How does Accor treat you as an Elite guest?

[Daver6]

Property: Sofitel Melbourne on Collins (3-night stay, May 2026)


The TVs showing fishing and cooking programs add nothing and kill the atmosphere; the lounge doesn't need them at all. The coffee was disappointing and seemed to come from an automated machine, which is a miss for Melbourne.

I couldn't agree more with this! No idea why they even have TVs in there. They're just annoying noise.

 

[bits]

Property: Sofitel Darling Harbour Sydney
Status: Explorer+ Platinum
Room booked: Corner King
Room upgraded/type: No
Rate: $317.40 red hot
Early check in/late out: Requested and granted 4pm
Free internet: Yes
Free breakfast: Yes, restaurant or lounge
Welcome drink: Yes, used at Champagne Bar for Pommery champagne. Note: no more view of Darling Harbour from here due to the new building in front...
Welcome amenity: Bottle of DeBartoli Red, 2 sparkling waters
Recommend: Not really. Price needs to be $250-300 for me to consider again

General comment:
Disappointing stay on this occasion for the following reasons:

- Executive lounge seems understaffed, especially since afternoon tea, evening canapes and breakfast are totally full. Drinks orders take too long to be delivered.
- Kitchen can't keep food coming out quick enough during evening canapes. At 6.30pm literally all the food along the counter apart from the salad section was empty - not a good look.
- At 9.30am for breakfast all tables taken, either still occupied or used but not reset. Had to find a staff member to clear a table.
- Food offering was generally underwhelming, nothing particularly special (I think Sofitel Wentworth is now better)

Definitely not as nice as it used to be.

 

[csg001]

Property: Sofitel Darling Harbour Sydney
Status: Explorer+ Platinum
Room booked: Corner King
Room upgraded/type: No
Rate: $317.40 red hot
Early check in/late out: Requested and granted 4pm
Free internet: Yes
Free breakfast: Yes, restaurant or lounge
Welcome drink: Yes, used at Champagne Bar for Pommery champagne. Note: no more view of Darling Harbour from here due to the new building in front...
Welcome amenity: Bottle of DeBartoli Red, 2 sparkling waters
Recommend: Not really. Price needs to be $250-300 for me to consider again

General comment:
Disappointing stay on this occasion for the following reasons:

- Executive lounge seems understaffed, especially since afternoon tea, evening canapes and breakfast are totally full. Drinks orders take too long to be delivered.
- Kitchen can't keep food coming out quick enough during evening canapes. At 6.30pm literally all the food along the counter apart from the salad section was empty - not a good look.
- At 9.30am for breakfast all tables taken, either still occupied or used but not reset. Had to find a staff member to clear a table.
- Food offering was generally underwhelming, nothing particularly special (I think Sofitel Wentworth is now better)

Definitely not as nice as it used to be.

I also just had a recent stay here, also booked the same corner king via RHR rate (around $380 for me) and my experience felt similar to yours.
Lounge was ok but to be honest felt comparable to a lower-rung business class airport lounge rather than a 5 star hotel. Staff were pleasant but clearly overworked/punching the timecard.
Was hoping to catch the drone show for Vivid but unfortunately that got cancelled due to that malfunction earlier in the week. Had I known all this I would have booked Wentworth.

 

[bits]

I also just had a recent stay here, also booked the same corner king via RHR rate (around $380 for me) and my experience felt similar to yours.
Lounge was ok but to be honest felt comparable to a lower-rung business class airport lounge rather than a 5 star hotel. Staff were pleasant but clearly overworked/punching the timecard.
Was hoping to catch the drone show for Vivid but unfortunately that got cancelled due to that malfunction earlier in the week. Had I known all this I would have booked Wentworth.

For me in recent years the choice between Sofitel DH and Wentworth was broadly balanced (after Wentworth's recent renovation). My bias historically was towards DH because but they each have their pros and cons:

Sofitel DH
- newer building, rooms, decor, modern bathrooms
- lounge offering *was* good, and was less crowded.
- main restaurantis generally a zoo on my experiece
- On any given day DH generally commands a price premium over Wentworth. Sometimes the asking price is ridiculous (eg $600-800 while Wentworth is 350ish??)
- Welcome drink in Champagne Bar gives good value, but no more view now. View towards Barangaroo from the lounge is also now blocked by the new adjacent tower.

Sofitel Wentworth:
- $70m renovation seems to have gone mostly on the public areas (lounge is very nice) but minimal on the rooms. Structurally no changes, so rooms are still smaller than DH, and the bathrooms have still have the old 1960s vibe (yellow marble etc). Bath tubs are small.
- Food in the lounge is very good, definitely their strong point. They usually have 1 hero hot item (eg roast pork, roast lamb with sides etc) plus the buffet selection, so you can easily have a proper dinner.
- The clientele here seem to be older (might be from cruise ship travellers), and seems to be less families/young kids running around. It's definitely a much more relaxed civil vibe here.
- Price is more competitive, very good actually (eg starting prices $268+, which is a steal if you have lounge access)
- Tilda went back under hotel operation so the accor 30% dining discount applies, hopefully they can maintain the standards of the previous external operators.

Based on my recent experience at DH, the pendulum has swung back to Wentworth for me.