Radisson Blu Hotel, Sydney

Radisson Blu Hotel Sydney

For my own future reference and for anyone who may be looking for where to stay I thought I would include my review of places that I stay when travelling.

For this trip to Sydney I stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the CBD, in O’Connell Street. When choosing a place to stay, I have a criteria that I’ve developed with having a few years travelling experience. Thanks to this technological age that we live in it’s never been easier to select accommodation when travelling.

My criteria consists of

• ·      Price
• ·      Location
• ·      Facilities
• ·      Optional extras
• 
  

So price is the top of my list as it’s pointless looking at accommodation that may be perfect but way out of my price range. For the past few years I’ve been using the site www.booking.com to select accommodation for where ever in the world I'm planning on visiting. Since this trip was organised very last minute, I was able to get a very good (ie affordable!) price to stay in a very nice hotel.

Location is also very important, I like to walk so it’s important to me to be fairly close to the places I’m interested in seeing. If it’s a large city then a  location close to public transport is very important. Once I start having a short list of accommodation in my price range, I check the map to see where they’re located and discard those that aren’t close to public transport or sites I’m interested in.

Facilities, different holidays require different kinds of facilities from where I’m planning on staying. If it’s a warm weather vacation, then an attractive pool and pool area will sell that particular place. But generally what I look for now are things like, free wifi, if the accommodation (and that does include places such as B & Bs) don’t include free wifi I move onto looking at the next place. For a short hotel stay I also look for things such as a business centre so things like boarding passes can be printed off.

Optional extras for me include things like if it’s an old building that has been adapted. Something with a bit of history attached.

For this Sydney trip the Radisson Blu fulfilled my criteria.

Price

Booking at short notice for a short trip the price was right.

Location

The location was perfect, it was a 2 minute walk to Wynnard train station and the direct train line to Sydney airport.

It was also a 5 minute walk to Circular Quay, and then depending which direction you wanted to go, The Rocks was close by or the Opera House area, the Royal Botanic Gardens were a pleasant stroll away. Finally the shopping precinct of the Pitt Street Mall was also a 5 minute walk way.

Facilities

As expected for a high end hotel, the facilities were of a high standard, my basic need to have free in room wifi (some hotels only offer it free in public areas) was met. The room was large,

 the bathroom spacious as well, 

there was a business centre also various restaurants for those people who prefer to eat inhouse. I like to get out and try what I can find in the local area. Being that it was such a high tourist location, it was easy to find places to eat. Including convenience stores for those necessary snacks! The hotel had an indoor pool and spa for those who are after some pampering!

Optional Extras

This hotel had been adapted from a beautiful old building that was built to house the newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald. It was built in the late 1920s, the Herald was printed from that particular location until 1956 and then it was used as a bank until the Radisson group bought it and redeveloped it into a hotel. (There’s a plaque on the building giving this information!)

To answer the all important question of “Would I recommend this hotel?”

Drum roll please

Yes I would, great location, lovely hotel, the staff were extremely helpful and accommodating, it was an enjoyable experience staying at the Radisson Blu, Sydney.