Rydges Jamison Sydney

We stayed five nights at the Rydges Jamison, and loved every second. The room was stylish, well equipped, very comfortable, with a nice city view. And the people, from check-in to check-out, were fantastic. We had a great, light meal in the Gallery cafe with one of the best waitpeople ever, were treated like royalty by everybody in the place. The concierge made a restaurant reservation for us at a great place on very short notice, and when we sat down, we were served a lovely appetizer "compliments of the Rydges Jamison."

Absolutely loved this hotel. Only one block away from a much higher priced alternative the Rydges Jamison was an excellent value, so close to the Rocks, the Circular Quay, perfect for morning walks and exploring the city by foot, we hardly used our rental car! The most amazing feature, however, was the bathroom. What a delight after a long day sightseeing to come "home" to that gigantic tub! The pool and sauna/steam room was also quite lovely. Would definitely stay here again and hope to very soon! Only minor issues would be the ongoing building construction next to the hotel and the somewhat comical attempts at concierge service -- helpful but not entirely "together" but again, you are in such a central location that its pretty hard to get lost or simply walk to the Opera House for tickets yourself!

I stayed at the Four Seasons (Regent) on my last visit to Sydney in 2001; however Sydney has become a very expensive city for US travelers since then. As I needed to save some money I choose the Rydges Jamison. The location of the Rydges is perfect, it's just a few short blocks away from the Four Seasons, the rocks and circular quay. The rates at this hotel are just incredible compared to other deluxe hotels in the vicinity. I was overall very happy with my stay here. The staff was helpful and friendly. I liked the design of rooms - nice soft goods and bathrooms and comfortable beds. The rooms have a lot of amenities including tea/coffee maker, cups, mugs, ironing boards, robes, and phone books. Every closet and drawer was filled with amenities and gadgets. This brings me to my only complaint with the hotel....there is no where to put your clothes (almost nowhere)! Clearly, this property was designed by a man. Overall, a very comfortable and convenient stay.

The nicest hotel I have ever stayed in.

Had 4 nights here in total on the way to/from New Zealand. Location is a great base from which to explore Sydney on foot. Was upgraded to a small suite which on return leg which was even nicer than the large room I got on the way out. Fittings and fixtures very well maintained and staff friendly. Would certainly stay here again.

I stayed at the Rydges Jamison in January 2005, and found it to be a very conveniently located, very comfortable hotel at a reasonable price (I paid about AU$180 per night for a standard room with a king size bed).

The room was nicely decorated and the bathroom large and very well designed. I felt the grouting between the tiles of the shower's wall could have been cleaner but it was not bad enough to complain about (I wrote about it on the review that goes back to the management at the end of the stay and received an apologetic letter soon after arriving home with a promise to remedy the situation). That is the only very minor criticism I could make of the hotel at all.

My room was pretty quiet for a mid-city hotel though unfortunately the view from the balcony was into a building site next door but there is nothing the hotel can do about this. I wasn't in Sydney to sit in my hotel room looking at the view anyway.

On the day I left the concierge was well organised when I wanted to have my baggage looked after for a few hours until my flight. The doorman was very helpful when I came back to pick it up.

To use the elevators and open my room with the supplied keycard I sometimes found rather difficult and it took a bit of practice to get it right each time. As a single female staying however, this security measure reassured me about the safety of the hotel as it prevented non-hotel guests from going to the floors that guests stayed on.

In summary:

- The hotel has a very convenient location

- It's standard room rates are very good

- The hotel and rooms are well presented

- The staff were friendly and helpful

- It felt like a safe place to stay

I would definitely recommend the hotel to other people and stay there again myself.

Stayed at the Rydges this weekend in one of the Jamison rooms at the top. Very impressed with the hotel in general, they seem to have sorted the problems out identified in previous reviews with keycards etc. Staff were very friendly and helpful, beds were very very comforable and well laid out, clean and quiet. Would definitly recommend getting a room higher up as there can be some traffic noise. Ideal location for most of the main locations in Sydney. Booked via watif. There is a building going up with a crane to the west of the building so best to avoid rooms on this side. Breakfast in the exec lounge is nice with the views, but can get short on food (and limited), and has one staff member serving, also drinks etc in evening. Worth the extra I would say.

This hotel is great. We stayed here for 5 nights in September 2004 and stayed in a standard kingsize room. The bed has to be the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever slept in, having a quality mattress and soft, fresh-scented bedding. I might even go as far as to say it was more comfortable than my own bed at home! The whole room was very stylish without being over-modern and all the usual amenities were there that you could need - safe, ironing board, hair dryer etc. The bathroom was superb too - large with separate shower and huge bathtub. In terms of noise, the room was extremely quiet, I never heard our neighbours once and the only noise to be heard was the (quiet) hum of the city from outside.

We made use the pool/sauna/steam room facilites which were free, and even in the evening there was usually no more than one other person there. The gym was also not busy and had a fair amount of equipment in.

