I am about to book three nights at the Ravesi's on Bondi hotel in Sydnet for approximately US $150 per night, but I am absolutely terrified by the bad ratings on tripadvisor.com. I have no idea what to expect - near the beach but dirty rooms? It cannot be as bad as they say, right? We also have booked five nights at the Storrier in the Potts Point/King's Cross area, at about US $100 per night, and the reviews are scaring me as well. Argh. Does anyone have any inside infor regarding these two properties???

Don't know anything about these hotels - sorry. Have you considered staying in an apartment - you may find that is better value for money. Something like the Harbourside apartments in North Sydney look like a possibility http://www.totaltravel.com.au/link.asp?fid=518741.

This Ravesi's? www.ravesis.com.au

My information is nearly a year old, and I didn't see the rooms so I'm not sure it's worth much! But we had an extremely nice dinner there last November. It's directly across the street from the beach.

The restaurant was very nice.

I hope you hear from some locals on this.

I've heard mixed reviews on Ravesi's, but only good about the Storier.

Bokhara - what "mixed reviews" have you heard about Ravesi's? And the Storrier? I have heard mixed reviews on both and am seriously confused.

I know two couples who stayed at the Storier and they both liked it.
Of Ravesi's - A couple of people who have been there for functions were not impressed and someone else who stayed there thought it was ok.

My friends often stay at Swiss Grand at the other end of Bondi Beach, they like it. The rooms are fairly standard from what I have seen over the years (international bland decor, but definately cleanand good service they report and they are fussy New Yorkers).


For the immediate area near Storrier, I would have recommended Regent's court but that's now shut. If you stay there let us know what you think.

Thanks so much for your comments!!!

We booked a teeny tiny room at the Storrier, which is no biggie, but I am more concerned about the area - several reviewers have remarked that it is super shady and there are drug users everywhere - they make it sound like a red light district! I'm sure it cannot be THAT bad - some people may just be fussy - but further, there are complaints about the water pressure too, and that annoys me as well. An important part of out vacation is having a clean, comfortable, and serene hotel room. we got a very good price on the Storrier (140 AUS/ 90 US) per night though.

As for Ravesis, there are a lot of disgruntled reviewers on tripadvisor (yet still it is ranked 46 out of 210 hotels)- said the hotel was not clean, the staff were arrogant, and the place was noisy. We are OK with the noise (we live on the first floor in Boston, which is a big, noisy) but clean is important to us. Further, we booked on wotif.com, which I feel might have been a mistake because wotif only gave us the rack rate anyway and then we will have to deal with snotty hotel people who discriminate if you don't book with them directly. Thanks to the rising US dollar (or crashing Aussie one), my booking at Ravesi's is 150 per night for three nights, which seems great, and we are psyched to be by the beach.

Right now, we are planning on staying 2 nights at the Storrier and three night's at Ravesi's. It's so hard doing these bookings from thousands of miles away!

Storrier is in Springfild Ave on the edge of Kings Cross, which is the red light district. It's a back street so it's also likely to be used for drug deals etc.

That said, it's also a vibrant area for restaurants and cafes--Jimmy Liks is round the corner in Victoria St. Bills is in Liverpool St. It's good for public transport: the station at Kinds X is close by and there are lots of buses. There are also stairs leading down from Victoria St to Wooloomooloo.

Potts Point, Paddington and Darlinghurst are close by with more restaurants, cafes and in the case of Paddington excellent gastro pubs (Four in Hand, Grand National).

I found a review on a makeup website ,of all places, but this is what the girl wrote:

"all I remember are the gorgeous rooms with balconies facing the beach, great service and good-looking staff. The hotel was practically on the beach itself, you just needed to cross a small road to get on the sand. If I remember correctly, it's walking distance to a weekend market that was pretty interesting (clothes, candles etc), and accessible by bus to a lot of shopping/dining areas."

Sounds great!!! I think I'm going to splurge three nights there and save by doing the other two at the Storrier.