My husband I recently stayed here for our 10th wedding anniversay. We had a very 'rare' 4 days away from our 2 children. After spending alot of time reading the reviews of all the hotels in the Darling habour area in our price range I thought the Novotel looked really nice.

I was bitterly dissapointed with pretty much everything about the hotel.

Firstly having been up since 3am we were hoping to check-in to our room at little early. The reception said check-in was not until 2pm and there was no way we could check -in early. The made absolutely no effort to help us. Anyway...... after an exhausting day in Sydney we came back to the hotel expecting to go straight up to our room only to be told that it still wasn't ready(2.30pm). They said there was some sort of problem with the blinds. By 3pm I was desperate to get some sleep and asked if there were any other rooms we could have. All they could offer us was a basic room (we had booked and paid for superior king with garden views) Not good enough. After waiting another hour or so we were finally taken to our room. I must say it was quite nice, good size comfotable bed. Bathroom was pretty tired, but it was fine. I must say I was expecting it to be alot nicer.
We received no appology from the staff or any kind of compensation.

The facilities were pretty poor too. The pool area wasn't very appealing. Was Ok at best. Same with the gym.
Breakfast was Ok, selection was average for the price. On our last day we went down for breakfast at 10am, we were told they shut at 10.30am. We assumed they would have the normal selection avaliable, but alot of it was gone, and not replaced. Not even any coffee!!! They waiting staff were packing everything up at 10.20am which we felt was very rude. Very dissapointed.

Room service was fine, as were selection of movies. Rooms were cleaned well. House keeping were VERY noisy outside our room at 8am most days, so don't stay here if you want a sleep-in!

We had another issue which we found very frustrating. We wanted to hire a car for a day and reception were really helpful. They gave us a price list, booked the car and arranged to have it delivered to hotel. Fantastic service!! However... they asked us about what time we would be returning the car, and we said about 7-8pm. We returned back about 6.15pm, and asked them to ring the car hire place(avis) to collect the car. They informed us they closed at 6pm, and we would have to pay $30 for overnight parking!!!! We were amazed that they hadn't thought to mention to us when we booked the car. very poor customer service.

Generally we both found the staff at reception rude and unhelpful. The conceirge were pretty good though.

The location of this hotel is pretty good, however I think there are some that are alot better. It is about a 20 min walk to where the ferry leaves from, and alot of the resturants and bars. Much further than I had thought it would be. Not great if you had a really busy day and just wanted to get back to the hotel.
I would say the location of the other Novotel is much better, also four points, Ibis, medina, crown plaza etc.

And don't even bother asking for a late check out. They were going to charge us $20 per hour. They did hold our bags for us. But no rooms to change in and shower. I had to unpack my bag in the main lobby and change in the toilets.....nice!

I will not be staying here again ,!st due to the terrible attitude of the staff ,2nd because of the very average facilities(would rate a 3star at best!) and lastly because I think there are other much better located hotels.