I have stayed in many different Sydney hotels and this time around I searched for a well located hotel within Sydney for a reasonable rate for a one night stay just before Christmas. With a rate of $99 for a Sunday night stay in Sydney, Capitol Square Hotel appeared to fit the bill for this, so I was happy to book through the Rydges.com website.

Upon my arrival at the hotel late on the Sunday evening, the reception was attended by two staff members, one of whom was on the phone, the other simply looked up at me blankly and said "check in with what name?" I mean come on, it takes only a few seconds more to actually say hello and actually get to know your guest, so I was rightly annoyed at this lack of courtesy. The same staff member then thrust a registration card at me and simply said "can i have your credit card so I can take an imprint". Why bother employing staff when they do not actually bother to get to know their guests?

I was allocated a room on the 5th floor of the hotel, and told by the staff member that this was "the good floor to be on", well if this was the good floor I would really hate to see the other ones! The room had splotchy marks all over the carpets, dented old furniture and to make things even worse the bathroom was literally the size of a closet and did not have any towels at all! So I had to call back downstairs to reception to ask for some towels to be sent up to my room. I called twice and on both occasions the number simply rang out, on the third attempt my request was finally answered by a staff member who treated my call with contempt and merely stated that they would "bring them up when they got a moment", I mean I am a paying guest, surely my concerns are a priority.

Checking out early on Monday morning was certainly very fast, I arrived at the reception desk and said that I was checking out, the staff member merely said back to me "what room" and then proceeded to check me out without even a moments pause. My request to speak to someone about my stay merely yielded a response of "the manager will not be here until 9am and I can't help you", I have stayed at many different hotels in Sydney and elsewhere, and this is the first time that I have actually been told that my opinion is worthless.

This hotel has a great location at the heart of the entertainment district with Darling Harbour nearby. However the service here is simply appalling and definately not up to the standards of a Rydges property. Throughout my stay I gained the impression that I was simply not important enough to be listened to, and that the staff simply do not care as long as you pay up and get out in time. Next time I am in Sydney and paying for my own accommodation I will definately be staying at Ibis World Square or Metro on Pitt, who I am sure will actually appreciate and enjoy having me as a guest.

My friend and I were only in Sydney for one night to go to a concert, so we were happy to stay in a budget hotel in a busy area. The place wasn’t too noisy, and the location is fantastic, a short 5 minute walk to central station and heaps of shops, restaurants etc. The bathroom and room were clean, apart from the doona cover which had urine stains and the carpet which had a large orange stain (not that the carpet matters). However, it was the poor service we received when we arrived that turned us off.

I was called the day before the booking and informed that there was an error with wotif.com; the website kept taking bookings even though they were full, so they were now overbooked. The lady was very nice, and explained that they’d arranged accommodation for us across the road at the Metro, which has the same star-rating and amenities and would be the same price. For the inconvenience, Capitol would throw in a complimentary breakfast, too.

We arrived at the Metro and waited in line a while, and when we got to the desk the staff couldn’t find our booking. About ten minutes was spent waiting in line and then waiting for the staff to go through the system to find us, checking with other staff, etc. Then we were told they needed to call the Capitol, because they couldn’t find our booking. I wasn’t too happy about all the waiting as we had a tight turnaround time before we had to leave for our concert, and we were hoping to get a nanna nap in before we left.

We waited another ten minutes while the Metro staff tried for a while to get through to the Captitol (either the phone was busy or no-one was answering) but we were finally told that the Capitol DID have a room for us. Now that’s inconvenience: waiting in line when you’re tired, hungry and thirsty for no reason whatsoever.

We got to Capitol and waited in line some more. We overheard the clerk say to the customers in front of us as they left for their room, that they were in the “good” side of the hotel, meaning away from the street and the roadworks. How unprofessional to say that at all -admitting that there’s a good and bad side to a hotel when you pay the same rate- and worse, in front of other customers!?

We were given our room key and I asked if breakfast was still included; in my opinion we’d been stuffed around more waiting across the road unnecessarily than we would have been if we’d actually checked in to the Metro. The clerk checked our paperwork and said that our booking didn’t include it. I explained that we’d been told we were now getting complimentary breakfast, to which the manager told the clerk right in front of us (we weren’t important enough to be acknowledged) that no, our booking didn’t come with breakfast, and we weren’t supposed to go to the Metro at all (as if it was our fault we went there).

We were told to go to the Metro by Capitol, but they wouldn’t admit their mistake nor make good on their conciliation for the hassle. Annoyed, I pointed out that they’d wasted our time, about half an hour (meaning no nap). Indirectly, the clerk then accused us of lying, by checking his watch and saying it’d only been ten minutes since he received the phone call from the Metro. Again, they didn’t seem to grasp the fact that it was their fault we were waiting 20 minutes at the Metro, not the Metros or ours.

The Capitol’s handling of the issue made us feel completely undervalued; a free breakfast is nothing compared to the loss of repeat business from people who stay in Sydney CBD regularly. So there you have it: location good; amenities okay; service appalling.

Don't agree w/ other reviewer. In fact, our floor was being painted during our stay (rooms & halls). Only heard street noise if window was left open. As it's the end of autumn, beginning of winter didn't even try the A/C. Never tried the dining room as I agree $10 is a bit much for breakfast when all I need is a piece of fruit or a muffin. Central Station was about as far as Darling Harbour, a 10-15 minute walk. We even walked up George St. to Queen Elizabeth Mall so it's really conveniently located. 2 blocks from Paddy's Market, banks everywhere, & a Starbucks right next door. Many Asian restaurants in the area as you're in Chinatown. Found a laundrymat between the hotel & Central Stn. I'd say better than the YHA 2 blocks away.

My parents and I stayed in the family room for 4 nights in June 07. Upon arrival we were asked to deposit $50 for 10 days which we weren't aware of (we booked throu Expedia.com.au and no such info was available). The room was small which we didnt mind. The floor boards throughout the room made noise everytime you walked. The bed cover was faded ad had many stains and a few holes. The beds are certainly not comfortable. One major issue we had was the Air Conditioning unit in the room was blowing cold air in the middle of the night. Breakfast is quite simple and not worth $10. One thing that we were quite annoyed about was the fact that the hotel is dirty by anyone's standard. The towels are well used and in need of replacement.

In my opinion the hotel is not a 3 star hotel. The hotel has vending machines for alcohol, bevereges,snacks, toothbrushes, etc... so you cannot really say that this is a hotel, it had a hostel feel to it. I was aware that the hotel went through a soft refurbishing but I think soft refurbishing meant that they changed the carpet only.

Location is not very good, it takes over 10 mins to walk to central station or the Town Hall station. The hotel is not too far to Darling Harbour which seems to be the only positive side of the hotel.

Being on a main street, it is very noisy at nights, there is a bar/pub downstairs which adds to the street noise! There are also restaurants on the other side of the hotel and you can definitely hear the noise when you are n the hallways.

I suggest to shop around for a hotel in sydney, this hotel is too expensive for $95-$115 a night for 2, mainly because it is a run down hotel, uncomfortable and lacks the wow factor. Hotels around the Central Station are cheaper and in better condition, although it feels that they are not really in town but are only seconds from the central station which means that for a day ticket you can go pretty much every where in town faster and with less walking.