I'll be honest. The only reason that I'd ever stay at this Formule 1 hotel is if I was catching a flight the next day. If however, like me, you just want somewhere close to several food options, within a few dollar taxi ride of the domestic and international air terminals, and don't want to spend a fortune doing it, then look no further.
I stayed in the Formule 1 hotel in November 2011, with my wife and 2 children. We had a 6am flight to catch the next morning, so we caught the train down to Sydney, and got off at the Sydney domestic terminal station. From there it was a 10 minute walk to the Formule 1.
Check was quick and painless, but not overly friendly. The young guy working the wasn't very friendly or welcoming, and my guess that was he was sick of of his job, or life, or both. Either way, after a long train ride with 2 tired children, no chit-chat suited us fine, and we made our way to the room.
Yes the rooms are small. Yes the rooms are very basic. I like to call them the F.A. hotel chain (because you get SFA in the way of extras with your room). If you are staying for more than one night, I'd strongly urge you to look elsewhere. If, like us, you want somewhere clean, well priced and as close to the airport terminals as it is possible to get, then the Formule 1 fits the bill nicely.
Our room had a double bed, and 2 bunk beds. The bathroom was obviously a pre-manufactured plastic cubicle that the rest of the room was built around, and was small enough that if you angled the shower head right you could shower while sitting on the toilet (which was pretty good fun I must admit). Luxuries in the room were completely absent. It had air conditioning, beds, an alarm clock, a chained down 34cm TV (as if someone would try to steal a 34cm CRT), and not much else.
Our room had a single window with majestic sweeping views of a concrete wall. While on our holiday, I kept a nightly trip blog of our adventures. The hotel has no wired internet in the rooms, but it does have paid internet in the lobby, or slightly more expensive wifi available in the room, which I made use of. From memory it was a few dollars for half an hour.
The hotel is next door to several food and coffee options. Krispy Kreme is right next door, and next door to that is McDonalds, and KFC is a few doors down from that. both Krispy Kreme and McDonalds have wifi available if you need an free internet connection.
There is also a shuttle service to the domestic and international air terminals available. Starting at 6am and arriving every 15 minutes, the service costs $6 per adult. We had to be at the airport much earlier than 6am however, so we rang a taxi, which arrived on time, and worked out to less than $10 to get to the terminal. Much cheaper than a shuttle would have cost us. A tip: If you have more than 1 person, book a taxi instead of catching the shuttle bus. It will work out cheaper. *Much* cheaper if you have 2 or more adults.
To summarise, if you're staying for more than 1 night, or you want a few luxuries or award winning service, then look elsewhere. You'll be disappointed, and you'll probably end up here writing a bad review at some point in the future. If however you only need a place to sleep, which is clean, functional, quiet, right at the airport, close to several dining options, and at an absolutely unbeatable price, then Book the F1 hotel.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
