SYDNEY: Largest Marriot W Hotel in the world opens

Yesterday, Thursday, 12 October 2023, saw the opening of the long-awaited W Hotel in Sydney, by Marriot. With 588 rooms and suites, it is the largest W Hotel in the world. Marriot has been busily opening hotels across Australia recently including a Ritz Carlton and a Le Meridian, both in Melbourne,

I’ve been driving past the hotel site since they started building it pre-pandemic. It was originally meant to open in 2020. But, having gone through a series of building company bankruptcies, a pandemic, and a challenging design and site, the substantive delay is no surprise. Rumour is that with its curved design, no two rooms are the same dimensions. Probably an exaggeration, but you can see that this is no cookie cutter box design, where all rooms are the same dimension.

Size does matter but doesn’t come cheap

Looking at availability, the cheapest room I could find was for AU$ 587 a night, without breakfast for a Spectacular Room – which is slightly larger than a standard five-star room at 35-40 sqm, but with a view of Darling Harbour. Wonderful Rooms come in at the same or slightly larger size (36sqm/387sqft to 40sqm/430sqft) but don’t have the view. I presume they face back towards the city.

Fantastic Suites start at 51sqm/549sqft to 56sqm/603sqft and head up to the Extreme Wow at 202sqm/2174sqft.

For most of the rest of the next six months, the lowest price you will find is AU$ 789 for a Friday or Saturday night. If you want breakfast, don’t expect much change from AU$ 70 per person for the buffet, according to the screen grab above. And that’s the member rate.

Food and Beverage

There are four outlets, but one, at least with a split personality. They include the modern Australian BTWN, specialising in local produce, which morphs into ‘2AM: dessertbar’ by Janice Wong in the evening. Living Room is the bar, which is designed for daytime meetings, with a more party ambience in the evening. The signature space is the rooftop bar at the over levels 29 and 30, which is also its name. You can book tables for a 2 hour period with a minimum of AU$90 spend, or a default fee of AU$50 if you don’t turn up. Finally, there is the Wet Deck, which is where the pool party is, including a pool, sun lounges and Cabanas.

2PAXfly Takeout

W Hotels are not my go-to brand. They would be if I were 30 again, but I am afraid that ship has sailed.

The interiors here look stylish, at least in the renderings. The rooms are all generously sized as are the room rates. Still, you do get rooms serviced daily and a turn-down visit, which is not a given these days.

The hotel is expensive, but after you look at hotel pricing in New York, which I have recently, a nearly AU$ 800 room per night starts to look like a potential bargain.

There are no reviews of the hotel yet. One commenter on TripAdvisor complains about the booking and minimum spend of the 29/30 Bar, but more importantly, the lack of customer service on their reservations phone service. For an industry based on service, that is never a good look.