Great location, terriffic service and wonderful view (from select rooms). We spent our 10th wedding anniversay trip (adult only trip is ex the 3 kids) at the Marriott and it was excellent.The hotel is a half block from Circular Quay which is the harbor area around the Opera house, Harbor bridge, dozens of excellent restaurants and shopping in the Rocks.

Restaurants Near by:

- Cafe Sydeny on the fifth floor of the customs house was our favorite. Need to reserve a terrace table overlooking the opera house and bridge, best inthe harbor.

- Quay on 3nd floor of Overseas Terminal has the best side view of the Opera house of any of the restaurants.

- Aria at the end of the pier just next to the Opera house was OK but I think over rated and we personally would not return to this one preferring instead to go back to Cafe Sydney or Quay.

Activities:

- Wine Country: "Red Carpet" tours out of the Marriott to the Hunter Valley vineyards was very nice. An all day event thouhg, 0730-1800...Visited three wineries, had brefast with the kangaroos on the way, choclate factory and a great lunch. We were lucky to have only one other couple with us.

- Live Music: "The Basement" litterally next to the Marriott is an excellent live jazz club (all AUS bars and restaurants are NON smoking:) )

-Bridge Climb: You get to go to the top of the Harbor Bride, makes for excellent photos overlooking the Opera House and city. It's a 3.5 hour event and is superbly organized, completely profesional and very safety conscious. You are connected to the bridge the enitire time by a cable but you are very free to walk to walk and climb ladders. A must do experience....

- Bondi Beach: A ~$20 tai ride away, it a very popular spoke for locals with a very nice cliff walk trail starting form here connecting to adjecent beaches. We enjoyed walking the trail, eating at one of the many side walk cafes and drinks from the bar over the swim club at the one end of the beach offers excellent views...

-Roayl Botanica Gardens: great place for liesurely walks and photo taking just next to the opera house

Shopping

- "Rocks Market" by the base of the Harbor Bridge was excellent for artisian type items of very good quality are reasonable prices. Most prices are marked and haggling is minimal. Lots of jewerly, photos, art work, books, puzzles, food items, kids plush animals, and some clothing items

- Pitt Street Mall area It's in walking distance to dozens of excellent restaurants.

We are frequent travelers and booked our room with Marriott using reward pts. We paid the extra surcharge for a room with an Opera House view, and it was worth it! We had a very nice room on high floor. The room and hotel were very clean. Our room was good size and the bathroom was large enough. There was a light bulb out in the bathroom and it was replaced promptly. Instant coffee in the room, not a coffee maker like you may be familiar with at Marriott's in the US. (Starbucks around the corner). The hotel is in a fabulous location. We were able to walk (or catch a ferry) to just about everything.

The front desk was extremely accommodating! We had placed an early check-in request when we made our reservation but our flight was even earlier than expected. We were able to check-in at 9 am. Check-in and check-out was very efficient. The concierge desk was very helpful also. We had rented an Avis car from their lobby (convenient). However, we ended up cancelling the car because everything was within walking distance except the day we planned in the Blue Mtns. The concierge helped us book a trip with a driver and 4wd vehicle instead.

There are hotels in the harbour area that probably have a better view but you will pay more.

Having seen how highly this hotel scores on Trip Advisor, I'm left feeling that some other reviewers could have a career as wine critics. ;-)

I travel a lot and stay in a lot of business hotels around Asia. This hotel doesn't cut it as a 5 star hotel. It perhaps just scrapes through as a 4 star, but more realistically, it's a 3 and a half.

There is nothing dramatic to fault, it's just old and tired and the service is hit & miss.

Yes, the rooms are clean, and if you are lucky you get a good view of the harbour & the opera house (but you would also get this at any of the many high-rise hotels at this end of town). And yes, the location is good if you are a tourist or if you work at the north end of the CBD (otherwise only average). There is an Avis desk with available cars at the hotel, which is very convenient. BUT, the bathroom is small, basic and dated. A minimal update some time recently didn't really disguise this. The air conditioning is noisy, and still has a not-very-accurate dial on the wall as it's controller. The furniture & fixtures show plenty of signs of a tough life.

No doubt, if you stay here, you will be comfortable enough, but don't expect 5 star standard. And for this money, there are better options.

I stayed here for work and was on the 10th floor. The room was on the small side but bed was large and comfortable.
I had a side view between some buildings of the harbour bridge. There are 5 lifts available so you're never waiting long to get down to the lobby. I would recommend that you pay extra if you're staying here on holidays for a better view.