Hotwire Hotel: 3* Sydney (Darling Harbour - Chinatown) Y Hotel City South

[ElPal]

Note, this area is now called Darling Harbour, Chinatown, Chippendale Area and this is a new property for the hotel list.

 

Amenities shown:

 

Free breakfast
Airport shuttle
Smoke-free rooms
Internet access
Accessibility
Accessible path of travel
In-room accessibility
Wheelchair accessible
Accessible bathroom
Accessible parking
Roll-in shower

 

This price is actually more than Hotwire's standard rate hotels rate for the property so I have issued a refund request for them to issue a refund for the difference. Hopefully they will honour it.

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and helping us add this property to the Hotwire Hotel List (and for letting us know of the new zones/boundaries in this area... we have added this region to the 'to do' list for updating)

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

[ElPal]

Oops I forgot to mention i had, as always, used your PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links. 

 

BTW, did you know that Expe.dia is Hot.wire's parent company?

[thereuare]

Oops I forgot to mention i had, as always, used your PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links.

THANKS!

 

BTW, did you know that Expedia is HOTWIRE's parent company?

Yup... and they also now own Travelocity, Hotels.com, and a slew of other internet travel related companies.

[ElPal]

THANKS!

 

Yup... and they also now own Travelocity, Hotels.com, and a slew of other internet travel related companies.

Well that hotel was an absolute nightmare and I highly recommend that everyone avoid it at all costs.

 

Please see below an extract of my complaint letter to management which sets out the issues I encountered over my 3 night stay:

 

"I stayed with you from Sunday 10 May til this morning Wednesday 13 May. The stay was far from restful and relaxing but was in fact a nightmare! Over 3 nights I have stayed in 3 unsatisfactory rooms. Your day reception staff member, Christophe, is the only saving grace of your establishment.

 

First room: 29

Firstly, I was given a room (29 from memory) with twin beds and when I asked if there was any possibility of having a room with a double bed instead (despite it being correct that I didn't have a particular room type reserved), I was advised by Mohammed that there were no double double rooms available at the hotel.

This was clearly incorrect as I went to the Expedia website and found double rooms available for the dates of my stay while he was telling me that. Then he told me that "well yes we have rooms but you can only book them via our agents as we have given our rooms to them".

In any event, he informed me that on the Monday morning I should be able to swap to a double bedded room.

 

However, the issue with that room was not just the choice of bedding. The fridge was noisy and kept me awake throughout the night, the window once opened did not close and the window blind winder did not function meaning that I was left with a blind half open letting in all the street light, which also prevented sleep. In addition the telephone in the room was faulty with the line being extremely crackly when I tried to call reception.

 

Second room: 81

On the Monday morning, Christophe apologised for Mohammed not knowing what to do and transferred me to room 81. On first appearences this room seemed satisfactory. When I had a brief nap that afternoon, I was disturbed to be able to smell what I suspected may be cologne on the sheets but thought I must have been wrong. Surely the bed had been changed not merely re-made.

 

However, the real issues appeared when I returned from dinner that night to find several large cockroaches around the inside of the door and baby cockroaches running around the bathroom sink and over my toothbrush laying on the vanity. This was a horrible way to return to the hotel and turned my stomach.

My friend went downstairs to reception, where again Mohammed was rostered on. When told about the cockroaches, he didn't seem concerned and instead presented my friend with a "bug bomb" and told us to set it off and leave the room and come back in an hour.

 

This is not good enough at all. Your guests should not have to be setting off insect repellants in your rooms, nor should they be told at 10:15pm to leave the room and come back in an hour.

Again, Mohammed told us that he told us that there were no other rooms to transfer us to and nothing he could do.

 

Yet, suddenly when I was on the phone to Hotwire, through whom  I had booked your hotel, seeing me on the phone, Mohammed then said "I do have a room" and presented me with the key to room 23.

 

Third room: 23

I was then given room 23. By this point it was about 10:30pm and all I wanted was to be able to relax and have a good night's sleep, particularly after the lack of sleep the night before.

However, this room was also not without problems. The two lights above the bed do not work with any of the 3 switches available to do so. Again, the fridge makes a really loud rattling sound, which disturbs sleep. The TV says that it has no channels tuned in. The shower door is extremely difficult to slide open and closed and is also falling off its frame.

 

And on my last night there, last night, I again discovered baby cockroaches in the bathroom. I was too exhausted by this point to swap to a 4th room for my 3rd night at your hotel and decided to just put up with it and try my best to get some sleep.

 

However, sleep was again not to be as when when I was trying to sleep last night I could hear both loud conversation and throat clearing/spitting from a nearby room, which again prevented sleep.

 

Then I could smell cigarette smoke in my room despite not having the window open and despite the hotel being a non-smoking hotel.

 

I tried to use the phone in the room to call reception but on the 4 attempts I made, it was engaged. I then called the hotel telephone number from my mobile and was answered. The man I spoke to then went and knocked on a door near my room (I could hear him) and told them to quieten down and stop smoking. The smell temporarily stopped but about 15 minutes later recommenced. I was totally worn out by this point and too exasperated to deal with any more issues and so just tried to get to sleep.

 

To have all 3 rooms in such a state of disrepair and filth (cockroaches) is appalling. It is unbelievable that you have actually renovated the hotel at all as it is falling apart and at least 2 of the 3 rooms I stayed in had cockroaches in them, which also suggests a lack of cleanliness and thorough cleaning."