Hilton Sydney
In July 2005, the Hilton Sydney re-opened for business after a 30-month, $200 million makeover. Combined with the initial purchase cost, the hotel was the largest single site investment made by the Hilton International in the group’s history.
The renovation saw the removal of the original five-storey building to create a dramatic; sun filled 20m lobby in the heart of the site’s 577 exquisitely furnished suites and rooms.
The Hilton Sydney is now reaping the benefits of its internal and external changes. It’s now once again one of Sydney’s premier venues for not just food and wine but accommodation.
Located right in the heart of Sydney, the hotel offers magnificent views and convenient access to the city’s favourite destinations.
Hilton Sydney is the largest hotel conference space in Australia and the first to be purposely designed and built for the conference, events and exhibition industry. The hotel offers four dedicated levels of space totalling 4000m², with a combined capacity for 3000 delegates.
And the hotel now features 23 event and conferencing spaces, including the Grand Ballroom for 1200 guests, State Room, exhibition space for over 100 booths, 10 specialty function and break out rooms, seven Hilton meetings rooms, two boardrooms and a business centre and conference secretariat offices.
Sleek, contemporary and innovative restaurants and bars designed by celebrated New Yorker, Tony Chi create a new dining experience. glass brassiere has been designed with a modernistic approach by creating a classic French brassiere with an Aussie twist.
Overlooking the bustling Sydney streetscape and displaying a combination of world-class food and superb wine, there is no need to leave the hotel to have a great time.
Since its red carpet re-opening in mid-2005, Hilton Sydney has certainly earned its reputation as the city’s most popular celebrity hotel for events, rest and play. A celebrity in his own right, restaurateur Luke Mangan and his culinary expertise has attracted a bevy of famous faces, among them Nicky Hilton, Kimberly Stewart, Michael Parkinson, Ricky Ponting, Sir Richard Branson, and Soccer superstar Harry Kewell the day after the historic world cup qualifier.
Hot colours and cool drinks give Zeta Bar an undeniable edge, making it a nightspot perfect for sipping a cocktail or simply relaxing on the outdoor terrace and Marble Bar remains one of Sydney’s most loved bars and a haven of Victorian excess.
Hilton Sydney also provides a huge, fully-equipped Living Well Premier Health Club. The club includes a 25m indoor pool, cardiovascular gymnasium equipped with the latest interactive equipment and a free weights area. In addition, there are two group fitness studios, four saunas, steam rooms and a large spa pool and pampering treatments from The Sensory, LivingWell’s beauty concept.
Fully refurbished rooms include bathrooms with frosted glass and a sliding partition that creates a light-box effect, as well as furnishings that deliver both comfort and individuality.
Special feature rooms such as Relaxation offer a spa bath and plasma screen television, both perfect for a little unwinding. The hotel also has a number of suites as well as 16 award-winning Hilton Relaxation rooms.
As leading, deluxe, full service hotel, Hilton Sydney had to be sure it delivered a range of technologies that not only enhance the guest experience and deliver operational efficiencies but set the benchmark for what corporate guests expect from their accommodation providers. In Sydney’s highly competitive hospitality industry, Hilton Sydney set out to provide the most state-of-the-art technology to accommodate every guest’s needs.
Premium technology was assured because fibre optic back bone cabling was installed in all meeting space areas.
Already all 23 meeting rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as:
- Cat 5 infrastructure allowing audio/video streaming to other rooms throughout the venue;
- State-of-the-art intelligent lighting system allows for professional shows as well as fully computerised light dimming system;
- Motorised trussing and rigging gives speed of setups and flexibility of event layouts;
- Installed projectors and screens in all event spaces on levels two, three and four and fully automated audio visual systems on Hilton meetings level one;
- Completely wireless Internet is also available throughout the hotel. Plus, the hotel’s broadband connection is based on a direct 10 MB fibre connection to the local Telstra exchange, fully configurable up to 100MB if required.
CO² air quality monitoring systems were installed in the ballroom and convention areas while all plant and equipment was updated and controlled by the building automation system to maximise guest comfort and minimise energy consumption.
MAGIC (managing all guests incoming calls) is a 24-hour centralised communications centre, designed to manage all internal and external guest requests. The Magic Button on the guestroom telephones replaces the multitude of other telephone extensions listed in other hotels. MAGIC is also a milestone as it is the first time a hotel has introduced the technology as part of a converged voice, data and wireless infrastructure known as Internet protocol telephony. The overall hotel network is based on Cisco 3560 series switches running in-line power to each room and 3700 routers in the core.
This year, the hotel installed Hilton Hotels’ own propriety property management system named OnQ. As a result it can now able to provide a centralised database of guest details, daily revenues and general statistics of guests, owners of its managed properties and its own management teams on a regional, area and global basis. If a member of the Hilton Honours program, guests are also able to request and print a copy of their invoices for stays for up to 12 months after departure.
Hilton Sydney is also the first hotel in Australia to offer Aquavision in guestroom showers, a completely independent waterproof television that is built to the latest regulations in waterproofing and safety. With its’ slim profile, the Aquavision units truly reflect a ‘built in’ look and features heated screens to prevent misting or even freezing up and come equipped with a splash proof, floating remote control. Offering the same vast selection of channels enjoyed in the bedroom means guests at the Hilton Sydney won’t need to miss a minute of the latest sports, news or even those must-see programs on television.
Also, when turned off, the finish of the television screen serves as a near perfect mirror.
Hilton Sydney is also able to offer fully moderated conference call facilities managed by Arkadin Global Conferencing. This allows clients to email a conference number and PIN to all participants and have a dedicated operator moderate their call. This is especially convenient in the case of media releases where there may be a number of questions for the client relating to their announcement.
Private online group pages are customised web pages that allow group attendees to book their reservations online. Each page has its own unique URL addresses that the meeting planner can place on their web site or in literature for the attendees. This allows attendees to book their conference rate online from one webpage, simply click on the link provided!
In order to ensure the technology is user-friendly for each of Hilton’s guests, the hotel had to make things simple. One example is the in-room IP phone that has touch screen technology to automatically connect guests to MAGIC. The hotel simply reprogrammed one of the fascia buttons “MAGIC” to make it easier for the guest to see, as well as handing out simple instructions cards at check-in.
Installed some new technology you’d like to show-off? Email ([email protected]) or call (07) 5442 7600
