Travel News

The Langham Sydney makeover

Want to know how to spend $30 million in four months? Watch The Langham Sydney.

Want to know how to spend $30 million in four months? Watch The Langham Sydney.
Making a five-star hotel feel like home is the challenge under way at The Langham Sydney - though four months and $30 million is a fine start.
The harbourside hotel closed in late July for a head-to-toe transformation. General manager Sonia Lefevre promises a "quite exceptional" result when the hotel reopens on 1 December. "We've been working on this since we took over the hotel, almost exactly two years ago," she says. "The key for us is how the changes make guests feel. This is a hotel with heart and we'd like them to continue feeling that this is their second home."
London-based design team GA Design has orchestrated the redevelopment of the lobby, dining areas, 96 rooms and ballroom. The lobby will be extended, fitted with marble underfoot, flooded with natural light and warmed by fireplaces. Australian art curated by Sotheby's will feature here and in the new 150-seat open Kent Street Kitchen, headed by former Est. chef Daniel Rudolph; it's more than double the size of the hotel's Galileo Restaurant and will offer all-day dining to guests and Sydneysiders.
The Langham group's trademark haven, Palm Court, will be the spot for "Afternoon Tea with Wedgwood" by day and cocktails by night, and the spa will be rebranded as the Langham's signature Chuan Spa - the hotel's much-admired 20-metre pool with star-studded ceiling remains at its heart.
Lefevre says the flow of space in rooms is paramount - the hotel claims the largest standard rooms in Sydney at 49 square metres - and handcrafted furniture will enhance the home-away-from-home feeling.
89-113 Kent St, Sydney, (02) 9256 2222.