Hilton Sydney reveals new look after $25m renovation
The landmark hotel has undergone a $25m overhaul. Here’s what we think.
The word staycation has become a byword for travellers holidaying where they live, particularly in cities. With international borders closed and those across states often in disarray, the concept is appealing. Some holiday-makers might find it naff to drive for, say, less than an hour to check into a hotel and take a leisure break, but I look at it differently. To me, a hotel is a world within a world, its own little universe of calm and order, a base from which to approach home city precincts differently, to play tourist and look at streetscapes and attractions anew.
So here I am at Hilton Sydney, a property boasting a peerless CBD location. With entry on George or Pitt streets, the lofty, skinny building straddles a long chunk of real estate and pedestrians can walk end to end, as if traversing a city block, along the parking ramp and past the porte cochere. I mention all this to set the scene because commercial location in the NSW capital is everything. There are no prizes for runners-up.
With this in mind, let me propose the word shopcation. Because that’s what my two-night stay at Hilton Sydney turns out to be, effortlessly and enjoyably. On the George Street side, the glorious QVB behemoth is practically on the hotel’s doorstep. Quick turn right and there’s Mecca, Myer, bookshops and the tiny jewel-like boutiques of the Strand Arcade a hop, skip and jump along. On the Pitt Street flank, David Jones is minutes away, as are more boutiques and cafes, including the curly-whirly arcades and escalators of Westfield Sydney standing guardian over Pitt Street Mall. It’s as well, then, that I’m staying in a corner suite, with an oceanic amount of space, as the shopping bags are mounting up.
Hilton Sydney has just launched its $25m overhaul of all 547 guestrooms and 40 suites and the look is luxe, from floor coverings and pale leather couches to blinds and huge TVs, with a prevalent palette of soft greys and muted blues, and a cargo of contemporary artworks, including bold black and white etchings by Angela Hayson. The unveiling was anticipated a year ago, before lockdowns and quarantine duty, and included in the refurbishment are two extra accommodation categories. New corner guestrooms offer an additional 2sq m of floor plan and more windows; family guestrooms comprise a pair of interconnecting chambers available as one booking. My corner suite on sky-high Level 35 looks up the skirts, as it were, of Centrepoint Tower and northwards with harbour glimpses; an almost secretive push-pull window panel on one side of the bed opens to reveal slivers of views east across Garden Island and towards the Heads. The huge spa bath has six jets and room for a pony, as Hyacinth Bucket would pronounce. It feels as much like a one-bedroom city apartment (admittedly sans kitchen) as a hotel pad.
New interiors are by Sydney-based a+ design group and it’s more than just cushions and mirrors. The usual space-consuming corporate desk set-up has been replaced by a high-backed chair, ottoman and multi-use table. Lighting is bright without being harsh, with narrow beam downlights, concealed LED strip lighting, lamps and reading spots over the bed. The custom-made carpets and rugs are 80 per cent wool and the balance woven from recyclables. It’s not a ground-breaking redesign but more about decluttering and reinterpretation.
The hotel opened in 1975, when the height of in-room luxury meant a colour TV and the public relations manager was a former Miss Australia. I recall it as party central in the 1980s and 90s. I had lunch with Michael Palin in the San Francisco Grill (where everything was either flambeed or served under cloches) and (successfully) stalked Tom Cruise in the lobby for a comment about Top Gun. From 2002-05, the hotel closed for a breathtakingly expensive architectural redevelopment by Johnson Pilton Walker. Limestone and pale timbers prevailed in the upgraded look and many of those textures and design elements have been retained, including the late Bronwyn Oliver’s Vine installation, a lavish coil of tiny aluminium pieces that drops four lobby atrium levels.
That era saw the opening of my favourite city dining room, Luke Mangan’s Glass Brasserie, a tall-ceilinged, light-filled space. It’s swish and swanky and voluminous and could be in New York, were it not for the golden views of the Romanesque façade of the 1898-built QVB and its burly rotunda, which looks transplanted from Florence. But Mangan’s food is all about the local and his crab omelette with enoki mushrooms, herbs and miso mustard broth is my desert island dish, no contest.
To follow, a nightcap at Hilton Sydney’s heritage-listed Marble Bar on the George Street side. This basement drinking and music den dates back to the 1890s heyday of the Adams Hotel and was reassembled for Hilton Sydney’s opening. The polished mahogany bar, stained-glass panels, mellow lighting and absence of windows make it feel like a speakeasy. You could order a pulled pint but “prohibition-era cocktails” are all the rage and the bar food is an international mash-up of delicious wagyu sliders, tempura prawns and arancini balls. I recommend checking in upstairs and flaking out on a cloud-soft bed if the lychee rose martinis get a hold of you.
In the know
Average room rate at Hilton Sydney from $215 for two midweek; check weekend packages with extras plus staycation deals. Glass is operating with reduced hours and is presently open for dinner Thursday-Saturday; lunch, Thursday-Friday.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Hilton Sydney.
