Park Hyatt Sydney review

For our trip to Australia's east coast, we started off with a 4-night stay in Sydney.  We decided to stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney as it has been consistently rated as one of the best Hyatt luxury properties worldwide.  The hotel, located in the heart of Sydney Harbor at the Rocks, is famous for its stunning views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Price

As a category 8 hotel, the Park Hyatt Sydney is Hyatt's most expensive award category ranging from 35k-45k points per night.  Fortunately, since we were traveling during Australia's "slower" winter season, we were able to get off-peak rates of 35k for most of our nights in a standard 1 King Bed room. Seeing how the hotel's standard rooms were over $700 a night during our stay, this was a pretty good redemption value at well over 2 cents per point.  This hotel is also known for releasing tons of free night award space, even during peak travel times.  This is atypical for many Hyatt top-tier hotels such as the Park Hyatt Tokyo and Alila Ventana, where you would be fortunate to find standard free night availability on even weekdays during the fall.

Check-in

Since our flight landed into Sydney at 7 am in the morning, we arrived at the hotel well in advanced of the standard 3 pm check-in time.  As a top-tier elite Globalist, I was able to use the Hyatt app to preselect an upgraded room to the 1 King Bed with Opera View Deluxe room, which is nearly twice the size of the non-view 1 King Bed standard room that we booked.  Since the hotel doesn't have standard suites, they actually don't offer complimentary suite upgrades, whether it be by virtue of elite status or with upgrade instruments.  Prior to checking in, I had e-mailed the hotel to see what complimentary upgrades they do offer for Globalists, and I was told that the best available room we could get upgraded to based on availability at check in would be the 1 King Bed Opera View Premium room.

The front desk staff was very friendly, and said that the room would be available by noon and that the bell service could hold our luggage until our room was ready.  Seeing how our Opera View Deluxe room was one notch below the Opera View Premium room, I asked if any Premium rooms were available as they did not show up in the app.  The agent stated that there was one Premium room currently occupied by another Globalist who wouldn't be checking out until 4 pm.  However, we could get upgraded to this room for all 4 nights if we could delay checking in until 5 pm.  Whereas a 5-hour wait (or realistically, 2 hours since check in is not guaranteed until 3 pm) seemed long, we opted for the best available Premium room upgrade.

To give you an idea of upgrade prices, the hotel had e-mailed me a breakdown of the additional charges per room per night should we want to confirm and guarantee an upgrade prior to check in:

King Harbour View:                  AU$350.00

King Opera View:                     AU$500.00

King Deluxe:                            AU$700.00

King Opera Deluxe:                  AU$1000.00

King Opera Premium:              AU$1350.00

Now I would never pay an additional AU$1,000 (~$662 USD) and much less AU$1,350 (~$894 USD) per night for the Opera View Deluxe and Premium rooms as I definitely wouldn't put that much value on the upgrades.  However, I figured that 4 nights in a Premium room would be worth the extra few hour wait.

Premium room

After spending much of the day across the harbor at Manly Beach, we returned to the hotel shortly after dinner to get our room keys.  The bell desk had already placed our luggage in our room, which was spacious and modern, with two private balconies.

The bathroom had a separate bath tub and rainfall shower, along with two sinks.  There was also a separate powder room with bidet.

The bathroom featured a Dyson Supersonic hairdryer and Aesop amenities, which is identical to the Tokyo Park Hyatt's.  The views from the room were stunning to say the least.  We had literally the property's most upfront view of the Opera House.  From our balcony, we also had great views of the Harbour Bridge and downtown area.

Perhaps the only downside to the room was the minimal availability of USB and universal power outlets.  The room does have a universal plug, but other than that the outlets were all Australian standard.  On the flipside, daily housekeeping and evening turn down service were pinpoint.

Breakfast

The next morning, we got breakfast at the property's exclusive restaurant, The Dining Room by James Viles.  The Dining Room is open for breakfast from 6:30-10:30 am, which allows for ample time for both early morning folks and late risers.  It is also only accessible for hotel guests, so the restaurant was never crowded during our 4-night stay, and we were able to secure window seats with views of the Opera House and harbor every morning.

As a Globalist with free breakfast, we had access to the breakfast buffet table, which consisted of premium pastries, bread, fruit, juices, yogurt, and more.  We also had unlimited selections from the pantry menu, and one large plate per person.  The menu was the same throughout our stay, with some modifications at the buffet table including pastries and fruit.  There were enough large plate selections so that we didn't feel like we were eating the same food everyday.

All the food menu items were good, with my favorite being the spanner crab omelet, which I had them modify to egg whites only.  I also had more smoked salmon and berry plates than one could count every morning.  Overall, I felt as if this hotel really prided itself in its food offerings by only serving quality products.  For non-Globalists, the breakfast comes out to just $55 AUD (~$36 USD), and I probably would have paid for it had it not been free.

Amenities

Amongst the other hotel amenities, we attempted to use the jacuzzi and swimming pool, but it was only open during "daylight hours", which actually ended at 5 pm.  It would have been nice if the pool and spa had later hours.  The fitness center was open 24 hours, but was less than memorable, particularly for a Park Hyatt.  With no real selection of free weights, the fitness center only had cardio machines and limited strength machines, so it could use some real upgrades.

The one free weight that the fitness center did have was an adjustable Bowflex dumbbell that didn't adjust and was broken.  I brought it up to guest services twice, though it was never fixed, at least not during our stay.

Bottom line

This hotel lived up to its reputation, and it was difficult to leave after a 4-night stay.  We made good use of the guaranteed 4 pm late checkout for Globalists and the bell service on the last day.  The guest services and staff were excellent throughout our entire stay, and the breakfast was consistently delicious every morning.  In the post-COVID hotel world where properties have been constantly cutting amenities and offerings, I feel as if the Park Hyatt Sydney maintained a luxurious environment and experience.  I'm definitely glad that I waited the few extra hours to be upgraded to the best available premium room, which had views that simply never got old.  Though 35-45k points or $700+ per night may seem somewhat steep, I would still highly recommend this property to anyone staying in Sydney, particularly if you've been sitting on a significant stash of Chase Ultimate Rewards points that transfer to World of Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.