Crystalbrook Albion

“The place to stay near crown”

This place is absolutely lovely, have stayed here before but have moved up in rooms. Go for level 4, best light and views, lower you look at adjacent buildings. Fantastic roof terrace to enjoy makes this place special and really close to crown street, bills etc. reuben hills is across the road. Big… more

This place is absolutely lovely, have stayed here before but have moved up in rooms. Go for level 4, best light and views, lower you look at adjacent buildings. Fantastic roof terrace to enjoy makes this place special and really close to crown street, bills etc. reuben hills is across the road. Big thanks to Vibhu on reception, will come back again and again

less

“It's the little things...”

Fantastic location. Friendly and helpful staff. Very clean. Comfortable bed. Would consider staying here again. However, there were some little things that keep me from giving this a 5: Most importantly--if you stay here, I advise asking for a side room. This is what we had, and we could still hear… more

Fantastic location. Friendly and helpful staff. Very clean. Comfortable bed. Would consider staying here again. However, there were some little things that keep me from giving this a 5: Most importantly--if you stay here, I advise asking for a side room. This is what we had, and we could still hear street noise. I wore earplugs to sleep and it was not a problem, but I can't imagine how it would be if we actually faced the street. There was also a loud banging in our room that we couldn't identify until halfway through our stay, when my husband discovered that it was both of our windows rattling every time the wind blew! He stuffed some toilet paper in each one (I don't know the details), and the problem was solved. As my last comment may have suggested, this is an old building--nicely renovated, but still: The lift was out of service the entire time we were there. (The staff of course took care of moving our luggage.) The water pressure was not good. Lastly, although the room was comfortable and lovely, there was literally nowhere to unpack your things beyond a little bit of hanging space. Again, the hotel is in a truly fabulous location, and we did have a price range that we needed to stay within--so we knew we wouldn't get perfection. All in all we were happy with it.

less

“Great Staff, But Our Stay Didn’t Live Up to the Michelin Recommendation”

We stayed at the Crystalbrook Albion because it was recommended on Michelin Guide, but it did not meet our expectations. The hotel itself was cool and the room was updated, but I would highly recommend staying far away from the “Cosy” room. It’s advertised as a room that can sleep two, but that is… more

We stayed at the Crystalbrook Albion because it was recommended on Michelin Guide, but it did not meet our expectations. The hotel itself was cool and the room was updated, but I would highly recommend staying far away from the “Cosy” room. It’s advertised as a room that can sleep two, but that is a stretch at best. No closet space, super limited hangers for dresses or dress shirts, and no walking space in the room. You’ll find yourself living on top of each other if you’re traveling with two. The small room booking was likely our fault, but here’s more details on where the property itself let us down: - Extremely humid rooms. We were traveling in March when the summer temps weren’t even at their peak, but we still found our room to be humid. We had the cool air cranked down to 20 Celsius at night and would still wake up to a humid room and wet clothes. - Drain flies were everywhere. We had them in our room and saw them all over the lobby with complimentary breakfast. - The walls are paper thin. The hotel advertises that the rooms are quiet, but the noise from the hallway and from the room next to us was very loud compared to others properties we’ve stayed at. This kept us up at night and woke us up early in the morning. - The spout on the sink in our room didn’t fit the sink, so we had trouble keeping water in the sink. The spout was too large for the small sink that it was attached to. - The lights on the safe in our room wouldn’t stop blinking. The orange lights on the safe kept us up at night. The staff were amazing and attentive - they are one of the highlights of this property. They did a great job of making us feel right at home and helping us with anything that came up. I would say it was a Michelin-grade staff for sure! We split our time between multiple hotels and found that the price of this hotel wasn’t justified based on the above review. Hope this helps for your next trip to Surry Hills!

less

“Charming but wouldn’t return”

Great location and hotel has lots of charm. We had a suite which was very spacious and beautifully decorated. However the suite had two televisions both of which were not working for our three night stay. There is lots to do in Surry Hills but we were looking for some downtime and would’ve liked to… more

Great location and hotel has lots of charm. We had a suite which was very spacious and beautifully decorated. However the suite had two televisions both of which were not working for our three night stay. There is lots to do in Surry Hills but we were looking for some downtime and would’ve liked to watch some movies and TV. Staff were apologetic but ultimately no solution was offered which was disappointing.

less