Flood, Fire, and Fury: Sheraton Sydney Evacuated After Guest Floods Entire Floor, Attacks Hotel Staff

My cousin David, along with other guests staying at the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, was evacuated from his room Friday morning after a guest flooded an entire floor of the hotel, set off a fire alarm, attacked hotel staff and was throwing things out the window.

New South Wales Police were called to the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park hotel on Elizabeth Street, in Sydney’s CBD, shortly before 8am on Friday following reports of a disturbance.

‘Police have been told a 35-year-old man, who was a guest at the hotel, allegedly smashed the hotel window and set off the fire alarm in his room, causing his floor to flood,’ police said in a statement.

‘Staff from the hotel went to check on the man’s welfare, before allegedly being hit by the man.’


Credit: David

The fire department reported he’d “damaged the sprinkler head in his room and was throwing items out of the broken window.” Guests were permitted to return to their rooms around 9:40 a.m.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. In many cities, new houses must have sprinklers. These fail moee often than politicians realize, causing flood damage. Smoke detectors are good. Sprinklers are debatable in single family houses.

  2. Catchy Headline, the reality is a bit more mundane. All hotels employ Wet Pipe Fire Protection Sprinkler Systems, governed by NFPA 13 here in the USA and similar codes internationally. What our out-of-control guest managed to do was to damage the single Sprinkler Head in his room, which did two things: Flooded the floor that he was on, and also automatically sent a Fire Alarm to the local Fire Department (based upon Water Flow in the Fire Protection Sprinkler System). Apparently he added several more dastardly deeds, including breaking his window, throwing things out of it, and attacking the hotel staff. Nice chap, they don’t have Soros DA’s in Australia like they do in the States, so he’ll likely face a nice long rest over there.

  3. We were in an apartment for 2 years and during our time there, some person decided to install a bidet on the toilet but clearly had no idea what they were doing. While they were out of town something triggered a large leak which flooded their apartment, apartments on both sides and the one below.

    And, of course, the person had no insurance.

    Then the rest of us have to pay for this stupidity.

  4. I was there yesterday! But checked out early to catch a 7am flight. I was unhappy about the early flight, but no longer!

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