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Located just one street back from the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Sydney Harbour Hotel provides optimal accommodation for cruise guests. Overlooking picturesque Circular Quay in The Rocks, Sydney Harbour Hotel lets you experience Sydney’s history while placing you just a short walk from the CBD and other great Australian attractions. Choose from one of 176 rooms, many of which feature breathtaking views of the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House, at our premium Sydney accommodation and find a base from which you can explore this world-famous city.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Classic
Great View
Languages Spoken
English, Chinese, Hindi
Location
55 George Street The Rocks, Sydney, New South Wales 2000 Australia
Sydney Harbour Hotel
3,383 reviews
Getting there
Great for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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The Sydney Harbour Hotel, nestled in a prime location, has earned praise for its proximity to attractions and transport links. Guests have enjoyed the clean, spacious rooms with a touch of historic charm, though some suggest the hotel isn't quite up to date and recommend earbuds for a better night's sleep.
While the rooftop pool and views are popular highlights, the hotel's overall value is questioned due to dated facilities and inconsistent service. Amenities such as room service and accessibility could see improvements, with some travelers finding the service lacking.
Location
Convenient
Atmosphere
Charming
Rooms
Dated
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Satisfactory
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We enjoy the location of the hotel and that it has $35 parking (first in, first served, can’t reserve parking). Staff were friendly, happy and approachable. The beds are comfortable and rooms clean.
Two problems of note was the pungent smell wafting around in the lobby (like over flow sewerage) when I asked what the smell could be I was told it was probably cleaning chemicals? Also a little attention to detail would give the bathrooms a lift eg. new suction bath mats instead of the old mold stained one hanging up over the bath in room 506.
I think Rydges could do better, we’ve stayed at many Rydges hotels and we were honestly disappointed with Rydges Sydney Harbour this time.
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Date of stay: November 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Extremely Convenient Hotel location to Circular Quay cruise ship berth, just 10 minutes walk downhill & no stairs to the boarding point.
The hotel recently changed its name from The Holiday Inn to The Rydges. At just over $220 for standard room, very clean, great & friendly staff. Also, an Atrium central foyer feature and plus their foyer “happy hour” between 4pm to 6pm with beer/wine cheaper than other nearby hotels. A photo attached to the Atrium down to the happy hour location.
It’s location very low noise location and just 2minutes walk from The Rocks Sunday markets.
This only poor feature I give them is that on floors 3 & 6 nearly half of the rooms here have 7 steps to carry your bags up from the lift floor. So watch out for this in your forward booking. I attached a photo to show you the stairs
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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We booked this hotel with holiday inn & were not told it had changed hands, For a 4* hotel the service is poor. On arrival there was no one to help with our luggage, the room was adequate, the bathroom was a bit tired.
In the room their was tea & coffee making facilities but only 1 pack off 2 little biscuits ( when you pay over £100 per night you expect a packet each ) & the milk wasn’t filled every day The toilet paper was the very cheap stuff
The pool area was very nice although there were no cups for the water dispenser The staff were friendly but the cleaner did come early so we had to put the do not disturb sign on the door if we wanted to go back to the room after breakfast .
The location is perfect so I guess that’s what you pay for although I’m glad I didn’t pay for an opera house view as there was a cruise ship block the view every day.
I’m sure their are nicer hotels in this price bracket
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Date of stay: February 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Picked up a good rate to stay at the hotel as Sydney slowly starts to waken up from Covid. We were visiting Sake restaurant in the rocks so the location of the hotel was perfect. Just a street back from the overseas passenger terminal it would be an ideal base for exploring the area or if needing access to the overseas passenger terminal.
The rocks is a unique part of Sydney with all the small heritage buildings so was surprised at the size of the hotel foyer which towered 7 stories up.
The room itself was small which was not unexpected for this heritage area with a very comfy bed and all the basics needed for a simple stay. We stayed on the 7th floor which had a great view towards the harbour and opera house which was amazing for what we paid for the room. Whilst I imagine only a limited number of rooms would have harbour views, the roof top pool area provides spectacular views for everyone and there is some great tables to soak up the view. The room itself could be improved with some extra furnishes like some artwork, a larger mounted tv or some newer fixtures. Biggest issue was that the aircon system was very loud and made it difficult to sleep combined with street noise being very evident so not good for light sleepers but if you just want a central location you can't go wrong.
