If you’re after a trendy AF hotel for a Sydney holiday, staycation or random Tuesday, shotgun West Hotel Sydney.
Opening in early 2018, West Hotel Sydney has done a bloody bang-on job in creating a lush spot for a sleepover. And its new summer botanical room takeover takes the lush factor to ludicrous levels – or so I recently discovered.
Sophisticated. Edgy. Slick. Modern. Botanical.
This is not your average hotel. West Hotel Sydney is the first Australian appearance in the Curio Collection by Hilton – a portfolio of hotels and resorts handpicked for their personality.
A boutique, six-level hotel, West Hotel’s sassy presence starts from the street, with a jewel-like exterior made up of 333 panels of smoked glass. The sass continues inside with bespoke botanical motifs, deep tones and lux marble and brass accents, with ‘botanicals’ being the signature design throughout the hotel. Of course, all 182 rooms are fittingly decked out with sleek furniture and fittings.
‘Sleep Amongst Botanicals’ summer special
Being the cool cat it is, West Hotel Sydney regularly gets creatives in for a bit of a design jam. It’s just kicked off its second ‘Meet the Creatives’ style collaboration, with Australian textile and homewares duo Bonnie and Neil doing a botanical-themed takeover of a Banksia Deluxe Room.
The result is a sensory summer experience, with the hero piece being an oversized floral arbour that extends over the bed and cascades down the headboard. The floral canopy is complemented by an explosion of colour and florals throughout the room’s artwork, furniture, cushions and throws. Of course, there’s a diffuser for some extra smelly good stuff.
So this summer, from $322 per night, you can ‘Sleep Amongst Botanicals’ in the Bonnie and Neil-styled Banksia Deluxe Room. The package includes breakfast for two, two Summer of Gin Archie Rose cocktails, two bar snacks and a Biology skincare pack.
If you needed a reason for a staycation, this is a pretty good one.
Dinner and drinks at Solander Dining and Bar
The botanical theme continues through to West Hotel’s restaurant and bar, which is named after the First Fleet’s botanist, Daniel Solander. The botanical-leaning, modern Australian menu is broken into flora and fauna mains, or you can just choose the ‘explorer’s tasting menu’.
Then there’s the Summer of Gin cocktail and bar menu, which involves another collaboration – this time with Sydney distillery Archie Rose.
For our two included snacks (as part of the ‘Sleep Amongst Botanicals’ package), we opted for the cheese plate and Archie Rose Gin cured salmon. You can definitely appreciate Solander’s emphasis on sourcing fresh seasonal produce – they were both a solid A.
Of course, the space is equally lush with an open air ‘jungle’ atrium, dark blue and purple velvet chairs, and emerald green terrazzo bar.
Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin cured salmon with lettuce and lime aioli
Selection of NSW finest cheeses, crusty bread and fruit chutney
Lemon myrtle fizz (a cocktail of Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin, lemon myrtle, fresh pressed citrus, orange blossom and coconut cream) and a rose margarita (a cocktail of Olmeca Altos Tequila, activated charcoal, house rose and violet syrup)
Breakfast at West Hotel Sydney
Twelve hours later, after your sleep amongst botanicals, you’ll be back in Solander Dining & Bar for the buffet breakfast, which includes things like flaky little pastries, Sonoma sourdough bread and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Naturally, you’ll get an ‘I want to wear a bikini this summer’ bowl of fruit and chia pudding, only to somehow wind up with a heaving plate of hash browns, scrambled eggs and french toast smothered in maple syrup AND nutella.
What else?
The West Hotel Sydney’s laundry list of other cool stuff includes:
- In-room bluetooth speakers, raining Spotify from the ceiling.
- 24-hour gym to work off all those pastries and maple syrup.
- Free snacks and Nespresso coffee pods in your room.
- Big ass TV with Google Chromecast (I had to Google what Chromecast is and discovered it’s a handy gadget that allows you to stream Netflix, etc from your phone – love)!
Location: Sydney CBD
West Hotel Sydney is located in the western pocket of Sydney’s city centre. That puts you a hop, skip and star jump away from Darling Harbour and Barangaroo, and all the eating houses and drinkeries the two precincts bring with them.
Some of my favourite restaurants in Barangaroo are: Zushi for yum Japanese, Cirrus for fancy seafood, and Banksii for vermouth and Mediterranean eats.
Some of my favourite restaurants in Darling Harbour are: Planar for its whopping breakfast-through-dinner menu and Hulu at King Street Wharf for a modern take on Chinese food.
And this post has all the Sydney CBD bars worth their weight in whiskey.
West Hotel Sydney is a six-minute walk from Wynyard Train Station, so really you can conveniently be whisked anywhere. Bondi, Surry Hills, Brisbane. Ok, maybe not Brisbane.
After my stay at West Hotel, I certainly went to work feeling refreshed and illegally relaxed. Maybe it was the king size bed, maybe it was the Sydney staycation or maybe it was just sleeping amongst botanicals.
West Hotel Sydney | 65 Sussex Street, Sydney, New South Wales
Phone: (02) 8297 6500
westhotel.com.au
