JETSETREPORT

Medusa Hotel

Charming townhouse hotel with painful interiors

Hours 24
Phone (61) 02 9331 1000
www.medusa.com.au

267 Darlinghurst Road Darlinghurst Sydney 2010 NSW Australia

hotels

Who's Going

Movie Types, Gay Elite, Kylie Minogue

Reason to Stay

Architectual Property, Hip Location, Local Vibe

Hotel Type

Boutique Hotel

Located on a charming tree-lined street in a quite section of Darlinghurst, Medusa Hotel is located in a grand maisonette between William Street and Oxford Street. For those unfamiliar with Darlinghurst, it's Sydney's version of Soho with designer shops and high-end restaurant that seem to go on for miles. The hotel is located In a former residential area that was home to Sydney's wealthier families in the early 20th Century. The hotel facade is distinguished and polished, with painted-white cornices and rich lacquered signage leading to the secured front door.

The Medusa reception area is located in the house's former-living room with fireplace and oversize desk managed by a single clerk. An old-fashioned spiral staircase interconnects rooms with three or so entrances at the end of each stoop. You'll most likely be taking your own bags up if not arriving between 10am and 5pm. The hotel has no restaurant and no bar, unless the receptionist lets you hangout in the two chairs opposite his desk. An interior courtyard in the building's belly offers a few random chairs that attract guests in warmer summer months. The smallest version of a boutique hotel, at times Medusa feels like an anti-social Bed and Breakfast where guests keep to themselves and the management all but disappears. 

The Room

A handsome lobby and grandiose staircase leads to three guest rooms on each of the hotel’s four levels. Heavy doors open to old-fashioned architecture updated with a painfully trendy interior design that feels like Versace on a thrift-store budget. Oversize king size beds in an assortment of fruit-loop colors are upholstered in hideous textures and poor-quality fabrics. Rooms feature impractical settees in Alice of Wonderland shapes opposite more traditional seating and table areas overlooking the hotel’s tranquil courtyard. Half of the room is dedicated to bland-veneer built-ins that open to a small closet area and bar with plastic-white microwave and tea service. Thankfully the bathrooms were kept away from the decorator, offering vintage sinks and bathtubs, but with motel-quality linens and drugstore bath products. While we hear that Kylie Minogue was a former-guest, we can’t imagine it was willingly or at a point in her career when she could afford better. We forgive Kylie. For everyone else we advise not paying more than $150, a price worth the visual pain of an overnight stay. Otherwise wait until someone saves this spectacular architectural gem from the design disaster happening within.

Preferred Room

Deluxe Premium Room

Special Features

Dogs Welcome, Courtyard, Business Facilities, Mini-Bars

Amenities

Courtyard, Mini-Bars, Residential Location

Reviewed by:

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