The area, only four minutes' walk from Cockle Bay Wharf, 6 minutes from Darling Harbour, and a bounce skip and hop from Sydney Town Hall, is advantageous to all the major city attractions, but once you enter its tree-lined patio passage it's similar to a different universe. You truly wouldn't know you were right in the centre of the city.

Inside, it's not what you'd anticipate from a major hotel chain. There's no Ikea furniture prowling around each corner, no brilliant hue. The palette is very dim away once you leave the entryway, with dark timber framing covering the lobbies, but it doesn't feel cold. Unobtrusive down lights and cleverly set greenery keep the mood warm.

The hotel experienced a $56 million renovation in 2013, and thinking of it as looks as though it was finished yesterday, you could say it was well spent. The hotel has 200 rooms and 22 suites, alongside two restaurants, meeting spaces, and a gymnasium.

Chocolate brown walls in the entrance way drove through to a much brighter room, making a sentiment space. They kept the shading palette really basic, light dark floor covering, cream walls and monochrome works of art. The sole artwork in the room, a photograph of the Harbour Bridge Climb, was beautiful, but another work of art somewhere else in the room wouldn't go astray.

Barkers Restaurant, where you can appreciate breakfast every morning, had vast windows watching out onto the expressway. Be that as it may, while Barkers was greatly awesome, the real eating highlight was Abode Restaurant. Abode is an award-winning lounge, bar and bistro situated on the ground floor of the lodging and a phenomenal spot for people watching.

In the event that you find the chance to visit, try the moderate cooked pork belly with skillet burned scallops for entrée, followed by the Cone Bay barramundi and crab risotto. For online networking buffs, they have an extraordinary arrangement where sharing and tagging a photograph of your cocktail on social networking can get you a second drink for free.