Hotel Check: Pullman Hotel (Sydney Olympic Park)
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
This newly built high-rise opened in September last year, featuring a minimalist and stylish design, with comfy couches aplenty and artwork set against white and brown expanses. Guests can expect the service here to be on-the-ball.
Views encompass a multi-stadium Olympic Games complex where Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics, parkland and new apartment developments.
Aimed at business and leisure travellers, it is one of four hotels (all Accor-operated) at Sydney Olympic Park, particularly important for conferences, sports and concerts and often busiest at weekends.
WHERE IS IT?
Handy for factories and company HQs in Parramatta and North Ryde, both 10km; 18km from Sydney downtown, with trains to Olympic Park or rental car access by expressway. Tip: opt instead for the Rivercat ferry, 50 minutes to downtown along scenic Parramatta River.
HOW MANY ROOMS?
212 including 14 suites.
ROOM FACILITIES:
Capacious with large bathrooms, good-size desks, Wi-Fi and plug-in internet access. My hideaway was quiet, with no noise from the corridor or other rooms.
RESTAURANTS:
Only one – Bacar. Off the lobby, its “show kitchen” is the workplace of celebrated Sydney chef David Greenhill, who specialises in Asian-influenced modern-Australian fare; the pan-seared ocean trout proved memorably succulent. Waitpersons were knowledgeable but unstuffy.
BARS:
Bacar Wine Bar alongside the restaurant is much used for business huddles, with well-spaced seating and low tables.
BUSINESS FACILITIES:
The entire building is Wi-Fi enabled. Teleconference facilities are available, as are customary business centre services and several meeting rooms. The 16th-floor executive lounge, exclusively for guests on the top three floors, caters for small meetings.
LEISURE FACILITIES:
Onsite facilities include a fitness centre and jogging track. Across the street from the hotel is the aquatic centre, which hosted a number of record-breaking Olympic events. A golf driving range is a short stroll away, while an 18-hole course is slightly further. Movie theatres and shopping malls are a 15-minute road trip (taxis are plentiful). Cycling routes wind through the complex’s bicentennial park, so do hiking and walking trails, skirting mangroves and the habitat of a super-rare green-and-gold bell frog that threatened Olympic construction until its conservation was guaranteed. Tours are operated on the Olympic premises.
PRICE:
A Superior King Room starts from US$186 nightly in mid-June.
VERDICT:
Immaculately maintained and well staffed – with limited but excellent outlets.
CONTACT:
Olympic Boulevard, Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales 2127, tel 61 2 8762 1700, www.accorhotels.com
Chris Pritchard
