Metro Hotel Sydney Central - Trip Advisor Guest Reviews

Three Recent Trip Advisor Guest Reviews of Metro Hotel Sydney Central:

“Good Central Hotel in Chinatown” - Reviewed 17 January 2012 NEW

This hotel is located in a very good location, right in Chinatown - extremely near to food shops, supermarkets, Chinatown shops - no issues finding nearby amenities. Good location for tourists as it is walking distance to some tourists attractions (e.g. Paddy's markets, Darling Harbour, City Centre), and is near to bus stops to further areas (e.g. Opera House, The Rocks, Harbour Bridge).

Hotel rooms I stayed in was a standard room (either 1 double bed or 2 single beds). Has TV (with limited cable), kettle, cups and glasses, coffee and tea, table with mirror, bathroom, and basic facilities. Comfortable room. Though, I felt that the room lighting is a bit too dim at times (with no overhead lights, only table lamps). Bathroom feels small and I had to bend down to reach the taps (not ideal for people with bad backs). Otherwise, room was clean and tidy. Good value.

I also paid for the morning breakfast, which was decent but wasn't great (it was buffet style with limited variety of food - got sick of eating the same food after a few days).
For business trips, etc. - Internet is not free, you have to pay a certain fee for it.

Pros - good value; extremely good central location; clean, basic rooms; basic room facilities present; helpful staff
Cons - small bathroom; need to pay for Internet access; very limited choice for breakfast

• Stayed November 2011, travelled with family
  • Value 4/5
    
  • Location 5/5
    
  • Sleep Quality 4/5
    
  • Rooms 3/5
    
  • Cleanliness 4/5
    
  • Service 4/5

“Steps from Chinatown, CBD, transport and markets!” Reviewed 9 January 2012

This hotel has a great location, one block up is a shopping centre with a supermarket, food clothes etc..

Paddy's market and chinatown is in walking distance, as is the Capitol Theatre and entertainment centre. Transport is all around as well as cheap restaurants and pubs.

We stayed here for NYE celebrations had no views of fireworks but we were in walking distance to Circular Quay where we had tickets for an event, the walk was about 15 minutes but this was fine, was pratically a straight line down George Street

The room was clean, bed comfy and tv worked, staff were good they refreshed coffee etc straight away when we asked

I would stay here again

• Stayed January 2012, travelled with friends
  • Value 4/5
    
  • Location 5/5
    
  • Sleep Quality 5/5
    
  • Rooms 5/5
    
  • Cleanliness 5/5
    
  • Service 5/5
    

See these reviews and more on Trip Advisor

Expedia Touts 'Verified' Reviews

No sooner had Expedia shed TripAdvisor in a public offering than it launched an online feature that certifies some user reviews of hotels as having been “verified.”

Known as Expedia Verified Reviews, the feature is a clear attempt to counter skepticism about the veracity of user reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp.

To qualify as a verified review, the writer must be a traveler who booked reservations through Expedia, and the stay must be authenticated by the OTA.

The verified-reviews feature has already launched in much of Western Europe and Asia. John Kim, senior vice president of global products at Expedia, said the company would roll it out in the U.S. and the rest of Western Europe this month.

“The innovation we are launching is a more relevant way to target reviews,” Kim said. He added that Expedia authenticates reviews by checking the writer’s booking history on Expedia and verifying a non-cancelled reservation at a hotel.

“We have introduced an ability for reviewers to target reviews based on interests,” Kim said.

By launching the feature, Expedia, which was overtaken last year by Priceline.com as the largest U.S. online travel agency as measured by revenue, appears to be addressing a hot-button issue: skepticism about whether user reviews are legitimate.

The number of monthly visitors to travel-review sites, online travel agencies’ review pages and travel blogs jumped 35% between 2008 and 2010, research firm PhoCusWright reported earlier this year. Such growth has fueled suspicions about whether some positive reviews are being written by the hotels themselves or some negative reviews are being authored by competitors.

“They’re recognizing that there’s a concern of accuracy and legitimacy of reviews online,” said Henry Harteveldt, an industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group.

He cited a recent research document by his company reporting that more than half of U.S. leisure hotel guests “expressed some concern” about the credibility of online travel reviews.

Such growing concerns about the legitimacy of reviews are best typified by the recent prospectus for TripAdvisor, the spun-off division of Expedia that was founded in 2000 and began trading Dec. 20 as an independent public company on the Nasdaq exchange.

