I’ve been to Sydney twice in the past several months. Once each for business and pleasure. On both occasions I had the pleasure to stay at the Westin Sydney. This is a great hotel and worthy of your pick on any trip to Sydney. It’s desirability starts with location which is right in the middle of downtown on Pitt and Martin Place. This makes it comfortable walking distance to just about everywhere you’d want to go in the city, be it Darling Harbor, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Hyde Park, or Darlinghurst.
The hotel has two wings; one new which has all the Tower rooms and one in the beautifully restored General Post Office building where all the Heritage rooms are located. The first time there I was assigned an Executive Suite in the up high in the new wing. This was a beautifully appointed, contemporary one-bedroom suite with all the great Westin touches. The second time, which was over New Year’s, I was given a stunning Heritage Deluxe room which was one the second floor overlooking Martin Place. This was a stunning room with what must have been a fourteen or more foot ceiling. Both rooms had super comfy Heavenly beds which you just didn’t want to get out of in the morning. What a great night of sleep.
As for the gym facilities, here the Westin Sydney gets a big plus as they’ve made arrangements for guests to use the excellent facilities of a health club co-located with the hotel in the GPO complex. This is a full-service health club with loads of equipment.
I had access to the Executive Lounge on both stays. This is the only feature of the hotel that was just OK. The first time I was there they had your usual spread of hors d’oeuvres. The second time over New Year’s the spread was gone and replaced by served canapés. Not sure why they changed other than it was super busy owing to the holiday.
The net is that you can’t go wrong picking the Westin Sydney should you find yourself in the city for business or pleasure. It’s definitely my first choice on any return trip.
