Blue Hotel

Beautiful hotel, amazing location and wonderful staff.
The hotel was a delight to stay in, enormous spacious rooms.
The staff are friendly and attentive, right there when you need them, but hardly noticed them when you didn’t. There were no angry phone calls because I was a bit late checking out.
The hotel was undergoing renovations during my stay, which meant some minor noise in the day and a bit of a convoluted lift operation to get to your floor. However they communicated this right away and even included a well thought out survival package to compensate.

Nothing disappoints me more than a missed design opportunity or lack of free wifi. On these two points this hotel missed badly.
1) free in-​room wifi. Not having this is like not having a bed, being a traveler to all the cosmopolitan cities + a resident of NYC I figured this service was a standard — given that it’s 2015 and essentially every other hotel in large cities offers it.
I believed this so strongly I didn’t even check this when booking, hence my frustration when I was told it was only free in the café (really it only works at the entry) and was for purchase in the rooms. Given that it was $ 90 for 7 days (about the average cost of a monthly subscription for a household) I was not going to oblige.
2) décor. There is such a missed opportunity here given that it’s a renovated wharf — the industrial chic design aesthetic that is sweeping bars /​restaurants and cafes all over NY /​London /​Melbourne would have been absolutely perfect in this case, but instead they’ve opted to what looks like a cheap 90’s miami nightclub with tacky furniture, bad colored lighting and an overall lack of ambiance.
Given the huge ceiling heights the space feels sparse and empty — such a shame as this could really have been one of the best converted spaces in the city had they been on point. Being an architect does make me slightly snobbish of interiors but given my husband described of it as ‘madonnas 90’s dreams’ then I’ll take it it wasn’t only me with these opinions.
Given the high cost to stay here, you will get much better value and atmosphere elsewhere. Avoid.

I’m tempted to just write ditto marks around much of Julia’s review — she’s spot on with quite a few of her points.
The hotel does ooze cool and the staff are on their game. The restaurants outside make up for their hype and lack of affordability with location and location and location. And frankly, I think this is an awesome part of town. To the left, you’re just below a set of stairs that take you to Potts Point; one of Sydney’s leading dining/​drinking neighbourhoods. To the right, you’re minutes away from the Domain, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, and arguably Sydney’s most beautiful walk to the Opera House.
The hotel room was small, but nicely appointed and the amenities were lovely. (Make sure you book direct from their website for free wifi and the best rates.) The biggest disappointment was the fact that our room was right in the front of the hotel along the main road. When you book a hotel room on a pier, it doesn’t seem like a wild expectation that you’d at least get a slight view of water. But not in this case, unfortunately.
Overall, this spot is great for convenience if dining/​drinking/​exploring is high on your list. Don’t book if luxury is your top priority, or you’re hoping to accomplish a ton of business in the CBD.

I wish I had more enthusiastic things to say about Blue Sydney. If any of my out of town friends asked me where to stay in Sydney I would have said Blue but after my experience there I might think otherwise. I stayed at Blue for one night only as a birthday gift. The thing is, it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. The hotel itself is cool, the converted warehouse is done in style with a modern and chic feel. The location by the ocean helps too. The rooms are certainly a bit different to your average hotel room, mostly because they are loft style which does give you the illusion you are in a much grander suite than their average room. It all sounds good but there is a bit of a reality check when you actually stay there. The location, Woolloomooloo is great in the evening if you’re dining at one of the restaurants but otherwise it is a bit isolated and a bit ghetto. The rooms feel quite narrow so even though they are split level they don’t feel spacious. The room we had didn’t overlook the pier, it overlooked Harry’s Café de Wheels. For an average price of $ 350-​$ 400 a night I think there are better luxury hotel options in Sydney.