Previously we have stayed in the Radisson Plaza and the Westin but decided to try a serviced apartment instead. We won't be back as I didn't think it was very good value for the service we got. It was $218/night on wotif.

I have to say, it was a HUGE corner apartment but it was incredibly noisy being on the 20th floor. Luckily the aircon drowned out much of the street party noise so it wasn't disastrous but obviously they don't have the soundproofing of other places. The location, overlooking George St is likely to result in plenty of noise compared to other locations perhaps.

Yes it has free foxtel but a lot of the channels had dodgy sound and were in b/w. This wasn't really a problem as we hadn't come to Sydney to watch tv all day.

I agree with someone else's comments about the lifts. Again, one was out of order and there were insufficient lifts to service the amount of users.

The kitchen was well-equipped but there were draconian messages about having to ensure washing up was all done which I found surprising in a serviced apartment (my previous experience eg Medina Grand in Melbourne is that washing up is done every day - not that I expect this) especially when a lot of the cutlery/dishes weren't clean to start with!

The bathroom was fine but starting to look a bit tired. It is good to have a laundry for longer stays.

The pool was a good size although disappointing that no towels were provided. The gym looked good in principle but the gym station had sticky cables, the swiss balls were almost flat and there were only 2 treadmills and no signs by the management asking people to limit their time on the machines. It was busy which was not helped by a guy who spent 1.5hours on one of the treadmills. This was clearly not the hotel's fault but given the plethora of notices telling guests what to do elsewhere, I was surprised there was no notice in the gym asking for consideration (my experience shows that this is standard in most gyms because clearly people can't be considerate without being told to be!). I think the gym was ok but not if you want a serious work out. It wasn't as good as other gyms I have been to either in Melbourne or Sydney. Depends on what's important I guess as to whether this is an issue. One good thing is that the water machine was empty and reception actioned this when we mentioned it.

Another positive is that they have left luggage and allow use of the pool/gym/showers if you have a late flight.

OVERALL, I thought it was in a good location, the apartment was the biggest I have ever stayed in but the rules (eg $100 fee for lost room keys seems extortionate and I personally dislike hotels who insist on actually processing a deposit from your credit card rather than having it as security), the noise and the slightly-off facilities mean that we won't be going back.

Stayed here in a studio apartment for two weeks over Christmas and New Year, and have to say much the same as some other reviewers.

I'll start with the good ....

- location is excellent, a block from Town Hall Station, five minute walk from Darling Harbour, plenty of convenience stores nearby that are open late

- check-in: we arrived in Sydney at 9am, officially their check-in time is 2pm, but they had our room ready for 12:30. They didn't have to do this, and I appreciate the effort they made.

- complimentary Foxtel TV

- in-room CD and DVD players

- modern, clean, the kind of place you should really enjoy spending time in


Now, in no particular order, the bad ....

- both of our room key-cards had to be re-programmed by reception every two or three days. So frustrating, and unnecessary, these should easily be able to retain all the information on them for two weeks. If they can't then there's something wrong with the cards, so stop re-issuing them. Throw them away and get some new ones that work.

- apartment floors are served by five elevators, one of which was permanently out of order. I can accept that Christmas isn't the best time to get a repair company out, but they charge the earth for rooms around New Years Eve and the place was full so it's not like they couldn't afford it. But they would rather deny guests 20% of the elevator capacity at the busiest time of year.

- I have to agree with what somebody else said, they have a whole load of daft rules, and if you break any of them you're fined a hundred dollars! Like if you lose your room key (which is just a plastic key-card, which costs pennies to replace) it's not worth a $100 fine - sometimes people lose things, it's not malicious, it's just human nature. And are they also saying that if you're unlucky enough to have your wallet or purse stolen and your key is in it, then Meriton Towers are going to take another hundred dollars from you as well? Come on!

- another rule, which was on posters all over the place reminding their guests was a "no parties, no loud noise" rule, the penalty for which was immediate eviction and no refund. Which seemed a bit harsh, but if that's the rules then that's the rules (though we weren't going to have a party anyway). Except that when I complained to reception about neighbours having a party in their room (and I didn’t want them evicted, just given a warning) I was told that there was nothing they could do as "theirs is a residential apartment". So Meriton Towers set the expectation that they have a zero-tolerance policy towards in-room parties, only for them to turn round and say that this applies to me, but that my neighbours could do whatever they liked! Unacceptable.

- folder with details of all their draconian fines also had "helpful" details about how to operate the oven, dishwasher, etc. Except that the person who wrote it obviously didn't try to follow his own instructions, as the ones that were allegedly for our dishwasher bore no relation to what we actually had to do. OK, figuring out a dishwasher isn't rocket science, but it just shows a lack of thought towards the guests.

- you need to be a giant to reach into the kitchen cupboards. I'm 6 foot (1.83m) tall and I was standing on tip-toes and barely getting my fingertips to the shelves. No doubt if I had caused a plate or cup to smash because of this, they would have fined me a hundred dollars!

- two people are staying in a room for two weeks, so give them a wardrobe with three coat-hangers in it. Ridiculous. It's not even like some had been pinched by previous guests, as these were the unstealable ones where the metal ring bit is on the pole (and can't be removed). It's not right that one of the first things we had to do is go out and buy coat-hangers.

- you've been out all day, you get back at about 4:30 or 5pm, go for a shower, pad about the apartment wearing not-a-lot, and generally relax and unwind. You don't want a knock at the door and have housekeeping come in to make your bed and vacuum the carpet and mop the floor, all with you watching them. They’ve had all day, why wait till after 5pm? This wasn't an isolated incident, it happened again and again and again.


You'll notice that none of these things would cost a lot to fix. Which is the frustrating thing - these are first-class apartments and I enjoyed the time I spent in them. But there are just too many little niggling problems that, when looked at together, leave me with the impression that there's no real care or consideration for their guests. And for that reason I won't be back.

We had a 2 bedroom apartment on the 54th floor for the week of NYE ; spectacular view, but blocked by the adjacent World Tower and the Ernst & Young Buildings!

Very well appointed and modern; lounge was a bit small if there had been 4 in the apartment (there was only 2 of us) ; large mirror sunk into the ceiling above the master bed was a fun touch!!

Great location in the CBD - though the noise of the emergency vehicle sirens can still travel to that height at 4 in the morning! Useful bottle shops, bars and restaurants in the area, especially Japanese, Korean and Chinese restaurants, and a 10 minute walk from the restaurants and bars in Cockle Bay Wharf.

Staff were efficient rather than friendly (it was the end of Dec and start of January - so very busy) Our only complaint (apart from no cocktail shaker or cocktail glasses or champagne bucket being available in this 'luxury' accommodation) was the failure of the staff to provide a working stereo unit, which maintenance and front desk staff promised to provide to replace the faulty unit in our apartment. A working stereo never appeared ; but then, there was that mirror on the ceiling for entertainment!

Stayed in 1 bedroom apartment on 36th floor with good views over harbour area.Excellent kitchen area with high spec appliances, dishwasher etc
Apartment was cleaned daily and left spotless every day
Only thing I did not like was the bond that was held on my visa card for a week, would recommend to anyone visiting Sydney as the location was excellent 10minutes walk to Darling Harbour with ferry access to all other areas
It is worth paying a bit more for a 1 bedroom apartment rather than a studio