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

What Would You Most Like to Get for Free at a Hotel?

The following results were taken from a Linkedin survey asking "What Would You Most Like to Get for Free at a Hotel?"

Linkedin Members: Comments:

Peter

Peter Jeffries • It seems to me that the bush is leading the charge in the area of free wifi! I also think the industry could learn from their country counterparts in the art of friendliness.

24 days ago Voted for Late check-out

Jan

Jan Dickens • Free WiFi should be available but I don't think Australia has the capacity to provide this. Hotel bookings should be for at least 22 hrs - this would enable the hotel to have 2 hours cleaning time and still keep their occupancy rates.

27 days ago | Voted for Wireless internet

Lee

Lee Oliveira • Australia is way behind when it comes to free wifi in hotels. Every hotel should at least have free wifi in the lobby. They would need to upgrade their system if a hotel was going to offer free wifi. Some hotels I've stayed at that offer free wifi are extremely slow because of the amount of people using it.

about 1 month ago

Phillip

Phillip Fitzgibbon • wifi should be free in Hotels, if you ask nicely you can usually get late check out free anyway

about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet

Makoto "Mak"

Makoto "Mak" Arai • Free WiFi for sure - Just imagine when you have to sign in and even agree to pay for such basic infrastructure, first thing at hotel after hours of tiresome flight(s)...

about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet

James

James Rennie • Absolutely free WiFi. You have already paid a premimum to stay there so why not offer something that is free in other parts of the world

about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet

Mathew

Mathew Thompson • I have recently returned from a Western USA road trip. I found it interesting that of the five hotels I stayed in, it was the "mum and dad" operators to provide free WiiFi and it was the major national chains who failed to deliver. Unless corporate's refuse to book group travel with hotels failing to step into the 21st century, they won't change their ways, vote with your feet people!

about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet

Carmel

Carmel Hutt • I would like Free WiFI and late a Late Check Out

Ella

Ella Conway • honestly, I think Wifi and Late check outs should be at no extra charge at all.

View the Survey

Metro Inn Miranda: Superior Rooms on level 4 at Metro Inn Miranda

We have been staying at the Metro Inn Miranda at different times of the year since 2005 and it has become our second home whenever we visit Sydney.

On Friday 23 December, 2011 we sent an e-mail to enquire about booking accommodation from Tuesday 27 December, 2011 till Wednesday 4 January, 2012. We expected to get a reply back saying "Sorry no room at the Inn", like Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus. Can you imagine our elation when the reply came back saying that their was room at the Inn and that we had a choice of either a Balcony Queen Room or a Superior Room on Level 4. Needless to say we replied straight away saying that we wanted the Superior Room.

On arrival we were handed the keys to Room 413 and we believe that we were the first guests to stay in that room. We had been over in April and stayed a short time as we had to attend a family funeral in Orange. Whilst we were there Dale Harlick told us about the plans for Level 4. When the lift doors opened at level 4 we were absolutely blown away with what we saw with the lovely colour scheme and the pictures mounted on the walls depicting the earlier history of the Sutherland Shire. We could not fault the accommodation at all, the decor was outstanding and very tastefully done. We took the liberty of looking through some of the other roomes on level 4 whilst we were there. We were most impressed with Room 407 which was obviously specifically designed for paraplegics and also has the adjoing room access to Room 408 if need be. We will certainly be highly recommending this to any paraplegic people whom we come into contact with and that are travelling to Sydney.

We commend you for the outstanding job that has been done on Level 4 at the Metro Inn Miranda. We can assure you that we will be highly recommending the Superior Rooms on Level 4 to all of our family, friends and work colleagues. In fact we would like you to know that we became the self-appointed honorary ambassadors for the Metro Inn Miranda after our first stay there in 2005. It has always been an absolute pleasure dealing with Dale and the Metro Inn Miranda Team. We have always been impressed with Dale's outstanding management and people skills. As we mentioned earlier we have been regular guests at the Metro Inn Miranda since 2005 and we are still dealing with the same staff members today. If all of your other Property Managers are of the same calibre as Dale Harlick then you must have an extremely happy and profitable operation.

We feel that you have made a very wise business decision and made a sound investment by spending the money on Level 4 at the Metro Inn Miranda, which will reap handsome profitable dividends for you.

In closing we would like to wish you, together with all your management and staff at all Metro Inns, a very Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous 2012.

Yours most sincerely,

Bill & Robyn Lambert.

Superior Rooms on level 4 at Metro Inn Miranda

“Great Rates, Excellent Location” - Guest Review of Aspire Hotel Sydney

This hotel it in a great location, it is on a quiet street, is 5 mins walk if that to the Power House Museum and about 10 minutes walk to Monorail and Darling Harbour. The rooms were big, there were four of us in the room, the staff were excellent.

You have tea and coffee making facilities, there is a fridge in the room but no mini bar (this did not worry us), but those who do like a mini bar they did have a vending machine type bar in reception. The beds were so comfortable, proabably one of the best beds we have slept on in a hotel in a long time.

The only negative thing I would have to stay is that the bathroom needed abit of a make over (this isn't a big issue), and that there isn't a resturarant that you can use at night at the hotel, they do have breakfast available in the mornings at $15 per head all you can eat (bacon, eggs, baked beans, sausages, ceral, toast, fruit just to name a few). Even with no restuarant onsite for dinner, the staff were eagar to assist and inform us where to go, we ended up walking 5 mins up the road to an amazing Pizza Place, the best Pizza I have eaten.

I will certainly recommend staying here and if we head back to Sydney we would look at booking here again.

• Stayed December 2011, traveled with family
  • Value 5 out of 5
    
  • Location 5 out of 5
  • Sleep Quality 5 out of 5
  • Rooms 5 out of 5
  • Cleanliness 5 out of 5
  • Service 5 out of 5

View Review 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/ )

No More Five Star Australia Hotels

The development of new five star hotels in Australia is looking increasingly unlikely, according to industry experts.

Room rates are not high enough resulting in lower returns, according to Tourism Australia general manager destination development, Craig Davidson.

“The returns just don’t stack up,” he told a conference in Sydney. “We see the majority of new hotels being built in the four star market which is where the new Sydney Airport hotel will most likely sit.”

Karen Wales, senior vice president research and strategic advisory Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, agreed that growth would most likely occur

In the lower brackets.

“Most visitors are looking for budget or mid-market accommodation,” she said.

But with even lower room rates, these properties were also difficult to make viable, she added.

Meanwhile, chairman and founder of Anthology Hotels Grant Hunt drew a question mark over the existence of luxury properties in Australia.

“I don’t think that we do luxury in Australia,” he said. “We don’t have the service or the staff.”

(Source: Travel Today, December 2011)

Brisbane Hotel Reviews: No More Five Star Australia Hotels