The Occidental Hotel — Restaurant in Sydney

Checking in was tricky. We needed to talk to the bar staff, who were not pleased we were interrupting their actual job to help get us our keys - these were then handed to us with our room number and off they went - no discussion of check out times etc, no showing us how to get to the room, and so on. We had to call an after hours number to get wifi as it wasn't mentioned anywhere, and while we got a password, we were told it probably won't work in the hotel floors and we would have to go to the bar to use in any real capacity. The rooms were fine for the price paid - clean, had all of the facilities advertised etc. We were, however, placed in the room directly next to the elevator - resulting in constant noise/vibration. Additionally, the old water pipes run through the wall behind the bed, so when someone flushed, we woke up. There was a door between our room and our neighbour's, which had been duct taped shut - we were not a huge fan of that, but again - with the price we did not expect 5 stars going in. Safety was lacking. While we expected some occurrences, such as bar patrons yelling etc when entering/exiting the hotel area, and even to a degree the couple of experiences we had with drunks following us when leaving in the morning, the hotel certainly could do more to help mitigate any risk here - there was nothing stopping bar patrons from simply walking up the steps and into the hotel area. We were woken up on more than one night with drunks banging on room doors and yelling. As this hotel has shared bathrooms that require you to leave your room, one bathroom trip at night could very quickly turn into an incident.

Overall while we wouldn't rush to return due to the above, we did expect something of this sort when booking, and if a guest is looking for somewhere cheap and simple - this will...

Sorry for a long review here!

Fairly decent for budget accommodation above a pub – close to Wynyard Station, opposite a park, friendly staff at check-in, clean room with comfy bed and surprisingly big wardrobe, and clean shared bathroom and showers. The showers had good water pressure and they were in separate lockable rooms, quite spacious so there’s room to put your clothes and not have them get wet. I didn’t hear as much noise as I was expecting from the street and pub (but I did have window closed and fan on, and it was a Thursday).

Cons were no air con, and only a box fan, though truthfully it wasn’t too bad despite being about 35 deg out. Unfortunately my box fan gave up the ghost during the night, though I did find a smaller fan in a cupboard, and then it did get uncomfortably warm. No Wifi. Also the window at the top of the door and the wooden blinds let in a lot of light at night. No power-points by the bedside. Shampoo & conditioner not provided. No washbasin in the shared bathrooms (only in the showers, which might be in use and locked, or back in the room, which means touching your keys and room door before you can wash your hands after toileting).

It was old-style, and I don’t mind that. It had its own charm. However, there were two locked adjoining doors on both sides of the room, as well as the room door, which were all old and wooden and I discovered at night-time that there were cracks in the wood from which you could see a tiny sliver of the hallway or rooms next door if you were close. That was a bit disconcerting.

All that said – it IS budget accommodation above a pub, it IS close to a train station, and it IS Sydney, so if you are just looking for a place to put your head for a night rather than a luxury stay, you're better off here than forking...

Location was great, everything was within easy access. Beds were comfortable & that’s as far as the positives go for this place. Its old in age & keeping the characteristics is great, but it’s time some money was spent on the fixtures & fitting of the accommodation. Rooms are small & that’s okay considering the age of the building. Couldn’t tell you what the views were like as the windows were that thick in dirt you couldn’t see out, windows shutters were broken & didn’t open up properly to get what light the filthy windows could let in. Light fixtures missing light globes, tv was as big as my laptop & couldn’t always get it to work. One pillow per bed & were paper thin, couldn’t get any more as no spare pillows anywhere to be found & hotel staff couldn’t find any extras either, rooms not facilitated each day so no clean towels or crockery. Only supplied coffee sachets for first day of arrival, don’t be a tea drinker because they don’t supply any tea bags only coffee. You’ll be one of the lucky ones if you ask for the use of hairdryer or iron as staff said “we know we have one, but don’t know where it is”. Be aware it communal showers & toilets. Also before making a booking (if you’re game enough to take the chance on this place) ask if a function has been booked because they don’t make mention on the website that you’ll be kept up until the function music stops punching out its beats until 1am, so no sleeping until then. Lastly most of the staff we dealt with really unfriendly & came across as everything was an effort when asking for anything. Won’t be returning or...