Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Seamless checkin and lovely rooms. Responsive and friendly staff. Location is awesome and a great place to stay. All in all a great alternative to the city. On the downside. The pool area is nice but on the small side with only a few loungers. I can’t help but feel that area could be better configured as it is trying to be a pool and a roof bar and not really achieving both very well. At the room rate I would have expected the pool bar to be staffed 7 days per week in summer. Only in afternoon and only on some days. There is some adjacent construction noise near by at present so I’d skip the view in favour of quiet. Staff were able to help me out with a room change. One of my dislikes in general are smelly room service trays left outside rooms for excessive amounts of time that you have to walk past multiple times in a a day. Unfortunately this was the case here. I’d see some for 8+ hours. Again not acceptable at this price point. Staffing issues or just bad process?

First, the good news... Well situated in Sydney's Beverly Hills-ish suburb, Double Bay, the neighborhood is very walkable, with loads of cafes and shops (okay, expensive shops.) The lobby was elegant and inviting, and the hotel breakfast was tasty and plentiful. Now, the less good news... Check-in staff were less than helpful. Arriving around noon from an exhausting flight, they were unable to give us early check-in, even though that's a perk of booking through Virtuoso. S*&t happens, so we shrugged and jet-lag wandered the neighborhood for a couple of hours. When we finally got our rooms, there were a couple of disappointing features. One - absolutely pitiful closet and drawer space, so we couldn't unpack. Two - someone else's hair in the shower, which spoke to very dodgy cleanliness. Had this been a $400 or $500 a night hotel, I would be less critical, but rates were closer to the $1000 at the time we were there and this is firmly not a $1000/night hotel. We stayed at three different Sydney hotels at various points during our trip and both of the other hotels were better in the value and comfort category. I've reviewed both of them (Park Hyatt and Hotel Indigo) if you want to dig further.

I’ve stayed here with my husband a few times now. Staff are lovely but there is the odd experience that pulls the name down. Generally it’s a beautiful stay but I prefer the city Intercontinental. Positives -Appreciate the glass of bubbles at check in Negatives -building is on the older side -No chocolate in the Mimi bar :( -Events sometimes book out the Bar and rooftop resulting in no access. - Staff are hit and miss. One staff member shrugged at the fact that he served a glass of red wine dripping from the glass which resulted in staining my clothes…

Location, views, service, all fantastic. This is a real proper hotel. Built on a heritage building it has beautiful architecture and all the modern comforts. Buffet breakfast was fabulous and the GF lounge is so unique. Club Lounge on top floor is spectacular, with views of the Opera House. I love everything about this hotel.

Paid a fortune. Hotel very dirty and old. Service was non existent. Wouldn’t even respond to getting toilet paper. We had to get from other family who had another room. Restaurant for breakfast was good, rest was really terrible. Carpet was stained and dirty with dog hair all over it. Staff so unhelpful. Air conditioning wasn’t working properly, rooms really hot.