aka ~ The Quality Hotel SC Sydney ( Great Hotel W/O)
Written: Oct 13 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Staff, location
Cons: our shabby room
The Bottom Line: A bit of a let down.
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| hollynz's Full Review: Southern Cross Sydney Hotel |
This hotel on the corner of Elizabeth and Goulburn is now known as the Quality Hotel SC Sydney.
I booked 3 nights here as part of a flight & accommodation package flying from Auckland.
I checked out the website before booking and it called itself a 4 Star Hotel and the rooms looked modern and nice in the photos so I booked.
As is always the case, reality was slightly different from the photos and, even though I know they always present their top range rooms in the photos, I was still expecting better then we got.
LOCATION
The hotel is pretty handy to the CBD and all the city tourist spots. On the corner of busy Elizabeth Street and not so busy Goulburn Street, the hotel is within walking distance to Chinatown, Darling Harbour, downtown and we had no problem walking as far as the Harbour. The train station is a short walk away and we did use the trains a few times to get around the city.
A couple of corner pubs provide cheap meals and live sports … especially important, as we were there the weekend the Rugby World Cup started.
A convenience store is on the corner of Goulburn and Wentworth ( a short walk) and there was a Woolworth’s Supermarket a few blocks away as well.
RECEPTION
We got a shuttle from the airport and we were delivered to the front entrance on Goulburn at 9:30am.. We gathered our luggage and entered through the automatic doors into the large and welcoming foyer. The large reception desk was manned by three well-groomed women and I was dealt with politely. They checked me in and informed me that our room would be ready at 12pm, they apologised for not having a room available for us to check into but explained that we could leave our bags with the Concierge and they would be delivered to our room. They also offered a guest day room if we required it but we were quite happy to sit in the comfortable lounge area and check out some brochures and maps of Sydney to try to get our bearings.
ROOM
We got back to the hotel at 1:30 and got the keys to our room. We took one of the 2 elevators to the 4th floor. I was immediately aware of the musty smell of stale smoke …
…hmmm I should have asked for a non smoking room .
Our room was directly across the hall from the elevator, we opened the door and the first impression was that it was spacious but a bit shabby. Most certainly not the modern hotel room I was expecting at all. The sight of twin beds was another letdown but as we were tired, we just took it on the chin and crashed out for a while.
Our bags had been delivered so that was one good thing.
When I sat on the bed I noticed a lovely big cigarette burn hole in the bed cover as well as a dark stain.
… hmmm.
I headed to the large windows to check out the view, we overlooked Goulburn Street and had a view of leafy trees, offices, the Crown Pub across the road and in the distance, the Centrepoint Tower loomed large. It looked pretty nice at night.
When I pulled back the curtains I noticed a big crack in one window
…another hmmm.
The one good thing I did note was that there were two sets of windows for added soundproofing. It worked quite effectively as well as road noise was very minimal most of the time.
The reason the room appeared so spacious was because of the lack of furnishings. Along with the twin beds and one bedside table, there was a two-seater very comfortable sofa and coffee table, a large desk and chair and an immoveable TV stand with shelving space.
The TV wouldn’t work so we had to ring reception, a guy turned up straight away and sorted it out for us, I also rang housekeeping to get a couple of extra pillows and they were delivered straight away.
We had two phones, an alarm clock which kept making a funny noise every now and then and that was it.
This room was divided by a wall which ran 2/3rds along the wall. It didn’t quite reach the ceiling, which was a bit strange. On the other side, this wall turned into a large storage unit behind sliding doors. Holding ample shelves, drawers, wardrobe as well as a kitchen area. The wardrobe contained a safe, an iron and ironing board and a small fold our luggage rack.
The kitchen area was only a mini fridge, stocked with beer for (A)$5 and juice and water for (A) $4.50. There was enough room for my 3 litre bottle of water and a small carton of milk so I was happy.
On the top shelf over the fridge was a kettle, 2 cups and a basket holding complimentary tea, coffee, sugar and milk. A couple of wine glasses finished the offerings.
A large wall mirror filled the wall between the wardrobe and the bathroom.
BATHROOM
I wasn’t very impressed with the bathroom at all. The room itself was fine, the vanity area had room enough for toiletries, the loo was tucked away to one side, the bath/ shower combination was fine but the white tiles were a mess. They looked like they needed a good scrub but on closer inspection it was messy grouting. It looked awful and was really off putting. A few cracks along the bottom of the wall and a quick patch up job on the light fixture completed the picture.
It was grotty…
hmmm!!
The toiletries were held in wall-mounted containers. Over the bath was shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo was bad quality, I washed my hair with it and wished I hadn’t.
Over the vanity was hand soap, shaving cream and lovely hand and body moisturizer that ran out and was never refilled.
A wall mounted hairdryer, towels, washcloths and shower caps completed the offerings.
zzzzzzzzzz
I slept pretty well most nights but on the last night I kept waking to any sound. I think this was more to do with the fact I was telling myself not to sleep through the 6am alarm, as a result, I woke to any and every noise I heard.
I was aware of hearing the elevators and people talking in the hallway but I was never woken by this during our stay … except for the last night that is.
The room was pretty warm and we had to have the air-conditioning on from time to time, it was pretty quiet and would have been fine to sleep with it on.
HOTEL FACILITIES
I didn’t use the restaurant during our stay as the prices were pretty high. Looking over the breakfast menu in our room, I noted it was A$24 for a full cooked breakfast, pancakes were A$12 and continental would set you back A$16.
We had walked past loads of diners and corner pubs offering full cooked breakfasts from A$6 so we went for that option over the hotels.
I checked out the pool which was on the 8th floor roof space. The doors were locked when I went up at 8pm and the sauna was in use so I didn’t get to check that out either.
STAFF
The very best thing about the hotel was the staff. Whenever we encountered staff members from cleaning staff to the concierge staff, it was a pleasant experience. They were always ready with a friendly hello and the Concierge was very helpful with our queries.
If the room had been of better quality I would be very happy to stay here again but, as it was, I think I will try somewhere else next time I visit Sydney.
FACTS
111 Goulburn street, Sydney, NSW 2000
ph: 612 9282 0987
Fax: 612 9211 3381
Email: res@qualitysydney.com.au
www.qualitysydney.com.au
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
hollynz
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