Unfortunately due to Covid, there was only a minimum food offering at breakfast, reduced room service, the bar was closed and the spa was not in action. There was also only 1 lift working which meant only 2 people could use per trip which unfortunately did mean some delays.
Overall would definitely return especially when the hotel is again operating at full service.
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Date of stay: November 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
When we arrived we discovered this was no longer the Holiday Inn. No problem with that though. We paid extra for a "Harbour View Room" and my advice is don't waste your money on a harbor view room during cruise season because that's the only view we had - a huge cruise ship! In addition, the windows were very dirty so that really didn't help matters.
This is a nice hotel with some small issues. The room was a good size but for some reason the sink was so short. The water in the shower was very hard to regulate and the options were either very hot or cold. The bed was very comfortable.
The buffet breakfast that we got included was very good and well worth it.
We were lucky to be there for Australia January 26th. From their rooftop pool area (very nice) you could see all the activities going on in the harbor that day and there were many! There was also an all-day street fair and entertainers in the area. Fantastic fireworks also in the harbor that evening. The Rocks is a great place to stay if you are visiting Sydney and a perfect location if going on a cruise since it is only a 5 minute walk to check your bags.
I recommend this hotel and location.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Don't pay extra for a harbor view room especially during cruise season.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stayed here this week to celebrate my birthday for 2 nights. We live in Sydney so it was a nice get away considering the last 6 mths has been.
We were greeted by friendly staff and very accommodating. I mentioned it was my birthday and I had been warmly wished a happy birthday and given a room update which was wonderful.
We checked in and our room was ready.
Was given room 606 and wow the view was beautiful looking through opera house.
The room was spacious and good view. We had went out for a few hours after check in .
It was missing a few things which I was suprised by -it didn’t have a mini bar, there was no hotel room information, or wifi passwords or any room service menus or any helpful information we could of used on our stay.
I was disappointed that there was mould in the bathtub, there was hairs of other guests on our desk and the bathtub rubber mat was mouldy and huge tear /rip in the mat . It needed to be replaced- we refused to use it.
There was missing any extra blankets and pillows that they used to do.
We were going to have room service but no menu not information on so we dined our instead .
We did have breakfast in the Playfair restaurant which was alacarte. We didn’t mind this and the staff were very friendly and helpful.
All staff throughout the hotel was really nice and friendly.
I had asked for a late checkout on the last morning as I was a Rydges member , they were very accommodating and said I could . It is very lovely to be able to sleep in and not rush on the last morning .
In the lifts and outside the lift , the santiser stations had run out of sanitiser, but we carry our own which wasn’t a big problem.
Overall it was a nice stay, we were felt welcomed and food was great.
We would stay again
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Date of stay: July 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Clive Wardle, General Manager at Sydney Harbour Hotel
Responded Aug 9, 2020
Dear mrscstapleton, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. While I wish you had a better experience, it is feedback like this that we learn from and use to improve. We work hard to deliver an exceptional guest experience, and it's apparent in this case that we fell short. I will pass on all the feedback to staff. I hope to welcome you back again soon Kind Regards Clive
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Enjoyed the location and reception staff helpfulness and friendliness .. services have been noticeably scaled back due to the pandemic it seems .. please bring back breakfast options at least or bar service on a Sunday night . Also kindly advise your housekeeper not to knock and try to open the door too early on a Sunday morning during my stay at 9am to clean my room as I wanted to sleep in ., I thought it’s more reasonable to start your housekeeping services around 11am so customers can get a sleep in on a Sunday morning which is what I paid the room for
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Date of stay: November 2021Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from michael Bullen, General Manager at Sydney Harbour Hotel
Responded Nov 15, 2021
Hi Verram98, Thank you for your review. Firstly let me apologies for the housekeeping team. I have taken your review and addressed your concerns with the hotels housekeeping department. Regards Michael Bullen General Manager
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I recently stayed at Rydges Sydney Harbour for my 2 year anniversary with my partner. We will always have a terrible memory of this night because of this hotel. The only redeeming factor was the view and location. Quite possibly the most disappointing part was the rooftop which is the centrepiece of the hotels advertising online. The hot tub was empty and sectioned off due to “social distancing” which means it’s been that way for months, yet no warning or disclaimer stating any change. We went up at 8:30pm to find the rooftop entirely dark no pool light and not even any lights which was a part of the stay we were looking forward to. The “24 hour room service” as stated on Rydges Sydney Harbour website was only available from 6-9pm. And finally, in “special requests” when making the booking, I made it clear this booking was to celebrate an anniversary. Our room placement was directly outside the elevator and conjoining with a janitors closet on an almost empty floor. So all day and night we got to enjoy the sounds of people coming in and out of the elevator and the maintenance worker opening and closing his closet and it being so loud it sounded like he was coming into our room every time! Not to mention LOUD knocking at the door at 8am and the cleaning lady trying to enter the room while we were still asleep. Terrible experience, I would do anything to go back and book ANY other hotel in the area. This being said, the bed was comfortable and most of the room was clean.
