I stayed at the Park Hyatt Sydney back over Thanksgiving, having reserved the hotel before it went up to category 7. I had a decidedly mixed stay, largely colored by an insistence that if I wanted an Opera View room upgrade (not even an Opera Deluxe, let alone a suite) I would have to pay a $100 per night upcharge as a Gold Passport Diamond member.

That was all sorted at the end of the stay, and I was happy to return and give the hotel another shot. I was in Sydney for my cousin’s wedding, and the location of the hotel is actually perfect for me since it’s right by the ferries that take me out to the suburbs where they live.

Previous installments:

1. Introduction: Virgin Australia and Delta Business Class, the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney
   
2. Concourse Hotel LAX, a Hyatt affiliate
   
3. Virgin Australia Check-in and Star Alliance Business Class Lounge
   
4. Virgin Australia Business Class, Los Angeles – Brisbane
   
5. Virgin Australia Brisbane Lounge and Business Class, Brisbane – Cairns
   
6. Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas
   
7. Virgin Australia Lounge, Cairns and Business Class, Cairns – Sydney

I paid 30,000 points per night for this stay, the full category 7 rate, but fortunately was able to benefit from Hyatt’s 20% rebate on award redemptions for Hyatt Visa cardholders that corresponded to this stay.

At 24,000 points the hotel is a pretty good value. It’s a nice property, often regarded as best in Sydney, but largely it’s the most expensive — more expensive than the Four Seasons by a wide margin — and what you’re paying for is the location.

In a lot of ways it’s a funny location, because it’s not really convenient for walking to business meetings. Down on the harbor though this hotel has unrivaled views of the water looking out at the Sydney Opera House. You’re paying for the view, and layered on top it’s a nice hotel.

On this stay I didn’t have any repeat of the check-in drama from my previous visit. Instead, this time I pulled up to the hotel and began check-in at the desk, and then was escorted up to the room. Without any argument I received an upgrade as a Diamond member to a Harbor Deluxe room — the hotel doesn’t have many suites and Diamonds can’t even confirm upgrades to those, but the Harbor Deluxe rooms are large and have truly stunning views.

The bedroom had a seating area that was made separate by the placement of the furnishings.

There was plenty of closet space, and the room was stocked with coffee and tea accoutrements and a minibar. Bottled water is provided complimentary.

The bathroom was large and modern. The funny thing is the only thing I didn’t like about this bathroom as much as the one in my smaller room on my last stay is that the other room had a little pass-through between the toilet room and the rest of the bathroom and the plant was in that room. It’s a funny little thing, but the bright green plant seen from both sides was actually nice, distinctive, memorable and it was noticeably absent this time as a result. Instead, the plant was ‘just’ in the bathroom.

I like having multiple sinks. I’m not sure I need multiple sinks and a sink in the toilet room.

I’ve never quite figured out the pieces of art in the room that are also similar in the hallways of the hotel.

The room had a small walk-out balcony. It was furnished but without a lot of room to spare.

Here was the view directly ahead from the balcony:

Breakfast at the hotel is impressive, you get the full buffet plus you can order off of the menu complimentary. They have you sign a check at the end of the meal which shows the cost taken off. Each day I ordered an entree, and I even ordered a side, plus unlimited flat whites made with extra ristretto, in addition to having some pastries and fruit and smoked salmon from the buffet.

Menu: (click to enlarge)

One thing that was different on this trip is that the buffet had no hot food area, like there had been on my previous stay. Instead those stations were replaced by a dining table and chairs.

Still, the buffet is more than ample.

As on my last stay service at breakfast was hit-or-miss. There were some days they were spot on, and other days it was difficult to get anyone’s attention to bring by more coffee, and it didn’t really seem to coincide with the days they were busy or slow.

My last stay detailed more of the hotel’s facilities like the workout room and pool. This time I really was just in the hotel for sleeping and breakfast, as a respite from the activities surrounding my cousin’s wedding. It was a lovely stay, made all the more wonderful by the room upgrade. In fact, it’s amazing how being made to feel unwelcome at check-in on the previous stay colored that experience, and I came away from the hotel this time with a much more positive view.

No doubt I’ll return because I do have family in Sydney and if I want to stay downtown while visiting them in the suburbs the location by the ferry is quite perfect for me. I have plenty of Hyatt points, but the hotel is nonetheless quite pricey now at 30,000 points per night and it’s unlikely I’ll be lucky enough next time to benefit from a 20% redemption rebate opportunity.