The location simply cannot be beat! You are short walk from most of the major Sydney tourist attractions. For example, it is less than a 5 minute walk to:

-Opera House
-Botanical Gardens
-Circular Quay train station and bus station (with a free bus that takes you most other places a tourist would want to go)
-Circular Quay shops and restaurants
-Ferry docks (for ferries to Manly, etc.)
-The Rocks -- a district with excellent shops and restaurants

And it is about a 10 minute walk to the Harbour Bridge if you want to walk across it to take pictures, go to the museum about the bridge, or climb to the top of the bridge (which I highly recommend).

The bottom line is this: The Sir Stamford is in the best possible location for a tourist in Sydney!

In addition, the hotel staff is extremely friendly, helpful, and accommodating. We arrived at 9 AM, and they let us use the facilities to shower and change (from our long flight from Los Angeles) before our room was ready. The concierge desk was also very helpful.

The hotel itself is SLIGHTLY worn. It was all in good condition, but it seemed lightly used. This did not detract from our stay at all, as it was clearly well maintained.

Our biggest complaint was with the in-room internet. They purport to have wired and wireless access (for a fee) in the room. I am a techie so I can almost always figure out hotel internet issues. Though my computer was technically connected to the internet, it operated at a snail's pace (for example, it took about 15 minutes for Google to load). I ended up calling the third-party internet help line, and, after 2 hours on the phone, the problem was NOT resolved. As I mentioned, I am a techie, so I simply could not believe that this problem could not be resolved. In any case, if you go to the lobby, there is free wifi and there are free internet terminals.

Alternatively, walk across the street to the McDonalds at Circular Quay or go to the Circular Quay train station for free wifi.

I stayed at the Sir Stamford for two nights in October 2011 and it was a first rate experience. The hotel has an old world charm to it with lovely little nooks to sit and soak up the atmosphere. The rooms are furnished nicely with very large marble bathrooms and quite large a room overall. I ran a small event here as well which was the purpose of my visit and the meeting space and staff were fantastic. I would not hesitate to book here again. Also do yourself a favour and try the breakfast...amazing!

It's all true, people aren't exaggerating. This place is great. First off, location is absolutely superb - 2 minute walk to Circular Quay, 3 minutes from the Opera House. Second, the service was unbelievably friendly for a hotel in a big city. I should particularly point out Kieran the head concierge, who was very welcoming, very helpful and a good crack.

Other things - outdoor pool is lovely, not a big view to be had, but lovely nonetheless. Oh, and try and get a Harbour Bridge view - we did and it never ceased to put a smile on our face.

Great place..

We spent three nights at the Sir Stamford on a quick trip to Sydney and loved the hotel. It was smaller than other places we have stayed in Sydney, with a wonderful spacious suite, and very personal service from all staff with whom we dealt. The location was perfect for us too - almost every thing that we had planned to do was in walking distance and obviously the ferries and train are all virtually on the doorstep at Circular Quay for further afield. We ate in The Bar one night, which was quiet and restful (like a Club), and had breakfast in the dining room each day which was also adequate without being earth-shattering as breakfasts go.