Shangri-La Sydney — Hotel in Sydney

We booked our stay at the Shangri-La Sydney back in March for a trip from 21-27 August (under two separate bookings) in a Deluxe Opera House City Room. The listing stated the room would "showcase partial views of the Sydney Opera House," which is technically true. You could see most of the Opera House, but not in a way that justified the “Deluxe” label. Still, the description matched the booking. (Photo attached) We were initially placed in a handicap-accessible room that we hadn’t requested. The lower shower head, sink, and short cord on the hair dryer were uncomfortable for our height. The shower curtain didn’t reach the floor, causing water to splash everywhere so we had to lay towels down to avoid slipping. The next morning, Alicia at the front desk helped us and brought in her manager, Saskia, who was fantastic. She was professional, understanding, and made the room change seamless (Room #1017), which was the highlight of our stay. Unfortunately, the new room had A/C issues. It never cooled properly, even on the lowest setting. After two nights of trying to lower the set temperature, we reported it around 9am and were told an engineer would check while we were out. We left a note on the thermostat for the engineer and made sure the “Do Not Disturb” light was off. When we returned around 4pm, the thermostat had been changed to the lowest setting, but the room was still not fully cooled down and the note had been moved to the desk. Around 5pm, someone called to say the engineer was “on their way now”. By 5:45pm, we still hadn’t seen anyone, so we called the front desk to let them know we had to leave for our 6pm dinner reservation. They said it would be fine if we left. We returned to the room around 9pm and were just about to get in the shower when someone called asking if the engineer could come in. We explained it wasn’t a good time, and they said they’d try again in 15–20 minutes. The first engineer eventually came, said the heat setting had been on, and that it should now work. We were told to give it some time. It cooled down a bit, but later got warmer again. Around 11pm, we went back to the front desk, and the night manager kindly offered a temporary room to sleep in while they send another engineer to our room. We took it (Room #1117). As we returned to our original room to grab essentials, we ran into a second engineer, who said the first engineer hadn’t opened the A/C vent, which could have been the issue. He adjusted it and told us it should cool down in a couple hours. We spent the night in the temporary room, which had a working A/C, but were woken up around 8:15am by a call to the room. No one was on the other end, which was incredibly frustrating given the poor sleep we'd had the nights before. Thankfully, on our final night, the A/C in our original room finally worked properly. We visited the Blu Bar on 36 several times. The views of the Harbour Bridge were stunning, but service was inconsistent: First visit: Great drinks and view, though a second waiter awkwardly barged past the first to bring water. Second visit: Waited 15 min to order, ended up going to the bar to place an order ourselves. The waiter apologized profusely. Drinks and a bottle of wine were missing from our tab and had to be resolved with staff. Third visit: Staff were heard complaining loudly in the back about an upcoming event, unprofessional. Fourth visit: Water was only brought near the end, with no eye contact or acknowledgment from the server, making us feel invisible. (Water was only brought to us on the first and last visit, inconsistent) At checkout, a woman in a red coat directed us to a concierge who listened carefully and said a manager would follow up by email. As of now, we haven’t received a response to either email provided. Overall, this stay felt disorganized and disappointing for a hotel of this caliber. While some staff were helpful (special thanks to Saskia), inconsistent service, room issues, and lack of follow-up made it far from a 5-star experience. Despite its strong reputation, it didn’t meet...

What I experienced here was far from what one would expect from a "luxury, five-star" hotel as advertised. Having been a frequent traveler since childhood and now traveling internationally for work, I can comfortably say that I've stayed in my fair share of so-called five-star hotels, and Shangri-La Sydney is definitely not one of them.

My partner and I stayed at Shangri-La Sydney from December 2 to 9, 2024. This trip was meant to celebrate my birthday, so we wanted to stay in a nice hotel, particularly one with a view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. This was the main reason we chose Shangri-La over other hotel chains where I could have utilized my long-term membership points. We are based in the United States and had booked the hotel through Chase to use our points. We reviewed the room descriptions carefully and selected the "Executive Sydney Harbour View 1 King" room, which was described with photos showing views of both the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

When we checked in, I realized that we weren't assigned the room we had reserved. We returned to the front desk to address the issue and were told by the receptionist that despite our proof of the reservation on our email confirming the "Executive Sydney Harbour View 1 King" room, they could not give us the room we had booked because their internal booking system showed a different type of room. The receptionist, who strangely never smiled or greeted us in a welcoming manner, told us to contact Chase and resolve the issue ourselves. She displayed no empathy, did not apologize, and spoke in a patronizing and matter-of-fact tone. I explained that it was unfair for us to spend our precious vacation time resolving an issue from halfway around the world, for something we hadn't done wrong, especially on my birthday. She then called the manager, who repeated the same response: the hotel could do nothing. The manager even told us that customers are advised to book directly through the Shangri-La website - essentially blaming us for not booking directly, which did nothing to improve the situation. Frankly, I couldn’t believe she said this at that moment, especially as the manager of a major hotel. First, we weren't your customers when we made the booking through Chase. Second, I never saw any such advisory on your website. If that is indeed your policy, why do you even allow reservations through third-party platforms? And if you do, why don’t you ensure that the information is properly presented and that your internal booking system is synchronized with reservations from those platforms?

