyway a short walk from the hotel, this is totally unacceptable as even I felt unsafe. When I left the next day I had to spend 5 minutes walking around the carpark to find the attendant, as by 9am the carpark was so overcrowded that people had parked in front of my car.

This property has amazing staff, in a great location in a beautiful building but the quality of the rooms is a serious problem and needs to...