Metro Hotel Marlow Sydney Central

The bed and pillow were very comfortable, and the room was clean and quiet. The hotel is also well placed for transport and attractions. But there was no internet in our room. We called the front desk and were told maintenance would look at it. An hour later, they said maintenance was still working on it and suggested we log on in the lobby, then return to the room and check. We did, and it still didn’t work. After going out for a few hours, we came back to the same problem. Only then did the front desk give us a pocket WiFi device. It was slow, but at least it worked. Why tell us maintenance was fixing it when they knew the room internet wouldn’t work? They should have been upfront. We met a woman sitting in the hallway to use the internet and told her to ask reception for a pocket WiFi. At checkout, we saw the guest ahead of us returning theirs too. I don’t understand why we were given the runaround.

There are plenty of eateries, watering holes, and shops within walking distance, and the location is great. The rest of my stay was abysmal. The air conditioning wasn’t working. When I went down to report it, the two young men at reception said maintenance had gone home and they’d check a generator. If they couldn’t fix it, they’d send up a fan. I asked to change rooms, but was told the hotel was full and I could complain to management in the morning. I said I wanted a refund and wasn’t staying with a fan after paying for air conditioning. I held my ground, and somehow they found another room. The WiFi was hit and miss, and cleanliness was really poor. This isn’t a four-star hotel, and the front desk needs to do better when guests have a legitimate issue.

The hotel itself was fine, but the parking experience left us feeling misled and disappointed. Reception recommended that we buy a hotel parking voucher, assuring us it would be much cheaper, about half the price of booking directly on the parking website. We trusted that advice and bought one. Later we found that booking online ourselves would actually have cost less. When I asked why they hadn’t told us the online rate was cheaper that day, they said it was our responsibility to check prices and compare before buying. They offered no help, solution, or even a small gesture afterward. I wasn’t extremely upset, but it was clear the issue didn’t seem to concern them. We found the way this was handled dishonest and unprofessional. I’m posting this so other guests know about the issue and can avoid the same experience.

We barely spent time in the rooms because we wanted to avoid them, and got only around eight hours of sleep over three nights. The beds and pillows were uncomfortable, the bedding was yellowing, and the second room’s bathroom was dirty with visible mould. I wouldn’t recommend this place at all. On the first night there was no air conditioning, no ceiling fan, and no windows to open. Sydney was at 35-38 degrees that weekend, so we didn’t sleep. We were moved to another room for the second night.