They like to make a splash Down Under. So it’s no surprise the long-anticipated opening of the new W Sydney hotel overlooking Darling Harbour is “making waves.” Its eye-catching, curving architecture adds wave-inspired drama to the harbourfront in Australia’s capital. And it’s the biggest W hotel among the 5 dozen W’s around the world, including two others in Australia, in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The hot, new, 588-room destination in Sydney has already become a new architectural icon for Australia, towering over roadways to hug Darling Harbour with its landmark contemporary design.
The eclectic and adventurous approach to luxury continues inside the hotel, conceived, like other W hotels, to be a new contemporary cultural and social hub for visitors and residents of the city, while paying homage to local roots and proximity to Sydney’s marine lifestyle.
This hotel’s street-level W sign, while common to the entire chain, in this case is inspired by the Australian flower Waratah.
An illuminated vertical promenade sweeps guests up into Living Room, a vivid blue space that reinvents a traditional lobby by turning it into a social hub, complete with an electric blue circular bar and nest-like seating that reference the Australian Bowerbird.
You’ll find marine-chic in rooms and suites, with a nautical white and navy-blue palette and undulating walls that echo the sails of yachts in the marina below. Bathrooms are marine-inspired, too, in deep oceanic blue, while walk-in wardrobes feature a burst of graphic, inflorescent red and playful pink Waratah flowers.
W Sydney brings four new dining and bar venues to the city across three hotel levels:
- BTWN embraces its urban surroundings and reflects night food markets;
- 2AM: dessertbar is a late-night hotspot created in collaboration with Singaporean dessert guru Janice Wong.
- Living Room's menus embrace the hotel's location on the edge of Asiatown with a focus on Sake and Soju, as well as Asian small bites;
- 29/30 is a two-level bar with uninterrupted harbour views; and
- WET Deck (pool) level bar at the peak of the building, evokes an underwater world with coral-inspired lighting, offering casual tapas and cocktails and incredible views over the harbour as well as an open-air infinity pool with a giant jellyfish motif in glass mosaic tiles; while
- Level 30 above takes things up a notch with elevated cocktails, a menu of vintage Champagnes by the glass, and the above-sea-level décor of a superyacht.
Business or Pleasure
You’d be lucky to have a conference at Sydney’s International Convention Centre, which is just steps away, and the W Sydney itself boasts event space for meetings or weddings or parties, including a Great Room with floor-to-ceiling windows with views over Sydney.
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Images courtesy of W Sydney.
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