Where 49 Market St, Sydney, (02) 8262 0000,
Cost From $320, without breakfast.
At a glance 200 rooms and suites, adjoining rooms; bars, restaurant, café, day spa, barber shop, gym, steam room, paid valet parking.
In room Free WiFi, some baths and balconies, coffee machine, Malin + Goetz toiletries.
Best rooms Two apartment-sized QT suites have plenty of oak-panelled space and balconies guarded by gargoyles.
If you loathe beige hotels, you’ll love the QT. From door staff wearing fiery red wigs and leather, to the video installations at reception and walls of suitcases in the lobby, the QT is one big performance. There are nods to the building’s former life – part State Theatre, part Gowings Department Store – in sleek, pinstriped staff uniforms. Rooms and corridors can be dark but strategically placed mirrors and lighting render them dramatic, and furnishings are bright and modern. Remnant Art Deco features, including floorboards and stairwell signage to the now-defunct dressmakers’ workshop, lend character. There may be QTs popping up everywhere but the Sydney flagship works hard to feel unique.
We love
Get wrapped at the retro-styled subterranean spa and unwind in the steam room. Or submit to a straight-edge shave in the barber shop next door.
Must try
A stone’s throw from Pitt Street Mall, the Queen Victoria Building and the Westfield shopping maze, it doesn’t get more central than this if you’re after a Sydney retail fix.
Gowings Bar & Grill pays homage to the former life of QT’s premises
Dining options
Breakfast in Gowings Bar & Grill is à la carte; don’t miss the huevos rancheros, a soft tortilla with beans, avocado mousse, coriander, lime and an egg. At lunch and dinner, chef Grant King’s lengthy menu covers all bases, from oysters and snapper ceviche to 270-day Scotch fillet from the grill.
A private treatment room at the retro-styled spa
Drink up
In the restaurant bar or the more glamorous Gilt Lounge, the drinks list is impressive, particularly for spirits and cocktails (2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé, anyone?). Highlights from the playful minibar include quality booze, a beard-trimming kit, a domino set and a bow tie.
This review was made independently for the Gourmet Traveller Hotel Guide. The guide’s reviewers visit unannounced and pay their way.
