My husband surprised me for my birthday by booking a night's accommodation at the Establishment Hotel. We found the service to be very friendly and thought that the room was spacious, modern and well presented - the way the old building has been refurbished as the hotel is quite impressive. The views were nothing to speak of - straight into the offices across the way and overlooking the rubbish buns of the lane on which the hotel is accessed - but these are easily blocked out. We liked how we could easily access the other parts of the hotel also which made it easy to get to Hemmesphere and Sushi-e where we enjoyed some outstanding cocktails and a fabulous dinner. The only downsides from the experience was the overpriced and overcooked breakfast in the morning (although sitting in the garden bar was very pleasant in the morning) and the clock in the room being one hour slow which meant we were almost late to check-out (lucky we checked the time on our phone).

We stayed at the Establishment for our wedding night and the evening after and were bitterly disappointed. They were informed numerous times that it was our wedding night and they didn't even bother to turn the air-conditioning on, much less do anything special. The water pressure in the bath was so bad that we didn't bother waiting for it to fill and just went to bed. Est. restaurant, pretty much the only reason we were staying here was closed on a Sunday evening, something we were not informed of until after we booked, and the room service menu was very, very poor with a choice of very few bland, American friendly meals. I'd say this was a satisfactory business hotel, although when I travel for business all I ask for is a bath, a movie (there are no movies on demand, just bad blockbusters from the 90's you can request from reception) and a decent room service meal, none of which The Establishment provides. This hotel is boutique only in that it lacks services, and like most Merivale establishments is all about the predictable east-meets-west decor and style over substance. Boring.

My partner and I took a trip around the world and made Australia our first stop. We considered many hotels in Sydney before selecting The Establishment. Boy did we make the right decision. We knew we would be arriving in Sydney from America around 9AM in the morning. Therefore we booked our hotel room for the night before to ensure we would NOT have to wait for a 3PM check-in. We were initially told there was no record of us requesting a room for the previous night at which point I was prepared to make a lot of noise. Lucikly for them a room was available and simply had to be cleaned. We went to the restaurant to have breakfast as they prepared the room. This was the only snafu during our stay. Beyond this.....everything was sensational.

Our room was simply stunning. We both love the "modern" style and were not disappointed with The Establishment. The room had a very soothing color palate and a very large bathroom. An extra bonus were the Bose speakers and receiver which allowed us to plug in our iPod and have our room filled with music.

The restaurants associated with The Establishment are some of the best in the city. We enjoyed breakfast each morning and on our last night dined at their exquisite sushi restaurant.

The concierge treated us as if we were the only guests in the hotel. They were so, so helpful with arranging tour guides and providing assistance with everything we needed.

If you want a great hotel, great location, great concierge and great restaurants.....then The Establishment is the place for you.

We've been to Sydney before and decided that for our second trip we didn't need to go for the harbour views, but wanted more of a boutique hotel. The Establishment didn't disappoint.
It is a tad tricky to find, as the taxi driver dropped us at the George Street bar entrance, but we soon found the hotel reception and to be honest it was great to see the bar area - something else!
We arrived really early so couldn't check in until late morning, but the receptionist went out of her way to find us a room as soon as she could, so we could crash after our long trip from the UK. The room was excellent, with an open plan bathroom and bedroom and we weren't aware of noise at all.
During our stay (4 nights) we loved every minuite of it, the staff were more than helpful but also very discreet and you wouldn't need to see anyone if you didn't want. On the first night we had room service and tucked into a rather tasty burger...so can recommend that! We also had booked with Mr and Mrs Smith, so we received a bottle of 'champagne' on arrival....as I'm sure you'll know if you've been to Oz, quite often 'champagne' is actually a local fizzy, dry wine, which is equally lovely!
I had my birthday while we were there, so after a fabulous dinner at Aria down on Circular Quay, we toured all of the various bars including the nightclub, which you can have free access to as a guest of the hotel. It was an amazing club, but with both of us being in our thirties I have to say we felt a bit old! The other bars were much more like it with 'Hemisphere' being the best. It was then excellent just to stagger back to our room.
The location of the hotel is spot on...right around the corner from George Street, so a few minutes one way and you're at Circular Quay, Opera House et al and if you go the other way you're right in the heart of all the shops etc.
So, all in all and fabulous place to stay in Sydney!!!