After work I met Somchai at the Establishment Bar in the lobby of the Establishment Hotel. The hotel is actually a rare contradiction to my opening Sydney post bemoaning the lack of unique hotels. The Establishment is a small boutique hotel with about twenty loftlike rooms in the CBD. But the lodging is something of an afterthought, as the hotel has bunch of very popular bars and restaurants which are the real moneymakers. The lobby bar is constantly packed and very rowdy, a popular meeting place for Sydney yuppies after work, which means about 3 pm here.

102. Sydney, Australia Nov '03

Took a business trip to Sydney for a few days. Both Somchai and I had been to Sydney several times so weren't particularly excited about this trip, but it was the first time we had come together. Actually, Somchai was in Melbourne and met me in Sydney on Thursday morning.

We stayed at the Park Hyatt, probably the best hotel in Sydney, but that isn't saying much. For such a fun city that tries hard to be individual and sophisticated, it fails miserably in the hotel department. The usual suspects are all here, but there are very few options outside the big chain hotels. The Park Hyatt wins over the others partly because it's smaller so feels a bit less institutional, and also its great location along Circular Quay, across from the Opera House. It's in the area of Sydney called the Rocks, which is fun and atmospheric, and just a few minutes from the business district. Service is very good, which I have to admit is a surprising strong suit among the otherwise undistinguished Sydney hotel circuit. On the down side, the rooms are a decent size, but really boringly decorated with furniture best described as functional. Actually the furniture was terrible when we were there, but has since been renovated (as per the above picture). So it's upgraded from terrible to boring, not sure why they couldn't have actually hired the Park Hyatt Tokyo decorating team instead. Room: 5, Facilities: 7, Service: 7, overall: 6.