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We review club lounges at hotels in Sydney with a club or executive lounge. By reviewing each of these club lounges, I conclude which hotel club lounge is the best and which hotels I would select as having the best club lounge in Sydney.
Book a standard room at the InterContinental in New York, Paris, or London, partners of our luxury travel concierge, and you will get a guaranteed room upgrade and free club lounge access. We can also help you get better deals at all luxury hotels in Sydney, including all the hotels with and without club lounges.
If your stay includes club lounge access, you can expect to enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks throughout the day, breakfast in the morning, and evening cocktails with canapés. The evening food and drink offerings are often more than enough to replace the need to go out for the evening.
The club guest rooms themselves are often a little bigger and offer more luxurious facilities than standard rooms, with more space, plus they are often on higher floors with better views.
Executive and club benefits are great for early check-in and late check-out, as you can often stay in the club lounge room with all the benefits in the afternoon if you have a late flight. Conversely, you can use the club lounge and executive facilities from early in the morning if you arrive early and your room isn’t ready.
I have compiled a list below containing the club lounges available across luxury hotels in Sydney. I list the ones I consider to be the best at the top.
1. Four Seasons, Sydney: Club Lounge 32 Review
Most Four Seasons hotels don’t have club lounges, but a small number do, and the Four Seasons Sydney is one of the few Four Seasons hotels with a club lounge. You can book a room here that includes club lounge to get lounge access or can pay a fee to add this Sydney club lounge to your room rate (subject to availability).
Four Seasons Hotel Sydney is one of the best luxury five-star hotels situated in Sydney‘s vibrant central business district (CBD) and overlooking the stunning Sydney Harbour. The hotel boasts a contemporary design and offers world-class amenities and services to its guests.
With its iconic location near Circular Quay, guests can easily access Sydney’s famous landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The hotel features elegant and spacious guest rooms and suites, many offering breathtaking views of the harbor or city skyline.
Four Seasons Sydney also offers exceptional dining experiences, a state-of-the-art fitness center, an outdoor heated swimming pool, and luxurious spa facilities. With its unbeatable location, luxurious accommodations, and impeccable service, Four Seasons Hotel Sydney provides guests with an unforgettable experience in the heart of Australia’s most dynamic city.
This exceptional club lounge is on the 32nd floor and has incredible views. It is easily one of the best club lounges in Sydney.
Exclusive privileges in this private lounge, reserved for guests with Lounge 32 access only, include an excellent breakfast, evening drinks, and a dedicated concierge, all overlooking the city and harbor.
Breakfast is served Monday to Friday, 6:30 – 10:30 am, Saturday and Sunday, 6:30 – 11:00 am, and breakfast includes a hot-and-cold buffet, with eggs cooked to order in the open kitchen. Throughout the day, freshly brewed coffee with teahouse baked pastries and gourmet snacks are available, and evening gourmet canapes are served 5:00 – 8:00 pm. Drinks available in the evening include premium spirits and sommelier-selected Australian wines.
A private boardroom is available for business travelers, and for everyone in the lounge, there is access to daily newspapers, magazines, and tablets, as well as complimentary garment pressing.
2. Sydney’s Club InterContinental Review
This exclusive Club InterContinental is one of Sydney’s best rooftop club lounges with panoramic views of Sydney Harbour.
Located within Sydney’s historic Treasury building dating back to 1851, InterContinental Sydney underwent a grand relaunch in October 2022, marking a fresh chapter for the heritage hotel. The comprehensive $120 million transformation encompassed a redesign of the hotel’s guestrooms, public spaces, wellness areas, club lounge, restaurants, and bars.
This recently refurbished club lounge offers the following benefits: Early check-in and late check-out, room upgrade on arrival (subject to availability), daily buffet breakfast for up to two in-room guests, all-day light refreshments, complimentary Wi-Fi, twilight drinks and canapes, complimentary wireless internet access, personalized concierge, and business center facilities.
Sydney’s Club InterContinental on the rooftop of the InterContinental hotel in Sydney has arguably the best harbor views in town. The location of this hotel is also excellent, close to Circular Quay and the ferries. It also has a decent gym and a great indoor pool for families.
The InterContinental is right next door to the beautiful Botanic gardens (with bats that fly about in the evening – watch out for the poo… My mum was a target one evening and left the park with a special bat present on her anorak!).
The club lounge is located on level 28, with floor-to-ceiling windows that offer direct views of the Harbour and Opera House. The lounge is super stylish and modern in design, with a blue-grey wavy carpet and cream and blue-grey furnishings that seem to reflect the harbor’s colors as the sun goes down.
Expect the usual complimentary (wonderful) gourmet food, breakfast, afternoon delights, and evening canapés, as well as soft and alcoholic drinks and cocktails, to go with the sunset. The canapés here are extensive; a large selection of food, including salads, dips, vegetables, hot mezze, salmon, cheeses, and desserts, is available. It can only be described as a feast of large dishes for you to pick.
The Australian wines here are excellent, and you can enjoy them or beers and spirits if you prefer. This lounge is absolutely worth paying for at the InterContinental. It is the best lounge in Sydney for views and probably the second-best lounge in Sydney overall, along with the Four Seasons Sydney.
