First of all, you should definitely pay for a room with a view. It is maybe an extra A$15 (EUR10) per night, and for that you also get a quieter room, away from the traffic. How many times will you be coming back to Sydney?

Over the course of a week, we stayed in 3 rooms here, all of them different. The Marriott it ain't. The air conditioning broke in the first room, after it was unable to cope with being turned off for an hour (huh?). The second was slightly less convenient - on which more below - and since we hadn't fully moved in we plumped for the one next door to our original room.

The staff are excellent and were able to check us in at 11am - rooms are cleaned in an order which suits the guests, which sounds obvious but rarely happens.

It's fair to say that the accommodation is a little basic and could probably do with some renovation. You are not going to be able to cook a gourmet meal here, but it's fine for an omlette and toast. Chief amongst the problems are a lack of storage space in many rooms. Our first room - a wooden floored space - had drawers within the bed. The second had basically nothing, and the third was ok.

There are two types of room with a view. Some face the eastern end of the harbour, others face the Bridge and Opera House. (The hotel won't guarantee which you will get by paying for the view, but it's worth asking anyway.) The latter is, as you would expect, spectacular. However, the rooms here seem to be more dated, and they are also over the road, which means more noise, though 9 floors up that won't bother anyone used to living in a city. The views facing the other way are not so bad either, it should be said.

The location is not bad. Most people, including my 70 year old mother-in-law, could walk into the CBD and back comfortably, though it's rather hilly (hence the views). Kings Cross station is a 10 min walk away, and from there you can get to Bondi or to the central district. If you're trying to get to the main tourist attractions, walking might be more convenient than changing trains. Since the bus only runs every half hour, we didn't bother with it. Taxis run past all the time, including 5am when we had to leave for the airport. Don't bother booking.

Yes, Kings Cross is a red light district, but it isn't so bad (and it's one of the few places in the city where you can eat late - everyone else seems to go to bed early here). Anyway, the hotel is outside that strip, in a fairly pleasant mainly residential street.

Overall, we'd be happy to stay here again and probably wouldn't bother looking anywhere else, unless the rooms with views were all unavailable. But there's no doubt that the rooms are of variable quality, and it's worth asking to see a couple if there are any free.

Stayed in room 901, while room a little dated the view more than made up for it. Had recently read to ensure 8th or 9th floors to get a great view - our room had view of city, Opera House, Bridge and right around to the North Heads.

We arrived around 11am and they went to work on our room and had it ready for us in 1/2 hour - staff were most helpful.

Good rates are available through AAA.

My Mother and I stayed overnight whilst the QM2 & QE2 were in Sydney Harbour. Our room on the 4th floor, whilst older in style, was very clean with a pleasant smell on entering. Our window view was down Sydney Harbour to the Heads and we had a fantastic view of the QE2 arriving and the QM2 departing. The hotel management opened the roof area for the QE2 arrival, the fireworks display, for which we had one of the best views possible. The kitchinette had all you could need and we intend staying there next year when the new QV2 visits our shores. The staff were most helpful and the hotel is surrounded by restaurants, cafes,a wonderful deli and a Woolworths supermarket across the road. All services are at the door. I disagree with the negative responses for this hotel, it was value for money.

I booked into the Macleay apartments on 2 January for 10 nights and agreed a rate for the period. The room and service were fine and the staff friendly, until checkout when I found that the hotel charged me significantly more than the rate I had agreed. When I pointed this out, I had nothing in writing to support my case. I had asked for this on check-in, to be told details were entered into the computer system and everything was fine. So, make sure you have something in writing with them before checking in as to how much you will be expected and are prepared to pay.