My friend and I booked this hotel for our very first trip to Sydney (and first time to Australia too). We stayed in this hotel for 18 nights. I was very pleased with the location of the hotel in the city. We were able to walk all over the city and it seemed very nicely located to all major attractions. However, if you wanted to take the bus there were many lines that stopped only a block away from the hotel.

Hotel: The hotel was great and it felt a little better than the typical Marriotts here in the US. This definitely had a smaller hotel feel and that worked to our advantage. We had all the amenities of a chain hotel without feeling lost in an hotel that was so huge we felt ignored. Because we were staying so many nights and booked through marriott's website, the cold buffet breakfast in the restaurant was included. You could upgrade each day to include the hot items if you wished. It was an average cold buffet but I'm not a big morning eater so it was perfect for me to start the day. They also offered a discount on hotel services for those staying an extended period.

The room was very nice and there was some chipped paint near the bottom of one wall but I didn't expect perfection. The bathroom was huge and the shower was odd only in that it was so large (triangle shaped). The beds were VERY comfortable and the central air conditioning worked very well. The staff were all very professional and very helpful. When checking in (seeing that we were there for so long) they informed us that if we wanted to have complete use of the mini bar fridge they would be happy to remove all or some of the inventory (without charge) so we could use it to keep our items (soda, water, etc) which worked out great.

Housekeeping did a great job every day and we were very pleased with the hotel. I would recommend this hotel to anyone and it certainly made our first visit perfect. They have a small workout room, indoor jacuzzi and outdoor pool on the roof that overlooked Hyde park. It was amazing.

Location/Bars/Restaurants: This hotel is right at the end of Hyde park at Oxford Street. There are PLENTY of great restaurants on Oxford that you can walk to and it's the place were the (mostly gay) clubs and nightlife was over the weekend. Getting a cab around there was next to impossible late at night because it was SO CROWDED. We were thankful we could walk back from the bars on Oxford. There must have been 20 or so great restaurants along oxford st (Indian, Thai, fast food, etc) and the ones we tried were excellent. Many of them were BYOB so keep that in mind if you are visiting hunter valley or the wine areas and staying at the hotel awhile. Pick up some bottles and enjoy them over dinner!!

The real downside was the Internet charges at the hotel. My friend and I wanted to blog our daily adventures for our friends and family to read back in the US. I'm used to paying $10 at an avg hotel in the US to maybe $30-40 at a Four Seasons but this was $90/night but you could buy a week of internet for $150 if I remember correctly. I would verify those rates with the hotel. They might not be completely accurate but they are in the range of what I paid. We paid it anyway...as it wasn't going to stop us from sharing our adventures with eager friends and family back home who would be checking. However, I want to point out that I did check at several other hotels in Sydney and either they didn't have internet at all or they charged about the same rate or more. I think the price will shock anyone from the US but they were in line with local rates.

This was the first stop on our honeymoon - we stayed at the Sydney Marriott on Hyde Park for 4 nights in May 2008. We booked the room through Priceline so the price was quite reasonable by Sydney standards. We mentioned it was our honeymoon on check-in and they gave us a room on one of the upper floors overlooking Hyde Park.
The location was nice and central for exploring Sydney - we walked from there to the botanic gardens, the opera house, circular quay, Paddington market, etc. The hotel was clean and nice. The furnishings in our room were somewhat dated but looked fine. Staff was very friendly. We didn't spend too much time in the hotel but enjoyed it when we were there.

I was gonna rate this hotel excellent except for this one thing that bothers me. The bed linens and towels did not smell pleasant, but smelled like sweat, or washed without detergent or dried insufficiently. I expect this class of hotel to provide linens and towels that smell beautiful. I was also disappointed that there were no bathrobe and slippers. In addition, the internet was so slow even though it was supposedly high speed.

The best thing is probably the Hyde park view, followed by its spacious space, large bathtub, location and general layout. I guess its a good hotel for honeymooners.

Whether to book this hotel again I am not too sure as I am particular about bed linens and towels' odor, but will surely recommend this hotel to others who are not so fussy about this detail.

We spent the first few nights in Sydney at the other Marriott at Circular Quay, which was a great place to be on a first visit, but pricey (~$300 US per night). When we returned to Sydney after a few days up north we booked into this hotel at ~$200/night to save a little $. Turned out to be a better location for us, on the edge of Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, cute neighborhoods with restaurants, banks, groceries, and next to the MUSEUM cityrail train stop.

We love Marriott fluffy beds and the predictability of a stay at one, due to their universal consistency. Odd thing about this one is although interior decoration is of good quality and in good shape, we were puzzled what the goal was with the battleship gray decor (maybe manly to appeal to business men?)--walking down the hotel corridors we were reminded of a submarine.