I stayed at the Rydges for 1 night. I was given a huge room on the 6th floor (601), I was impressed. The bathroom was huge with 2 sinks, a massive jacuzzi bath and walk in shower (again huge!). The bed was very comfy. It also had a walk in robe with full mini bar. For $170/night it was great value. It was a shame to waste it on 1 person!

Firstly, I booked this stay on the Rydges website and got a better deal than a few other sites I tried out. Plus they didn't slap a booking fee on top like some others do.

The rooms were comfy and pretty large, not amazing but then I see on their site that they're refurbishing the place so it will be very good after that.

Pleasant staff, I felt well looked after. It's a spit away from the racecourse so great for race days. Close to the main routes to the CDB as well.

Would recommend it to others.

I stayed 1 night in one of two penthouse suites called the Strawberry Road Penthouse for my anniversary last year in Aug 2004.

This room apparently has a huge spa and even a turkish steam room. For only $190 due to having a 50% off the rack rate special, I thought there cannot be any better deal than this.

I checked in and the staff were very friendly. One of the staff even escorted the two of us all the way into the suite. I noticed that the room had a video intercom.

When you walk in, the first thing you see is the "small" bed room. The king size bed nearly filled the room and other than the antique style wooden furnitures, you would seriously wonder why this should be called the penthouse suite at all. It had a walk in robe with a minibar/fridge inside on the entrance side of the room.

Bed was old, carpet had some stains and cigarrette burn marks, the wooden tv stand was truly antique as the door broke when I tried to open it. The whole room just felt too worn and old.

BUT, there is a plus side to all this.

There is a long narrow corridor to the bathroom and when you walk in, the bathroom is as big as the bedroom with a huge round spa in marble surrounding, a 3/4 adult steam room with a shower inside, double vanity and a toilet behind the door. Other than the old/worn blinds covering the window, the bathroom was truly excellent.

Steam room takes about 25mins to fully warm up and fill with steam and once you walk in, it is a godsend. I just loved the steam room even though it seemed to be missing a thermometer and had a broken hanging wire dangling on one side. Having a cool shower while being inside the hot hot steamroom just cannot be forgotten.

Spa was also great albeit a bit weak in the bubbles. (I guess it's an old model) Ample room for two and the marble surroundings made it feel rich.

Truly, the bathroom was the highlight to this room.

We also had a seafood platter for two at the Scuzzi Cafe restaurant below and it was delicious with enough for two hungry adults.

It wasn't the quietest room though and the bed wasn't that comfortable either. But I still do recommend this room for the bathroom alone at the price.

Finally, the buffet breakfast next morning at the same Scuzzi Cafe was nice with lots of varieties in both hot and cold dishes as well as cereal.

UPDATE - I've been told last week that they are going to refurbish the hotel this September 2005 and should finish by November 2005 some time. So new furniture/bed/paint/carpet etc. (Not sure but they should be retouching the bathroom also I would predict.) I'm definitely planning to go back after this.

So people who are reading this after November 2005, expect the room to be far newer (and better I guess) than what my review states. =)