Introduction – Opera View Upgrade at the Park Hyatt Sydney
My partner and I recently completed an amazing 3-night stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney, which I’ll be reviewing in a future post. While the hotel is very nice regardless of the room type you end up in, one of the key reasons people stay here is the iconic Opera House View rooms.
Booking an Opera View room could come in over $1,000 USD per night depending on your dates of stay. Want an Opera House View without shelling out for the regular cash rate? In this post, I’ll review with you the room options available at the Park Hyatt Sydney and the possible ways you can score a free or discounted paid upgrade to an Opera View room.
Park Hyatt Sydney Room Types and Opera View Rooms
The Park Hyatt Sydney’s standard room offers 1 King Bed or 2 Twin Beds with no specific view (think roadway, obstructed by buildings/trees, etc.) and does not include a balcony. This is the type of room you’ll get booked into if you book with Hyatt points with the cost ranging from 35,000 to 45,000 points per night. Cash rates vary by time of year and occupancy but typically range from $500-$800 USD.
Moving up from the standard room is the Harbour View room. This room typically costs a couple hundred more dollars than the standard base room and offers views of the Sydney Harbour and the downtown business district. This room type also offers a balcony. Harbour View rooms can also sometimes be booked with points but as part of a cash plus points offer. For example, below you can book a 1 King Bed Harbour View room for 20,000 points and about $435 USD but there is no option to just book the Harbour View room outright with points. During off-peak times, I’ve seen this rate get down to 17,500 points and about $390 USD so it’s worth searching different dates if you have flexibility.
Like the Harbour View room, the Opera View room offers a balcony but also includes sweeping views of the Sydney Opera House. You cannot book this room directly with points, and it typically costs $300-400 USD more than the standard base room. There is also an Opera View Deluxe room which offers more room than the Standard Opera View (75 sq meters vs about 45 sq meters plus a second balcony) and an Opera View Premium room which is set at the north end of the hotel closest to the Opera House. The Opera View, Opera View Deluxe, or Opera View Premium are the room types I’d be targeting if staying at the Park Hyatt Sydney as you truly get stunning views of Sydney’s iconic landmark that you won’t find at other nearby hotels.
I should also mention there is a 1 King Bed Deluxe room that is larger than the base 1 King Bed room but does not offer Opera or Harbour views. This is not a room I would recommend booking unless the extra space is meaningful to you, as you’ll typically still pay a $300-$400+ USD premium compared to the standard base room. Elite members can often end up in this room when upgrades to Opera View or Harbour View rooms are not available.
Finally, the Park Hyatt Sydney does offer 6 different types of suites ranging from about $1,700-$9,000+ USD per night. The views offered by each suite vary but the Park Hyatt Sydney’s website does showcase virtual tours of these rooms so I’d check those out if you are interested in a suite. The “Sydney Suite” looks to be the best with panoramic views of both the Opera House and the Harbour.
Park Hyatt Sydney Opera View Room – Free Elite Upgrades
Looking to secure an Opera View room at the Park Hyatt Sydney without paying the advertised cash rates? Your options include elite upgrades or cash upgrades, which I’ll outline below.
If you are a member of the World of Hyatt Program and have elite status, there is a chance you could score a complimentary upgrade to an Opera View room. The best room type you can get upgraded to as an elite member is the Deluxe Opera View room as the Park Hyatt Sydney does not offer complimentary suite upgrades.
If you have Globalist Status (World of Hyatt’s highest elite tier), you of course have the best chance of scoring a complimentary Opera View room upgrade compared to members with lower status. I’ve read a number of reports of Globalist members both successfully and unsuccessfully scoring an Opera View upgrade so this is obviously luck of the draw.
If you are a Globalist member staying during a non-peak period, I’d say your chances are pretty good. In the times I’ve been at the Park Hyatt Sydney, there usually seems to be some sort of special event going on, such as a wedding reception, which could certainly work against your upgrade chances if a number of premium rooms are already full.
I do also want to mention that you can always ask about cash upgrades at check-in. This may be worthwhile if your elite status doesn’t get you the room you want, but if rooms are already booked up there of course may be nothing available. If having an Opera View room is the reason you are staying at the Park Hyatt Sydney, you may want to consider an advanced paid upgrade option that I’ll outline next.
Park Hyatt Sydney Opera House View – Paid Upgrades
If you do not have elite status with World of Hyatt or don’t want to gamble on the room type as an elite member, I’d recommend looking at paid options to score an Opera View room upgrade. Using this method can be a good deal compared to the cash rate of an Opera View room and is method I used to get an upgrade to an Opera View room during my recent stay.
To purchase an upgrade, you of course first have to purchase a base room. If you have Hyatt Points, I’d recommend getting a room on the nights where you can pay 20,000 points (or less) plus cash for the Harbour View room. This enables you to start with a higher base level room from which to upgrade to an Opera View and this also saves you some cash compared to outright paying the base room rate. I paid 20,000 plus $400 USD for my initial Harbour View room.
After booking an initial room, you can email Hyatt (reservations.pacific@hyatt.com) to inquire about Opera View room upgrade offers. I asked about the cost of upgrading to an Opera View room and below are the rates I was quoted. These rates are of course subject to change and may be different for you based on the time of year, elite status, occupancy, and the base room you are trying to upgrade from.
- 1 King Bed Opera View – additional $160.00 AUD per night
- 1 King bed Opera Deluxe – additional $760.00 AUD per night
- 1 King bed Opera Premium – additional $1110.00 AUD per night
As you can see the cost to upgrade to a standard Opera View was only about $100 USD. This is a good value in my opinion because I essentially paid $500 plus 20,000 points for the Opera View room. Is that still expensive and not necessarily the most amazing use of points per dollar? Absolutely – but compared to paying what would have cost $1,100 USD/night for my stay dates, we saved about $600 a night.
These savings certainly multiply over a multi-night stay, and I’d recommend doing the math for yourself and your specific stay dates to see if an upgrade makes sense. If you are booking in advance, you could always cancel your initial room booking if the upgrade offer rates end up being higher than you like. Just make sure your initial booking allows refundable cancelations.
Overall, if you are staying at the Park Hyatt Sydney for a special occasion or a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia, using this method to reduce the cost of an upgrade to an Opera View room may very much be worth it for you.
Upgrading to a Opera View at the Park Hyatt Sydney – The Pilot Debrief
The Park Hyatt Sydney is an amazing hotel that offers unmatched views of the Sydney Harbour and Opera House. Those world-class views can come at a cost of over $1,000 USD for an Opera View, Opera View Deluxe, Opera View Premium, or Suite room. If you have World of Hyatt Globalist status, you certainly have a shot at securing a complimentary upgrade to an Opera View but depends on inventory during your dates of stay.
If having an Opera View is important to you, the cash upgrade option that Hyatt offers can be a compelling way to save money while guaranteeing an upgrade. Let us know about your experience staying the Park Hyatt Sydney in the comments below.
