Sofitel Darling Harbour to open 6th October 2017

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Thanks moa999.

This is truely unfortunate if this type of penny pinching has been imported to Australia. I have never encountered this in any Accor (or SPG) executive club in Australia, or elsewhere in the world other than North America. I don't know why anyone would choose this Sofitel over the Sydney Wentworth Sofitel if they were seeking or entitled to club access.
 
Thanks moa999.

This is truely unfortunate if this type of penny pinching has been imported to Australia. I have never encountered this in any Accor (or SPG) executive club in Australia, or elsewhere in the world other than North America. I don't know why anyone would choose this Sofitel over the Sydney Wentworth Sofitel if they were seeking or entitled to club access.
Exactly. I would have booked the Wentworth for sure had I known.
 
How does "Honor bar" translate into having to pay for your drinks? Usually, in these types of clubs, a honor bar just means that the drinks are set up on a bar and you serve yourself (rather than have a bar or waiter service).

Yes, self-serve is one thing, but with the honor bar we are on our "honor" (honour) to pay for our drinks, often using a chit system to record consumption, to be added to the hotel bill. Well, that's been my experience anyway.
 
Reference to the honor bar has now been removed. Either a good sign or just hiding the fact.
 
I am booked to stay here this weekend and confirmed with Sofitel DH that I will get access to the lounge as a platinum member. I will report back on the drinks situation.
 
The page now seems to suggest all is well, as noted above. I'd be surprised if there's anything to pay, unless outside of the happy hours:

Choose a Luxury room club or suites from level 28 and above and access the very exclusive retreat located 35 floors above the city. Enjoy a breathtaking panoramic view of the harbour, daily breakfast or a glass of champagne – unwind while everything is looked after with care by our dedicated Ambassador Team. Luxury should be limitless: savour the magnifique experience as privileged Club Millésime member.

Your Club Millésime benefits include
• exclusive access to Club Millésime lounge located on level 35
• private check-in/out
• daily continental breakfast in lounge
• food and beverage refreshments through the day
complimentary afternoon tea and early evening beverages with canapés
• dedicated Guest Service Manager and Butler service

Club Millesime - Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour
 
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Does sound much more sensible. Keen to see reports from early stayers. Not just on the evening drinks but also whether the continental breakfast is truly just continental.
 
We have just spent our first night at the new Sofitel Darling Harbour.
First impressions were of a busy foyer but a very friendly checkin by Honey. Even though our booking was a "free night" she offered to change our booking from two double beds on a low floor to a king bed room on a much higher floor, which she did, floor 25. We had a lovely view overlooking the Anzac bridge and west. The rooms smelled fresh and new, the bathroom was spacious with a lovely shower, separate toilet almost like a 3 way bathroom. We had a nice chaise lounge looking out watching the planes heading into land. The Atelier restaurant was completely booked so we ate elsewhere. However we did visit the champagne bar which has a view over darling harbour. The bar was very popular with some large groups and had many choices of all types of alcohol. The coughtail barman was very busy. We later visited the bar after dinner, (husband & son sampling some very fine whiskeys) until last drinks were call just after midnight. The many bar staff were very friendly and worked very hard all night.
Next morning we joined the queue (including 25 boys from the Vienna Boys Choir) for breakfast seating around 9am, the restaurant was packed!. There were 3 main food stations spread around the restaurant. One with hot foods, pastries and an omelet station, the omelet station was quite disorganised and took a long time, they were swamped with orders. There was another station for all kinds of breads, rolls, toaster and on the other side Asian style food. The last station had cereals, juices, cheeses, meats and fruit. The food was plentiful and restocked before anything ran out. Special coffee and tea orders was the main let down with orders taken but the person delivering them had no idea which table they belonged to and walking around asking people, this went on for the whole time we were at breakfast and seemed to annoy people. This was their biggest letdown and I am sure will be rectified when they review the first few weeks. There were plenty of men in suits walking around supervising.
Checkout was seamless and friendly, we were told that the hotel was fully booked, which they hadn't expected in the first few days, which may explain the breakfast teething glitches. We wanted to leave our bags for pickup later and our checkout lady Inga personally walked our bags over to the concierge.
I would definitely stay at the Sofitel Darling Harbour again. The hotel is in a great location, staff were very happy and friendly with many nice personal touches and our room was lovely.
 
We have just spent our first night at the new Sofitel Darling Harbour.

Good to hear a report on your stay Ellen10. I’m here on Friday night - unsure of your status with Accor, but if you do have status, can you advise of any benefits you received?

Thanks.
 
Good to hear a report on your stay Ellen10. I’m here on Friday night - unsure of your status with Accor, but if you do have status, can you advise of any benefits you received?

Thanks.
Hi Pablo, I am silver with Accor.
We got the room upgrade, free internet and 2 drink vouchers, which we used in the Champagne bar.
 
I've been finginf the website very glitchy with booking the Sofitel. I ended up ringing up to book it, as if I was logged into accorhotels.com it told me that there was no availability for 2 nights, although I could book 2 nights separately and get it. However, if I wasn't logged into the Accorhotels.com website, I could book 2 nights at a much cheaper rate than if I was using my AccorPlus details.