Before Expedia spun off TripAdvisor, it warned potential TripAdvisor investors of possible liabilities in the form of legal claims stemming from user reviews.

The 184-page prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in July warned that TripAdvisor could be subject to legal expenses related to claims ranging from defamation and libel to negligence.

Additionally, this summer TripAdvisor, in what may or may not have been a nod to such concerns, changed the slogan on its hotel-review pages. While TripAdvisor’s home page says “Find Hotels Travelers Trust,” the wording was changed on individual hotel pages to “Reviews from our community.”

At the time, TripAdvisor called the wording change “part of our ever-evolving communication efforts, this time highlighting our commitment to our all-important community.” It did not acknowledge any concerns about hotel grievances.

Harteveldt said the launch of Expedia’s new feature on the heels of the TripAdvisor spinoff was no accident, given that both companies are competing for page views from travelers. Expedia hosts about 6.5 million user reviews, compared with more than 50 million on TripAdvisor.

Kim declined to specifically address whether the timing coincided with the TripAdvisor spinoff, saying only that the company was “trying to satiate consumer demand with its own unique approach.

http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Online-Travel/Expedia-touts--verified--hotel-reviews/

TripAdvisor Goes on Sale Today

Travel review site TripAdvisor will launch on the Nasdaq stock exchange today with an expected value of around $4bn.

TripAdvisor shares, being traded under the name TRIP, will go on sale at 09:00hrs in New York.

The company, which has websites in 30 countries, is being spun off by parent Expedia.

Expedia has been the largest buyer of advertising on the TripAdvisor website, accounting for as much as 35% of its total revenue, according to a report in today's Financial Times. However, the company expects to attract more business from Expedia's rivals following the sale.

After the spin-off, Expedia will no longer have any ownership interest in TripAdvisor.

By Linsey McNeill

(Source: Travelmole.com - http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=1150777 )

TripAdvisor makes Nasdaq debut

By Johanna Jainchill

TripAdvisor began trading as an independent public company on Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol TRIP, following the completion of its spin-off from Expedia Inc.

To mark the occasion, TripAdvisor co-founder and CEO Stephen Kaufer visited Nasdaq’s headquarters in New York City's Times Square to ring the opening bell.

“This is a truly exciting time for TripAdvisor, and we are eager to continue to innovate on behalf of our users and grow the business as we enter this next chapter,” Kaufer stated on TripAdvisor's blog.

At 11:24 a.m. Eastern, TripAdvisor shares were down about 5.5%, trading at $28.55.

(Source: Travelweekly.com - http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/TripAdvisor-makes-Nasdaq-debut/ )

Great Location and Decent Room - Metro Hotel Sydney Central

“Great location and decent room” - Reviewed August 23, 2011

The location of this hotel was amazing, within walking distance to everything we wanted to see and close to the monorail to get to Darling Harbour.

The hotel itself was nice. The staff were helpful - organising our airport shuttle etc - and the cleaners were so nice and accommodating. Our room was clean and comfortable, though we had a view of a giant brick wall :( The only thing I didn't like about the room was the bathroom, with some yucky tiling "fix ups" and marks on the bath tub. Also, there are 3 elevators in the hotel and on the day we left only one was working.

This made it very hard to get down to the lobby as everyone was checking out at the same time and the elevator was always full. I'm claustrophobic, so I had to wait a while in order to not have to squeeze in with heaps of other people.

• Stayed June 2011, traveled with friends
  • Value
  • Sleep Quality
  • Cleanliness
  • Service

Source: Trip Advisor

Great Location and Decent Room - Metro Hotel Sydney Central

“Great location and decent room” - Reviewed August 23, 2011

The location of this hotel was amazing, within walking distance to everything we wanted to see and close to the monorail to get to Darling Harbour. The hotel itself was nice. The staff were helpful - organising our airport shuttle etc - and the cleaners were so nice and accommodating. Our room was clean and comfortable, though we had a view of a giant brick wall :( The only thing I didn't like about the room was the bathroom, with some yucky tiling "fix ups" and marks on the bath tub. Also, there are 3 elevators in the hotel and on the day we left only one was working. This made it very hard to get down to the lobby as everyone was checking out at the same time and the elevator was always full. I'm claustrophobic, so I had to wait a while in order to not have to squeeze in with heaps of other people.

• Stayed June 2011, traveled with friends
  • Value
  • Sleep Quality
  • Cleanliness
  • Service