Review: Fraser Suites Sydney offers a stylish stay in the CBD

Introduction

Towering over the Sydney CBD like a giant atop a beanstalk of steel and iron, Fraser Suites Sydney heralds itself as one of Australia’s tallest hotel towers, with a summit 41 storeys above ground.

Offering comfortable apartment living in the heart of the city, the hotel is well suited to solo travellers for both business and leisure purposes, couples and families with children.

Location & Impressions

Your first step outside Frasers Suites Sydney will place you in the heart of the CBD and a short walk to many of the city’s major attractions.

Around one corner, you’ll find Town Hall train station, while a further block in the same direction will lead you to the boutique Queen Victoria Building shopping arcade and all of the upmarket souvenirs you can carry.

Fraser Suites Sydney can be found at 488 Kent Street, Sydney.

Built in 2007, Fraser Suites Sydney is one of the youngest towers in the CBD, soaring 114 metres into the sky. Designed to fit into a narrow city block, is a vertically stretched version of what you may know a hotel to be – built up, not wide.

This skinny design means the hotel's 201 apartments are spread out with only seven doors to each floor, beginning on the 13th.

Even the birds would envy this view.

Behind revolving doors at 488 Kent Street, the lobby is small with two or three staff members behind a narrow reception desk which doubles as the concierge.

If you're driving yourself to the hotel, Frasers offers an underground carpark along with a ‘Park and Stay’ offer which includes parking fees.

Room

Immediately on entering, the view ahead of mostly sky was a clear indication of our altitude.

Wrap-around floor to ceiling windows spanning two sides of the room lays out virtually the entire city before your eyes.

In the corner, folding doors allow you to create an enclosed sunroom.

From this elevated perch, Darling Harbour sits at our mercy, along with the neighbouring Chinatown and the western side of Sydney Harbour.

Darling Harbour and the western CBD can be seen from our window.

Designed for the extended-stay traveller, a small kitchenette runs part-way the length of the entry corridor, with cupboards and drawers loaded with appliances and enough cutlery and crockery to host a small dinner party on an adjacent four-seat circular dining table.

Inside the drawers are a range of appliances for self-contained living.

Opposite the kitchen is an internal laundry featuring a separate washing machine and dryer.

Beyond the combined living and dining area is the bedroom and an enclosed sunroom capable of separating from the main living area via folding doors. It’s the closest you’ll get to a balcony at this dizzying height.

Whilst we had a King bed, there are options for a Queen or Twin beds as needed.

To say the apartment is set up for entertaining speaks to the view, not the television, which is small and was sadly neglected in a 2020 property-wide refurbishment.

The modern convenience of a Chromecast to stream your own content to the TV is not available, meaning your evening’s viewing is limited to a selection of local channels unless you use a personal device.

Your digital concierge, William, can be reached via a QR code on the desk.

Technology isn’t lost on the hotel entirely though. If you need to communicate with staff members for any reason, scan a QR code at the desk and chat to William - the hotel’s AI chatbot - who will happily assist with information on nearby points of interest or arrange for some extra incidentals to be delivered to your room.

Work

Travellers visiting Sydney for an agenda of meetings will struggle to find a hotel better suited to their busy schedule, with its CBD location making access to taxis and public transport incredibly easy.

The expansive desk provides plenty of room to spread out your belongings.

Inside the room, executives eager to set up their workstation have multiple options. The dining table is large and allows plenty of room to spread out your papers, or alternatively, make use of a slender desk nestled into a wall nook.

The WiFi signal during our visit was strong and reliable, downloading at 30Mbps with no dropouts.

Eat

Frasers Suites Sydney can certainly claim to have one of the best locations of any city hotel. Unfortunately, it can’t claim to have one of the best in-house dining offerings.

Executive Chef Kris Wilkinson oversees the daily breakfast service.

Just the one restaurant on the sixth floor exists and even then, you’ll only find it open each day for breakfast between 7-11am, with a buffet and a la carte breakfast service. Guests may also order breakfast delivered to their room.

The room featured a large dining table adjacent to the living area.

Outside, a 30-second walk will bring you to the Belvedere Pub, while several more can be found by continuing on a lap of the block, along with numerous fast-food options.

Behind the hotel though is a treat for fans of Asian cuisine. With numerous entries on Kent and Bathurst Streets, Regent Place is a thriving hub of oriental dining, retail and entertainment helmed by the Chef’s Gallery restaurant.

The Mezzanine Restaurant serves a buffet and a la carte breakfast daily.

Phoning ahead to reserve a table here is wise as this restaurant is incredibly popular most nights, serving delicious Chinese dishes on an express basis with diners ordering through an iPad tablet provided at the table.

Elsewhere in this tiny food court enclave are numerous other Asian delights catering to those seeking Malaysian, Taiwanese or Japanese meals serving hot pot, ramen noodles, barbeque, sake and dessert delicacies such as Roji ice cream.

Relax

For a daily workout, Fraser Suites Sydney features a large fitness centre packed with the latest cardio and weight equipment which will get your blood pumping.

The hotel's fitness centre can be found on Level 5.

A curious highlight though is the indoor swimming pool. Whilst narrow and a little on the dark side, this relaxed facility features a clear window allowing swimmers to peer down into Regent Place to admire the diners and shoppers blissfully unaware of your presence above.

For leisure travellers eager to see the sights, there are many to select from. Barely one block away is the entertainment and shopping extravaganza of Darling Harbour.

Look closely and see you can see shoppers on the escalators below the pool.

Those eager to put some extra stress on the credit card balance can also wander up to Westfield Sydney – a short ten-minute stroll – where you’ll find the world’s biggest brand names in the world of high fashion, technology, and accessories.

Nearby Town Hall station provides access to the city circle railway, or the above-ground light rail, both of which will take you in around 10 minutes to Circular Quay for a look at Sydney’s most show stopping attractions in the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

The Verdict

Fraser Suites Sydney packs a lot into a small floorplan. Apartments are highly spacious, creating a homely haven with plenty of room to unpack, stretch out and enjoy your city surroundings. 

The lounge suite was extremely comfortable and a great place to unwind.

It is important to remember the hotel’s limitations from a dining standpoint. The in-room kitchenette features the appliances you will need to self-cater, provided you have made the time to visit a nearby supermarket to stock up on supplies, particularly with the restaurant closed for lunch and dinner.

The writer stayed as a guest of Frasers Hospitality.