Does the Capitol Square have 3 different names?
 

In Sydney, are the Goldspear Hotel Capitol Square, Best Western Capitol Square, and the Capitol Square Hotel all the same hotel?? All are listed on the corner of Campbell and George and the Capitol Square Hotel says it was formerly the Goldspear. Yet,all 3 are listed separately on au.laterooms.com for 3 different prices. Can anyone clarify? Thank you.

Hi, Julie!<BR>Well, I would hate to do laterooms.au an injustice, but I suspect they don't update their site often enough. I have never seen or heard of the Goldspear, but certainly the Capitol Square Hotel is a Best Western, or so it says on the door. There is, to my knowledge, only one hotel in that location, and it's a fairly small one, so it's hard to imagine three different hotels with the one entrance foyer. I suggest you book the cheapest of the three quoted prices, and see what happens... chances are that you will find that the hotel is &quot;no longer available&quot;. Might be a good way to liven up the normally-dull process of booking on the net!<BR>(p.s. I hope that all three prices are under $AUD100 per room, as the Capitol Square is in a pretty dreadful location, on the wrong side of Sydney at the very edge of Chinatown. There are some good eateries around it, plus the historic old Capitol Theatre, but that's about all it has going for it. To get to the water, you have to walk past virtually every shop in the city area... starting with the inevitable Chinese produce shops which cluster around the edges of Chinatown.)

Alan,<BR><BR>Thank you very much for the clarification. I suspected they were the same hotel since the website for Capitol Square Hotel says it was formerly called the Goldspear, and another website had the exact same description for the Best Western as it did for Capitol Square. The 3 rates for the same hotel are $82, $115, and $172 (all AUD). Hmmm, if they are that disorganized, maybe I should choose another site to book my hotel...! Thanks for your input regarding the location also.

Alan,<BR><BR>Just wanted to let you know that you were absolutely right--the $82 rate was no longer available. When I clicked on it, au.laterooms.com gave me rates of $148 to $185AUD to select from. Also, upon closer inspection, the $82 is a USD rate and the other rates are all AUD. I don't know if this was a deliberate effort to mislead or an honest mistake. Either way, I think I'll pass. Thanks for your help.

Hi, again, Julie!<BR>I'm glad you're not going ahead with that deal.... frankly, from the look of the hotel and its location, I think you're being ripped off. Try the &quot;other&quot; end of Sydney, near the water, and see what you will have to pay for the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel, or the Australian Hotel, or even the Mercantile (which is pretty rough, but in a great location). All these should be in the same or cheaper price range. For a little more, try the Russell in George Street... or for even less, try the Grand in Hunter Street, which advertised singles for $AUD90 a night, doubles for $AUD100, and up to a quad for around $120 (all those prices are approximate, of course). Best of luck!

Alan,<BR> <BR>Thank you for the recommendations. One final question: Do you know anything about the Napoleon on Kent Apartments? They are advertised as being &quot;at the Harbor Bridge end of Kent St.&quot; (on the corner of Napoleon and Kent). The map I have is limited and shows Kent St., but not Napoleon. The only cross streets it shows on the northern part of Kent St. are Margaret, Argyle, and Windmill. Is Napoleon and Kent in Miller's Point?<BR><BR>Napoleon On Kent is described as a 4-star hotel and has a kitchenette with microwave and dishwasher, stereo with CD, and balcony. It goes for about $120 AUD on wotif.com. Thanks.

Hi, Julie!<BR>Yes, I know about the Napoloeon on Kent; I walk past it quite a lot and try to put myself in the shoes of the hapless tourists who book there unknowingly, and try to feel what they must feel when they first see it. Regarding the price you were quoted, they had a sign out the front recently saying &quot;apartments from $80 a night&quot;, so unless the one on offer is better than their standard room, you're not getting a bargain.<BR>I did, actually, suggest the Napoleon once to some people who were looking for a really really cheap apartment in Sydney, and had been quoted nothing under about $150 per night. But I recommended that only out of desperation, as the Napoleon is a mighty unusual establishment. It's cheap as chips, fairly new, and a two-minute walk from Wynyard Subway entrance, so in many respects it's a smart choice. And I am sure the rooms are okay. BUT... believe it or not ... it is built right under the freeway! I swear to you that the whole western distributor freeway passes just a few feet above the head of the top floor (about three storeys). Maybe you wouldn't hear much of the noise from inside the rooms, and maybe their air conditioners would filter out most of the toxic gases that collect around the building.... but it hasn't seen a single ray of sun since the day it was constructed, and that can't be good. You might be quite happy there at $80 (not at $120!), but be prepared to stand and goggle when you first get there. How the Sydney Council ever approved a building in this spot is beyond me... someone must have slipped a large note into someone's hand, surely! I can't think of another building in Sydney which is under a freeway... usually that's &quot;dead&quot; space.<BR>(P.S. If, by chance, you do stay there, or if anyone reading this has stayed there, PLEASE write back and tell me your impressions! Remember I am only looking at it from outside -- for all I know, it may be the Taj Mahal inside the front door!)

One last point... Napoleon Street is that tiny street at the bottom of Margaret St (it's the continuation), diving down and around to Sussex St. I don't know if you can even get through to Sussex that way any more... when the built the freeway, a lot of the old topography was destroyed. On my map it looks as if the hotel might have actually been built ON the original Napoleon Street, and the throughway now has been renamed Napoleon when it is actually the western tip of Margaret; the two streets run together (on the map) just at the back of the hotel. There are a lot of parking stations listed around there. The Napoleon may have a back entrance from Napoleon Street. I have never felt the urge to walk down there to find out! Enough said?

Enough said. But I am going to make a point of walking past the Napoleon when I get to Sydney--I'm curious to see a hotel under a freeway! Thanks once again for all your help. I am so tired of surfing the Net and trying to find a hotel that I was just about ready to reserve the Napoleon. I would have been very ticked off at paying $120 a night if I arrived and found that I could have paid $80. And I definitely don't want to be directly under a freeway in a building that gets no sunlight. <BR><BR>I am glad that you, a local, take the time to answer questions on this forum. I greatly appreciate it and I'm sure others do too.

Hi, again, Julie!<BR>It's my pleasure, and thank you. I am really glad you are going to walk past the Napoleon (please do write back and tell me what you think!), because there is really a very nice walk to be had by continuing down that way along Kent St. You will pass the Observatory Hotel and then get into a part of Sydney that hasn't really changed all that much in seventy years... back of the Rocks. When you get to the end of Kent St, you can walk down to the Rocks past the Lord Nelson Brewery Inn and the historic Holy trinity Church... but, as you turn right, look left and check out the old Palisade Hotel... almost as bizarre as the Napoloeon, but I think it looks like great fun, and I sometimes recommend it. Tell me if I'm crazy!