A few weeks ago, I did an interview with Finder and decided to stay overnight beforehand. When looking at hotels, Marriott properties were priced well over $1000 for no apparent reason. That’s just insane for a basic room, and I detest Airbnb, so I decided to have a look at staying at an IHG property. I thought it’d be nice to see what Ambassador status is like as I had purchased it not too long ago. At the time of booking, I could get the Intercontinental double bay for just over $400 which is a little higher than normal but not too bad for Sydney, it would also be my first time seeing the double bay area.

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

The hotel itself is located only a few hundred metres away from the beach and is situated in quite an upmarket and elegant area, a lot nicer than the CBD that’s for sure. It’s about a 10-minute walk to the beach for those who are interested.

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

I booked a basic room, but as an Ambassador member, I was given an upgrade to a village view room. The guaranteed upgrade policy with IHG is something I absolutely love and hope to take advantage of more often, If only they had a more substantial presence in Australia.

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

The room was quite spacious, and the bed was really comfortable, the pillows were a little to the softer side, but you have access to an Ipad which features a pillow menu.

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Minibar

The handwritten welcome note is always a nice touch when checking into a hotel.

Welcome Note And Sparkling Water

This is the view from the village view, and as you can see, the sky was pretty badly filled with smoke from the surrounding bushfires. It got pretty bad in the afternoon as you’ll see from photos further down in the post.

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay

Balcony View

Bedroom

This is something I think more hotels need to implement; you can order room service, find out information, message the hotel and even request different pillows at the touch of the bottom on the Ipad located next to you on the nightstand.

Ipad

The bathroom was also spotless, quite spacious and featured quite a lot of white marble.

Sinks

For those who are interested in the specifics, the overall room size is 35sqm.

Bathtub

Bathroom

After checking into the hotel, I decided to go and look around Double Bay. I truly enjoyed the area and found it to be quite peaceful, and there was a good selection of food options and restaurants nearby.

Double Bay, Sydney

As you can see, the smoke in the air was getting quite bad, I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life, and it’s still quite upsetting to see.

 Double Bay, Sydney

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the intercontinental and would happily return to the property. From when I checked in, the staff were friendly and were always up for a chat, the area itself is much, much nicer than the CBD and it meant it was a lot more relaxing, it’s a great hotel if you’d want to go to the beach or don’t want to be around traffic all the time.

This stay was also a good test to see what the Ambassador program is like, and it left me feeling very positive. Even being an elite member with Marriott, they don’t guarantee an upgrade or give you a custom welcome, it’s just a few plastic bottles of water. Yes, it’s not a huge thing, but it’s the small details that honestly do make a little difference, and you’ll see that if you visit hotels quite often.

Have you stayed at the intercontinental double bay?