Don't know if it is just teething issues, or typical accorhotels.com issues - but was able to get it booked.

Looking forward to the stay - will be interesting to see how it compares to some of the new Sofitels across the world.
 
Has anyone visited the lounge? I'm keen to read a review :)
I was there Friday and Sat nights. Just got to find time to write up a review, but the lounge was great (although it’s a little too small for the size of the hotel). Standing room only Sat night.

Hopefully I can review tomorrow
 
Booked an award stay there early Jan and was wondering how they treat Plats at this property like suite upgrades, full breakfast...
Also, reading previous reports about paid drinks in the lounge, I hope they fixed this issue.
 
I stayed here for 2 nights last week - and it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!

The hotel was only a week into it's opening, and it wasn't perfect and they are still working some things out, but this hotel will be my new Go To hotel in Sydney.

The location for me was perfect - we were there for leisure and not business, so Darling Harbour suited really well. It is metres from the International Convention and Exhibition Centre and also the Shopping Mall at DH, and views over the harbour.

When booking, I had issues with the Accor Website - I have Accor Plus membership and the publicly available price on the website was cheaper than the Accor Plus, but I called the hotel and they were able to get me a members rate which was appreciated.

2 days before check in, they called me to confirm I was coming, and wanted to know if I had any specific requests. I enquired about a room upgrade and lounge access and any other Platinum Perks, and was advised I'd be getting an upgrade and lounge access. (I had booked a standard room).

Check in was very easy in the foyer, and we were quickly on our way to the room, and then to the lounge for afternoon tea.

The lounge was on the top floor - 35 - and had magnificent views across Darling Harbour and Sydney. You can see the Harbour Bridge from the lounge and beautiful views.

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Afternoon tea had a great selection of food and really good coffee.

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The lounge at night time was very full - and on Saturday night it was standing room only. Probably one of my main criticisms of the hotel is that they haven't built the lounge big enough as it is very crowded if the hotel is full (Saturday night it was over booked apparently).

But there was a great selection of wines, spirits and canapés, and the service was very efficient.

Definitely no payment for alcohol - so that was a mistake on the website when it was posted.

We were upgraded to a Club Room on the 34th Floor, and I was really happy with what we got. (I requested a room with 2 double beds as we had our kids with us). I had also booked a room for my In-Laws and they were also upgraded to the Club floor and were given lounge access as well. Very happy with that.

Unfortunately there was no 'Welcome Amenity' as you would expect at a Sofitel (we had spent the previous 2 nights at the Mercure Goulburn and received a welcome amenity there) but one of the staff members did make mention to me that they were still working on that happening. I will be giving that feedback to the hotel when I get the guest satisfaction survey (if I get one, otherwise I'll email).

We did receive 2 drink vouchers but I forgot to use them!!


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The room was really nicely done. I felt like it was a modern version of the Sofitel Wentworth - it felt like a Sofitel with that French Luxury, but it was modern and fresh.

Beds didn't necessarily feel like the normal Sofitel beds - they were a lot harder - but they were still comfy.

The pillows weren't great - either rock hard or very soft - but the pillow menu hadn't made it to the room yet so I'm not sure if there were other pillows you could choose from (when we rang up for alternative pillows we just asked for firm ones and were sent rocks!!)


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The pool was great - quite busy when we were there but really nice area with a bar behind it.

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As for the gym, it was basic but enough. Nothing mind blowing about it, but if you wanted to do a workout, you could. I used it on the Saturday morning and had a good workout although if you wanted to do anything more than a few weights, you'd need to go find a proper gym. Only let down here was there was no water in the Gym, so not sure if they had run out (although I was there at 7am) or just haven't gotten around to adding it yet.

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To be continued.
 
For breakfast, we were told that we had a choice of either having it in the lounge or in the restaurant on the 3rd floor. Both mornings we had it down in the restaurant.

It was ok - not mind blowing - but there was a good selection of hot and cold foods - cereals, breads, bacon etc - what you come to expect in an Australian hotel. Service was very good, and the atmosphere in the restaurant was great. (I forgot to take photos though).

Only challenge I had with the restaurant was that I was charged $80 per person for breakfast both mornings. These charges were subsequently removed, however on check out, I was advised that we were not entitled to have breakfast in the restaurant - only in the lounge. This is one of the little teething issues the hotel is having as I had about 5 staff tell me that we can choose which place to have breakfast in as someone with lounge access, but there are obviously some staff that feel differently about it.

Having said that, there is no way I'd pay $80 to have breakfast in the restaurant - that is massively overpriced and no worth it.

A few other images from the hotel for your viewing pleasure.

Nice finishes in the room

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Photos in the entry way in the room

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Hotel from downstairs - it sticks out in Darling Harbour

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The view from the lounge at night time

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The lobby
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I didn't get a welcome letter etc until late on the last night. I don't know if this is one of those things that they were still getting up and running or they just forgot - but both my rooms got this letter later Saturday night with 2 more drink vouchers - but as we only found the letter on Sunday morning before checking out (it was slipped under the door) we couldn't use the drink vouchers.

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