username 34

MY folks are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this new years eve. (quite amazing really considering) and they're looking at going to Oz and New Zealnd for 6 weeks to celebrate it - like you do!

anyway - they're looking for a Sydney hotel, close to Opera House etc for the nights over new years eve (30th, 31st, 1st, 2nd). I've looked at the MercureSydney which looks nice and not too expensive at $275 USD per night.

anybody have any ideas of a decent hotel to try or friends in the hotel industry who can help??

thanks

frogboy

The Marriott is pretty good, its a 30 second walk to the circular keys, I've stopped there a couple of times and liked it, I think I got it for $330 B&B which included an upgrade to the club floor - i.e. free drinks from 5:00pm to 10:00 pm and evening canapes, the normal rate was $275 RO - of course this was stating a business rate so it may be dearer for normal bookings. Apparently a night in the Shangri-La restaurant is good with views over the bridge / opera house although I think it would be pretty expensive, especially at xmas.

cheers

rodandhayley

The wifes sister is an events manager at the Sydney Hilton the hotel is less than a year old and very smart

pm me if you want some names to name drop

suzimc

We stayed at the Swissotel which is about 5-10 minutes walk from the Opera House over New Year 2005 - it was absolutely fantastic, and I couldn't recommend it highly enough. We booked it relatively late in the day (considering it was New Years), from vague memory I would say about 2 months in advance, on one of the last minute websites (can't remember which one, sorry - but there is a list of the ones I use regularly under hotels here: http://www.yellabrickroad.com/tempaccom.html)

We stayed in one of the executive suites at the Swissotel, which gave us access to an executive bar with a happy hour serving free cocktails and canapes every evening and a seperate area to eat brekkie away from the plebs . Between my husband and I we have stayed in many of the hotels in Sydney, but this by far was the best (although I hear the W is excellent - although pricey...I hope I get to find out for myself sometime!) of the bunch.

Here's the link to their website: http://sydney.swissotel.com/

username 34

thanks you guys - I think from those i can get somewhere very nice for them!