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Date of stay: February 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Clive Wardle, General Manager at Sydney Harbour Hotel
Responded Mar 25, 2021
Dear Z5971LCalexr, Thank you for taking the time to provide detailed feedback from your stay. My sincere apologies on the points mentioned, this is not the impression or stay the hotel wishes to provide. The hotel will review with departments to improve from your feedback. Kind Regards Clive
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No doubt about it, location and views are excellent. Unfortunately that is where the good finishes. I booked a Superior King room for the last weekend of July. I don't know what the room is superior to. It had a big bed and we were also using the foldout. Both beds to be fair were comfortable. The room size was an average size for any hotel and although I realise I was paying for location and views (harbour view of bridge and opera house) I did think that the description of the room as superior would have meant that the room would have been more than average sized. On walking into the room we were nearly knocked over by the heat, the aircon was on and achieving nothing, turned it to the lowest setting and not much seemed to happen. Being a heritage building you cant open any of the windows so we left and went out for a while. When we returned room still stuffy , had showers and discovered that the bathroom had no exhaust fan what so ever, as a result you had a steamed up room with a mirror you got to draw on and of course the lovely bathroom smells after someone had used the toilet just wafting around the room for some time. I am not someone that is described as a snob but there are certain things that you expect a hotel charging up to $500 a night ( I didn't pay that much) to have. Clean grouting in the bathroom for example. Soaps being replenished daily when it is obvious that it is in low supply. Effective aircon and of course an exhaust fan in the bathroom, On leaving I politely mentioned how disappointed I was with the room only to be greeted by a staff member that started to cry and then wanted a high five, Quite strange Would not stay again, just a little extra and stay at the 4seasons, sure there toilets have fans. Great Location Substandard rooms very disappointing.
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Date of stay: July 2022
Value
Rooms
Service
Room Tip:find another hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from michael Bullen, General Manager at Sydney Harbour Hotel
Responded Aug 7, 2022
Thank you for taking the time to review the hotel after your most recent stay. Regards The Harbour Team
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The location was perfect for our 4 night pre-cruise stay. Had a corner room with view of bridge and the Harbour. Room was large and as others have mentioned the bathroom outdated and sad. The staff was excellent. Check-in a breeze, room was ready early as requested and they offered late checkout which we did not need. Lots of great shopping and restaurants nearby. Cannot rave enough about location and friendliness of staff.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Pay for the Harbour view
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our room was comfy, clean & well appointed but not at lift level, had to negotiate stairs with heavy bags. Our room was also on the street side with a noisy pub/nightclub across the road, there is no on site parking however there is subsidised parking 200 metres away.
There are more places to choose from in the Sydney area.
PRICE RANGE
C$172 - C$266 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
holiday inn old sydney hotel sydney, old sydney holiday inn, holiday inn sydney, sydney holiday inn
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Holiday Inn Old Sydney
LOCATION
AustraliaNew South WalesSydneyThe Rocks
NUMBER OF ROOMS
176
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Yes, it offers wheelchair access, reduced mobility rooms, and facilities for disabled guests. For specific enquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.
