I had high expectations of Capella Sydney after staying multiple times at Capella Bangkok and being treated as though I were the most important person in the hotel, just like all of the other guest who stay there are. The attention to service detail at Sydney location unfortunately failed very short to meet my expectations. The booking process on the website was glitchy and the pricing was inconsistent, sometimes showing pricing including tax sometimes not without indication and only upon receiving confirmation via email from reservations was the price confirmed, which did not match the screenshots of the reservation when I placed the booking so I had to go back and forth with reservations via phone and email to simply confirm the accurate pricing for my stay. After creating an account to log on to their booking platform although the option of modifying the booking was offered, the feature did not work on the site, so you had to cancel the booking and book a new booking if you simply wanted to extend by 1 day. This is before I even arrived at the hotel. When I did arrive, it is of course, no small feat that the restoration of this historic building was carried out with the utmost respect for the architecture, from the flooring material to the fenestration and even the internal grand stair way was brilliantly retro-fitted with current code requirements for the handrail in a historically appropriate yet contemporary solution. The hotel does not have many floors, so I encourage anyone to take the stairs to experience the beauty of the restoration work. The recognition of the strong identity of the urban location and sense of place in Sydney’s CBD offers us a promise, an encounter, as the space of the possible. I wish I could say the same about the interior design. There was a real disconnect between the intent of the architecture and that of the interior design. The decoration at best seemed vague, and so for the guest experience, how could one of have a point of view about the effect of the design? The space of the expectant “possible” relationship I was expecting from the simple activity of stepping into Farrer Place’s south entryway marked Department of Agriculture, as local stories interpreting colonial history with ancestral elements of the Eora people by Waayni artist Judy Watso unfolded, or the sense of expansive freedom through the bronze Palazzo doors on Loftus Street into the latent quiet luxury of the grand stair was lost when I was met with the contrasting designs and colours of the lift lobby vestibule axminster carpet and that of the corridor carpet to the guest rooms, able to be seen in the same frame. Although an argument can be made about eclecticism and the use of curating a collection of exceptional vintage and contemporary objects this was not the case here, it read as a mismatched bric-à-brac (to borrow a Victorian word from the building time period that's true meaning in French means ”any old way” or ”at random”). This hap
- Guest User
We visited for my father's birthday and expected a lovely lunch but the whole afternoon exceeded our expectations. Kelly seated us and was so delightful and acknowledged the celebration immediately. She gave us the warmest welcome and was so amiable. Service isn't overly pretentious or stuffy, it's friendly and charming. Patrick our sommelier and Chris our waiter gave us equally unparalleled service. The food was next level but it's the service we received that I'd write home about. The recent renovations have been done so tastefully, finally we have an new icon in the city. Thank you Capella team for an unforgettable afternoon. Your team are a true jewel in your hotel's crown.
- Guest User
