Short review
Note: 3 is average
Value for money: 4/5 (Quite good considering their offerings)
Services: 3.5/5 (Did not interact much with the staff, but generally everything was smooth)
Bedroom: 4.5/5 (Loved the spacious room)
Bathroom: 3.5/5 (Clean and spacious, but nothing to rave about)
Breakfast: 4.5/5 (Arguably the best feature of the hotel)
Facilities and amenities: 3.5/5 (There are many good facilities within the hotel complex, but they are also open to the public and not always available for hotel guests)
Pros
- Spacious room
- Very good breakfast for Australian standard
Cons
- Swimming pool can only be accessed within certain times
Long review
Novotel Sydney West HQ is one of my family’s go-to hotels for staycationing. The 4.5-star hotel located within the 20-acre West HQ entertainment complex, hence its name. This is my second review of this hotel, although we have stayed here fairly often. My first review is here.
As usual, we arrived at the hotel by car and there were many parking spaces available throughout our 3-night stay. Check in was quick and uneventful. The lobby itself is simple and rather on the small side.
The hotel has 6 floors in total, and our room is on the 5th floor. Opposite the lifts, there is a large seating area. The width of the corridor is also on the generous side. I also noticed a guest laundry and an ice maker on the corridor.
Our room is a superior twin room, equipped with two Queen beds and a sofa bed. Matching the generosity of space throughout the hotel, the room is also very spacious. Other amenities include a large work desk with connectivity panel, complimentary bottled water and soft drinks, and a coffee machine. A welcome note and a gift were already placed on the desk. The welcome gift was 3 pieces of heart-shaped chocolate, which was rather lame in my opinion. Nothing to see from the window as I only could see a car park building.
The bathroom is again spacious and clean. I would prefer the bathroom to be brighter though when I turned on the light.
Breakfast is served at their 33 Grill – Bar & Dining. For Australian standard, their breakfast service was excellent. They provided typical Australian breakfast, a good range of pastries, pancakes and condiments, a nice variety of cold dishes, and fresh fruit. For tea and coffee, they provided only disposable cups, which is not an environmentally friendly practice. We also enjoyed welcome drinks in this place.
There are essentially no other facilities within the hotel building itself. One55 Health and Fitness Centre and the SGAC pools are located within the West HQ complex and can be easily reached within a very short walking distance. These facilities also open for public, so the pool sometimes is not available for hotel guests because it is booked for swimming classes. Make sure that you check the schedule from their website before going there. Below is a video showing the overall experience, including the facilities surrounding the hotel and the swimming pool.
