Hi,

I wanted recommendations about which Sydney hotel to stay in for 2 nights in february. During my vacation, these will be 2 nights of splurging - and I am thinking of spending somewhere in between 250-400 AUD.

My current choices are
Hotel Intercontinental - harbor view club room
OR
Sydney Harbor Marriott - harbor view

Shangri-la was way too expensive (550 AUD was the cheapest room)

Of the 2 hotels I listed, which one would you recommend more? Are there any other places to stay that would actually be better than the ones listed above for my price range?

Thanks

Have you tried the Old Sydney Holiday Inn? Great location, and should be under your budget!

Other luxury hotels around the harbour: the Four Seasons, Quay West, Quay Grand, Park Hyatt. Probably all too expensive, but worth a check.

We stayed at the Quay West and thought it was fabulous.

Wherever you stay, I would defintely reccomend a harbor view.

The intercontinental is a great hotel in an excellent location.

BUT

The front desk staff are decidely ropey! In fact they are downright incompetant.

One Saturday evening the front desk staff (2 of them)refused to cash some small visa travellers checks - they said they no longer accept them - only American Express. I told them this was unbelievable,that a prime brand such as IC would not honour VISA or MASTERCARD travellers cheques but I was assured it was true.

On checking out I queried this with the clerk, and he said that the front desk were wrong they did take VISA and MASTERCARD. I explained that the staff who had got it wrong had caused me a lot of difficulty because it was the weekend and the banks were closed and we had little cash at the time. The check-out clerk shrugged and then proceeded to swipe my credit card. I don't know how many times he did this, but, on my return to the UK when my credit card bill arrived I now have two bills from the intercontinental - one that I signed for and one for a completely different amount (significantly more)which I certainly did not sign for. I took this up by letter with the IC(and with my credit card people) 3 months ago, have the IC bothered to acknowledge my complaint, have they buffalo! The amount is still in dispute.

By hunting around you should be able to pick up the Shangri La at very similar rates to the Intercontinental. Bear in mind you can get free breakfasts at the Shangri La by joining their loyalty club.

You can save your self a bob or 2 by getting the Botanic Garden / Harbour view rooms at the IC. These are on the side of the hotel, have a slightly different view of the harbour, but views are unobstructed by nearby skyscrapers, unlike some of the so-called front harbour view rooms

On our first trip to Sydney we also splurged and went for the great sight first thing in the morning and last at night. We were always pleased that we had done that and our choice was Quay West - the views of the bridge and the Opera House from both the bedroom and living room were spectacular as we were on the 22nd floor!!

You can try any of the last minute hotel reservations like Wotif or Needitnow or you could also try Mirvac.com itself as they have specials from time to time.

We're heading back to Sydney in two weeks and we can't wait!! We are staying much more reasonably as we'll be there for a month.
LN