Returning guests will find completely revamped rooms, public spaces, and restaurants at the city-center hotel.
The wraparound terrace at Aster, InterContinental Sydney’s new rooftop bar. (All photos: IHG)
A long-standing five-star hotel in the Sydney CBD has just emerged from a two-year, A$120 million (approximately US$75.3 million) renovation overseen by local architecture studio Woods Bagot. Comprising a modern tower and the former Treasury building, which dates to 1851, the InterContinental Sydney looks as good as new. Its top-to-bottom redesign brings the nearly four-decade-old property in line with current trends.
Each of the hotel’s 509 guest rooms and suites now sports a sleek, contemporary look with shades of green and blue inspired by the adjacent gardens and harbor, as well as textures and materials suggestive of water, sand, and sky. Additional features include smart TVs equipped with Google Chromecast, Byredo bath amenities, and minibars stocked with custom-made snacks and drinks from local suppliers. Guests staying in one of the refreshed Club Rooms will also enjoy access to the hotel’s new Club InterContinental lounge on the rooftop.
Included in the transformation was a revamp of the hotel’s entrance and lobby, where guests check in at organically designed reception pods. A newly installed feature wall shows off a historical timeline of the city and property from 1788 to the present day. The 31st-floor gym and indoor heated pool have been upgraded too.
A renovated Opera House room at InterContinental Sydney.
A dining area at The Conservatory, where guests can have breakfast.
Overlooking The Treasury, the hotel’s redesigned lobby bar and lounge.
In the sky-lit atrium of the building, on the site where Australia’s first grapevines were planted, The Treasury is a new lobby bar and all-day restaurant that takes the place of high-tea venue The Cortile. With an arrangement of plush seating and potted plants, it’s the ideal spot to admire the namesake building’s brick-and-sandstone arcades and glass dome; mixologists at the oval-shaped bar will serve up creative interpretations of classic tipples. Also in the heritage wing is The Conservatory, a high-ceilinged breakfast space featuring open cooking stations and a walk-in pantry. An adjoining private dining room, clad floor to ceiling in green velvet, seats up to 16 guests.
The overhauled rooftop lounge on level 32 — previously the private reserve of guests staying in Club rooms and suites — has now been opened up to the general public and renamed Aster. Patrons here can soak up 270-degree vistas of the city, which encompass the nearby Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and Royal Botanic Garden, while ordering from a drinks menu that spotlights Australian ingredients and flavors, with creations inspired by astrology and the history of the hotel.
The velvet-and-wood interior of Aster, located on the 32nd floor.
The living room of a 70-square-meter Signature Harbour suite.
Part of the Treasury’s facade and the Macquarie Street entrance of InterContinental Sydney.
