This might be the biggest W hotel in the world, but from the inside at least, it doesn’t feel that way. Life & Leisure had the first media stay at the long-awaited W, on its opening night on October 12. Like most of Sydney, since 2016 we’ve been watching and waiting as The Ribbon, wedged between two expressways on the southern end of Darling Harbour, has taken shape.

“Any new hotel generates a certain amount of public anticipation,” general manager Craig Seaward tells us, “but I feel like this has been a vertical takeoff. Every year, 5.5 million people walk past this site, let alone those who drive past it, so in a way, they’ve lived the story of the hotel. I shouldn’t be surprised, but we’ve been overwhelmed by the interest.”