So I stayed at the FS Sydney and it was hugely disappointing.
Check in was fine, the agent was lovely and polite. She informed me of the FHR benefits straight away and told me that I had been upgraded one category from a Deluxe City Harbour View Room to a Deluxe Full Harbour View Room. She offered me the option of paying extra for a further upgrade ($180 - I cannot remember the room category) and also mentioned the Royal Suite was available. Seeing as I was staying by myself until the morning, I think that would have been over the top. I should have asked how much it was though
I got into my room and the smell of wet carpet/chemical cleaners was so overpowering my eyes watered. The room smelt so badly I went down to reception and asked to be moved. My new room wasn't much better so I figured it was probably like it in all of the rooms. After going out for a while, I came back and decided to order room service utilising the $100 F&B voucher provided as part of the FHR benefits. I ordered roast baby chicken with a side of steamed rice. It was bought up to my room quickly and was nicely presented but unfortunately that is were the positives ended. The chicken was burnt and inedible and the side salad swimming in grease. By this time I was pretty tired so I just ate the rice and left it at that. If I was paying for it I would have complained seeing it cost $50. The most expensive chicken and rice I have ever eaten!
Onto the room itself. It was TINY, most likely the smallest room I have ever stayed in. For one person overnight it was adequate but I would not have wanted to stay any longer. The most annoying and disappointing part of the room was the bed. It was like something out of your grandma's house 50 years ago - it was so saggy and squeaky that it had a large dip in it and anytime I moved, all the springs squeaked and rattled. Seriously not five star and definitely not wedding night friendly!
The next morning after a sleepless night on the old creaker, I tried calling the reception desk at 0515 to ask them to bring up my car as I was going to the airport to collect from partner from an international flight. I tried three times but it either rang out or had an engaged signal. Not impressed. I quickly showered and made my way down to reception and handed my parking ticket for them to bring the car up. By this time it was 0545 and there was only one other guest in the lobby. The attendant went away to get the car and then returned and asked me which car was mine? Are you serious! By this stage I was getting pretty cranky and it took them nearly half an hour to get my car up. I asked the reception person to see a manager and he was incredibly rude and brushed me aside. Finally at 0610 my car arrived. By that stage I was running late and was seriously unimpressed.
I returned to the hotel with my partner and the hotel redeemed itself slightly with an excellent buffet breakfast in the main restaurant. There was a great range of options and lovely service. We checked out at 2pm and I spoke to the manager on duty about the car fiasco. She said that her staff had told her that they had lots of people in the lobby at the time and this was the reason for the extended delay. I informed her that this was nonsense as I was one of only two guest in the lobby the whole time I was waiting. She was gracious enough to remove the parking charge.
Overall, a seriously disappointing stay. The FHR benefits eased the disappointed somewhat though but I won't return.
FHR benefits given:
- one category room upgrade
- $100 F&B voucher
- complementary continental breakfast (we used $7 pp on our F&B voucher to upgrade to the buffet breakfast)
- late check out of 4pm