3. Shangri-La Golden Circle
Shangri-La Golden Circle probably offers the best value Club Lounge in Sydney, and this one has fantastic harbor view rooms too. Shangri-La has three properties in Australia, two in Queensland and one in Sydney, with a fourth due to open in Melbourne in 2022. The club lounge at the Shangri-La is usually called the Horizon Club or Traders Club and is accessible to guests who book club-level rooms and suites. If you are a Diamond member, you get free access to whatever room you book, with a plus-one.
Shangri-La Horizon Club offers perks such as check-in at the lounge, late check-out, complimentary breakfast, morning/afternoon tea, plus evening canapés and cocktails. The Shangri-La Sydney Horizon Club rooms offer picturesque views across Sydney Harbour and the Opera House, which are worth paying extra for.
4. Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park
This is our third favorite club lounge in Sydney and one of the best Marriott hotels in Sydney. The club lounge is great for its impressive food and outdoor balcony overlooking the park. This hotel is part of the Marriott Bonvoy chain, so you can earn and burn your Marriott Bonvoy points here, and it is, in our humble opinion, the best Marriott Bonvoy hotel in Sydney.
Marriott recently merged with Starwood, so their hotel portfolio includes The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, Westin, W Hotels, EDITION, Sheraton, and the Four Points by Sheraton, as well as Marriotts, JW Marriotts, Courtyard by Marriott, and more. Executive lounge access is a perk afforded to top-level Platinum Elite members. If you are a top-level Platinum Elite member, you should get free lounge access at both the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park and the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay. We still recommend that you book your stay at any of these hotels via our concierge, as we can offer you special benefits or deals at all these hotels whilst enabling you to benefit from your status and collect your usual points. It costs nothing to ask us for a quote, and we will be able to help you squeeze some extra value from your stay.
The Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park is right across the street from Sydney’s Hyde Park and, conveniently, right next to the St. James metro stop. It is around a 20-minute walk from Circular Quay for the Opera House and ferries to ship you around the harbor.
Book a Sheraton Club Room at the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, and you get to enjoy the hotel’s executive club lounge located on Level 21. The nicest thing about this lounge is the views of Hyde Park, St Mary’s Cathedral, and Sydney’s Harbour Heads, as well as the complimentary breakfast and extensive evening snacks.
The lounge offers a great space with lots of natural light and park views and a huge range of seating, from lounge chairs to seats with tables. There is also an outdoor balcony with seating, which is a major bonus.
The evening canapés here are a lot more than canapés. You can fill yourself up for dinner and drink yourself silly, too, if you wish. The food available includes prawns, oysters, salads, other fish, and trays of delicious desserts. There is also a full bar with plenty of wines, beer options and sparkling wines.
The lounge is so very good that it sometimes reaches capacity, in which case, you may get turned away. In this situation, you will be given vouchers for the conservatory bar on the first floor, where you get the same unlimited drink service and can order what you like for free.
Breakfast here is also great with cold cuts, salad, yogurt, and cereals like muesli, as well as hot scrambled eggs, bacon, etc.
Rooms here have been recently refurbished, and the bathrooms are particularly nice, making this the top Bonvoy hotel choice in Sydney. The hotel also has a large gym and spa on the top floor. The location of the Marriott Sydney, reviewed below, is arguably better, but we much prefer the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park. If views are a dealbreaker, you must definitely book the Sheraton and its club lounge over the Marriott and its club lounge, as the Marriott club lounge doesn’t have the views, plus the outdoor section of the Sheraton lounge and the sheer quality of food make this hotel a great choice.
5. Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay
Bonvoy hotels in Sydney include the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay. This is a decent hotel in a great location and is a good way to spend your Bonvoy points when in Sydney if the Sheraton outlined above doesn’t work for you. The hotel is right next to Circular Quay with Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Rocks, and Sydney Opera House on your doorstep, plus it is just a 2 -3 minute walk from the Sydney Metro.
This is not an ultra-luxury hotel and can’t be compared to the Four Seasons above. When you book in here, try to get an upgrade to a bridge view or an Opera House view if you can. The rooms are a decent size but are an uninspiring mix of greys, but the views are stunning if you get one. There is also a decent gym, an indoor swimming pool, and plenty of outdoor alfresco bars and eateries, as well as indoor options.
The club lounge or executive lounge here doesn’t have views but has a great breakfast and evening food. The executive lounge is on the first floor (floor 2) of the hotel, and it can be very, very busy, so busy at breakfast that it can be hard (but not impossible) to find a seat. The ambiance is a little refectory, with a vast dining and lounging area. It’s practical but not like a luxury lounge and not comparable to our best lounge choices.
Continental breakfast is served before cakes come out in the early afternoon. Evening hors d’ouvres are delivered in the early evening, with desserts following. Drinks are served throughout the evening, including alcohol. Soft drinks, tea, coffee, and snacks are available throughout the day. If you have more than 2 people in your club room, you can add lounge access for one or two people.