Adding insult to injury, a bottle of wine, a slice of cake, and a box of chocolates were delivered to our room later that day with an empty "Happy Birthday" card. The chocolates were expired, the cake was dry, and I don’t even drink alcohol. This felt like a dismissive attempt to get it over with-to give us something and make us shut up.

I had to work hard not to let this experience completely ruin my birthday, the first day of our trip, and overshadow our vacation in Australia. Surprisingly, (or perhaps as expected), no one followed up on the issue during our entire stay. NO ONE - no receptionist, no manager, nor anyone else - contacted us to revisit the issue. This level of service is absolutely unacceptable for a hotel that claims to be 'luxury,' or even for any regular workplace - not following up is incredibly unprofessional.

Interestingly enough, Shangri-La succeeded in making my milestone 40th birthday unforgettable—but for all the wrong reasons. I am not writing this review to seek compensation as I will never return to Shangri-La anyway (honestly, I don't think they would even consider it given their level of service, lol). I simply want to prevent other travelers from going through such an unpleasant experience again.

Sydney is awesome—we had such a great time everywhere except at Shangri-La. It’s a vibrant city with incredibly nice people. Ironically, the only unpleasant experience came from the hotel. Go to Sydney, just stay...

I recently stayed for 3 nights at Shangri-La Sydney as a Jade member of the Golden Circle. Having stayed at many Shangri-La hotels across Asia, this was by far the most disappointing experience I’ve had with the Shangri-La Hotels||Arrival Experience|Upon arrival, no staff were present to assist with our luggage. We had to carry it ourselves to the entrance. Only after a delay did Johnny, who was attending another guest, come over to help. While I appreciated his effort, the initial lack of assistance was unexpected and not in line with Shangri-La’s usual service.||Check-In & Room|• Poor check-in experience. Despite my Jade status, there was no proper category upgrade, and we had to wait a couple of hours for the upgraded room to be ready. Credit to Jay, who did his best to expedite the process.|• We booked for 3 adults, but the extra bed was not set up upon arrival.|• In-room amenities were not properly maintained: the shower gel bottle was completely empty, and I had to shower without it. This is unacceptable for a five-star hotel.||Horizon Club Lounge|• A housefly was seen flying over the food in the lounge - a serious hygiene concern.|• Seating was insufficient during evening canapés and drinks; the space was overcrowded.|• Limited food variety: While salads and cold items were available, hot food options were minimal.|• Staff appeared overwhelmed during peak times, leading to missed service.|• At 5:30 PM, we arrived for tea but received no service, as the staff were preparing for the evening session.|• Afternoon tea offerings were extremely limited , only scones and a few cookies were served, with no cakes or sandwiches, which is far below expectations for a Horizon Club Lounge.||Breakfast Experience|• Breakfast was relocated from the scenic Level 36 to Level 1, which was a letdown in terms of ambiance.|• Very limited Asian options, which is disappointing.|• On the third day, there was no freshly squeezed orange juice, the table was not properly cleaned, and the waiter lacked knowledge of Jade member privileges.|• Paloma, however, stood out during breakfast service - her friendliness and professionalism made a real difference.||Other Issues|• During checkout, my room charges were incorrectly charged to my credit card instead of my debit card. Although the staff reversed the charge, I still incurred a financial loss of over AUD 50 due to exchange rate differences and bank fees. This was frustrating and completely avoidable.|• Overall service felt inconsistent for a property that should uphold Shangri-La’s renowned hospitality.||Positives|• Paloma, during breakfast, was truly a standout and deserves recognition.|• The special menu for Jade and Diamond members was appreciated.|• Turn-down service was well-executed throughout the stay.||Final Thoughts|Shangri-La Hotels' mission is to deliver hospitality rooted in Asian values, characterized by service excellence and authentic experiences. They aim to create memorable moments for guests by providing high-quality service and engaging experiences. Unfortunately, I do not have memorable moments in this hotel. |As a loyal guest and Jade member of the Golden Circle, I expect a certain standard of service from Shangri-La hotels. Unfortunately, Shangri-La Sydney fell far short, both in service delivery and overall experience. While a few individuals stood out, the lack of attention to detail, poor service consistency, and operational oversights significantly affected my stay.|I hope the management takes this feedback seriously and makes the necessary improvements, especially for loyal members who choose Shangri-La because of the exceptional service the brand...