The only downside to the hotel was that breakfast was expensive and really not worth the AUS$30 they charge. Luckily the hotel is a few second's walk from an excellent food court which served anything from fresh fruit salad to the full cooked breakfast at a much cheaper price.

The hotel location is perfect if you plan to see alot of the city. It was 10 minutes walk from both circular quay/the rocks and the main shopping area of the city center. The mainline station is also a few minutes walk away.

I would agree with a previous reviewer about the wireless internet service. We, too, were assured it was free but in fact it wasn't and was $11 per half hour through Telstra (and that's if you can get the thing to work!). This wasn't a problem, though, as there was an internet cafe a few blocks away that charged AUS$6 for an hour (or AUS$2 for 15 mins).

If we ever return to Sydney (which I hope we do!) then we would definitely stay here again.

Le Meridien hotel was excellent all around. Room was spacious enough with beautiful, modern decor, gigantic bathroom, great price for the room. The food in the bar was very good, and I was even served when the kitchen was closed, incredible service! Lunch in the dining room was delicious also. Hotel was very convenient to the Quay and downtown. I have stayed in much more expensive hotels, and this beats them.

Just off bustling George Street and mere minutes from Circular Quay and the attractive Rocks area, the Rydges Jamison Hotel (the former Sydney Meridien) certainly has bragging rights about its prime location. Once you're checked in, you'll be thrilled with your tastefully furnished, modern-looking quarters, especially your gorgeous bathroom. The top-of-the-line king mattress and the super-soft linens conspire to rank the Rydges Jamison among the most comfortable upscale crash pads I've visited; I enjoyed one solid night's sleep after another. There were also some thoughtful little touches that made for an altogether pleasant stay including an easy-to-operate room safe that's big enough for an oversized laptop computer, and dimmer switches for all the lights.Cleanliness was very good but not perfect the grout in my shower was suspiciously dark in a few places, and there was what looked to be a small burn stain on the carpet in the seating area.During my five-night stay, I encountered some other minor problems that perhaps warrant a little attention from Rydges' management. The pay-TV remote control has got to be among the worst-designed pieces of crapola in existence you could solve a Rubik's cube five times over before you figure out how to simply switch channels. Local calls ought to be free but are instead billed at an extortionate A$1.80, a blatant unkindness that never fails to raise my hackles wherever such a policy is in place (which is to say, pretty much everywhere these days). At the Rydges Jamison, taking the elevator is sometimes only marginally more attractive than walking up twenty or thirty flights of stairs. That's because the key-card slots in the elevators frequently misread inserted cards, then won't allow you to push the button of your floor (or any other guest floor, for that matter). Every day I witnessed people frantically trying to make the card work as the elevator was about to zip by their floor to the floors of luckier riders. One morning, even a hotel staff member riding up volunteered that the system's performance was typically "terrible." No argument here. At one point, the door connecting my suite to the one occupied by the stranger next door flew open without warning. Turns out a locksmith was putting in a new lock for whatever reason, and needed access to my side of the door.

Apparently, the concept of knocking was unfamiliar to him, and the hotel staff hadn't thought to notify me of the work.The most persistent disappointment was, in fact, the staff, all of whom were genuinely friendly and clearly eager to please. So what was the problem? The concierge and the front desk clerks are not always the best communicators nor are they as knowledgeable as guests might expect.

Consider these annoyances: I asked the concierge about tennis facilities and was directed halfway across Sydney. It wasn't until I checked my Frommer's Guide that I found a fine court in easy walking distance from the hotel, on Kent Street, at the bottom of Observatory Hill. The concierge had never heard of it (but was happy to make a reservation when I supplied the phone number). A check-in clerk informed me that wireless Internet access had just been installed the week prior to my arrival, and that this service was free to guests. Not so the service is run by Telstra and requires you to cough up a whopping A$ 11 for only half an hour online. Adding insult to injury, data speeds turned out to be maddeningly s-l-o-w worse, in fact, than on a dial-up modem. Skip it. It's definitely not worth the money (or the aggravation), even if service were free. When I wanted to take a train to Newtown, the concierge directed me to the correct train station just down the block, but showed signs of surprising cluelessness when I inquired about the 'color' of the line I should take. "Just go down there and you'll see it immediately, it's a can't-miss," she insisted. Wrong. There is, in fact, a fairly bewildering array of trains to board; it would have helped if she'd told me to take the purple (lavender?) line to Ashfield -- and if she'd added that I wanted the local, not the express.These criticisms somehow don't add up to bad experience. Overall, I liked my stay quite a bit, and I recommend the Rydges Jamison, albeit with the reservations outlined above. At least when I visited, the place was not playing at the top of its game

This hotel was reasonably priced, but so luxurious! We had a wonderful room with very stylish decor overlooking the harbour, with a bathroom that I would love in my own home! The breakfast buffet was good, and the staff were always on hand if needed. I couldn't fault it! And we were a 10 minute walk from Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. What more could you want!