Breakfast is a nice array of yogurts, Bircher. Muesli, cold meats, cheeses, and fruits, and there is a great selection of pastries, including croissants and chocolate bread. You can also have scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon as hot buffet choices (these vary slightly depending on the day. It is a decent spread. There are also fruit smoothies and, of course, tea and coffee machines.
Overall, this is good, but not the best, Bonvoy club lounge in Sydney.
6. Hilton Sydney Club Level
You can access all Hilton Hotels executive lounges for free if you are a Diamond member, which is the highest tier of The Hilton loyalty scheme. Gold members may get free lounge access, but this is not guaranteed and depends on space availability.
The Sydney Hilton executive lounge offers continental breakfast, including a coffee and juice bar, all-day refreshments, afternoon tea, evening drinks, and canapés from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, plus business facilities and complimentary pressing/shoe shine.
This lounge is actually very stylish, following a $7 million USD upgrade to both guest rooms and the lounge. The restyled lounge by architect Mark Landini seats up to 120 guests in private and communal areas and offers a redesigned boardroom for up to 12 with built-in audiovisual and teleconferencing and two larger communal tables in the main lounge to encourage networking.
Of note, the Hilton portfolio also includes the Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Curio brands.
7. Sydney’s Swissotel Executive Lounge
Sydney’s Swissotel executive lounge on Market Street is located on level 9, and you can access this lounge if you book Swiss Executive rooms and suites. They say, “the Executive Club Lounge experience includes personalized services and indulgent culinary offerings. The lounge also features a dedicated private space overlooking the lobby that is perfect for small meetings or as a quiet workspace.”
This lounge is certainly stylish, but it lacks the views of some of the lounges mentioned above. It is largely designed around a stylish open fireplace with blue checked carpeting and white seating with pinky cushions. It’s nice but has quite a formal feel to it.
Included in the club are all-day non-alcoholic drinks, tea, and coffee, a decent complimentary breakfast offering hot and cold selections, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and canapés (including wines and beers), and a selection of newspapers and magazines.
Opening hours are 6:30 am – 10:00 pm daily. Guests above the age of 12 years old are welcome, i.e., no smaller kids are welcome, which may be a problem if you are traveling with your family.
8. Club Sofitel, Sydney Wentworth
AccorHotels brands include Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Pullman, The Sebel, and Ibis. Only loyalty “Le Club Platinum” members get free access to the clubroom level. The best Accor club lounge in Sydney is the Sofitel Club Lounge at Sofitel Sydney with private check-in, meeting rooms, a-la-carte breakfast options, as well as drinks and hors-d’oeuvres in the evening.
This executive lounge is not exceptional, but it does have a good food offering but limited alcoholic drinks with no obvious champagne. Excellent staff and a cute outside courtyard/garden area make this worthwhile paying the extra for, but it’s not a patch on the InterContinental or Four Seasons lounges mentioned above.
Worth knowing: Le Club Gold members can request an upgrade on check-in (subject to availability), so should book a room one tier down from a Club room to maximize chances of an upgrade. You can actually buy Le Club Accorhotels Gold status through the Ibis Business Card program. You can earn it by spending 30 nights or €2,800 EUR in eligible expenses at Accor hotels.
9. Park Hyatt Sydney
Of course, one of the most sought-after points hotels in the world is the Park Hyatt Sydney, but this does not have a club lounge. However, it does occupy one of the best locations in Sydney, right across the water from the Sydney Opera House. The rocks area of town. Bear in mind that this convenient location means that you can walk pretty much everywhere, and where you can’t walk, you can ferry to, as Circular Quay, with all its boats, is just steps away. Unfortunately, this luxury Hyatt does not offer a club lounge.
10. Langham Sydney
The Langham Sydney is one of the smaller Langham hotels worldwide, so it doesn’t feature a club lounge. It does have a spa and a lovely swimming pool, but you can’t book an executive room or suite to get Club Lounge access. Instead, we recommend booking a Deluxe room with a terrace and view of the harbor. The terrace is small but nice, with a small table and two chairs offering a harbor view.
11. Ritz-Carlton Sydney
There is an impressive Ritz-Carlton planned for Sydney. Plans for a new 110-meter tall, six-star hotel at The Star Sydney are progressing after the NSW Government opened the door for the development application and approvals process for the project. It is, unfortunately, some way off even breaking ground.
Sydney’s new Ritz-Carlton Sydney hotel will soar above The Star at Pyrmont when it eventually opens. The development has been designed by architectural firm FJMT, with company director Richard Francis-Jones saying, “our vision is for a beautifully sculpted architecture that will seem to grow from the great sandstone of Pyrmont.”
Newly released concept images hint at what we can expect when the Ritz-Carlton brand returns to Sydney after over a decade. The $500 million USD project will see the elite residences below the hotel rooms, with a shared Sky Lobby boasting a signature restaurant with stunning harbor views.
An adjoining ‘ribbon development’ will boast three amazing pools with views, two gymnasiums, a spa, and a wellness center. And expect an amazing Club Lounge when this hotel eventually opens.
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Image(s) courtesy of InterContinental Sydney Club Lounge.
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