I should declare my biases up front. I’m Western Sydney born and bred. And I recently stayed a night at the ParkRoyal Parramatta with a friend (Ros) who is every bit as local as I am.
Between us we’ve spent our teens loitering around Westfield Parramatta, our 20s dancing at the Albion night club until our platformed Steve Maddens were pulled off in pain, and our 30s sitting through many a heartbreaking Eels game at CommBank Stadium.
Some seasons have been character-building in ways I wouldn’t wish on anyone. We’ve cried together, we’ve cheered together, and once or twice we’ve done both within the span of one 80 minute game.
Blind-loyal football allegiance aside, growing up in Western Sydney also taught us to love a place on its own terms … and to embrace a transformation that doesn’t always happen overnight. (Instead it usually reveals itself slowly, with a few questionable fringes along the way.)
For example, we know that Parramatta has never, and will never, be able to claim a seaside postcard. Nobody has ever honeymooned here for the ocean breeze. And our “waterfront” is a river with ambitions.
What we do have, though, is something no beach suburb can fake: a brilliant location to greater Sydney, a melting pot of cultures so rich that you can eat your way around the world in a single afternoon, the historical prestige of Australia’s oldest inland European settlement and a foot at the doorstep of a city very much with a vision for a bright future.
Happy Birthday 80s Babies
Only a few years younger than us, the ParkRoyal hotel turns 40 this year and has been given a serious glow up for the occasion.
While Ros and I had both walked past it a thousand times – usually in a Supre top and questionable hipster jeans, probably arguing about where to eat – this time we were checking in like proper grown-ups, and it felt hilarious and wonderful. Because here’s the thing: the hotel, the suburb and the two of us have all been glowing up at the same time. Some of us just had a longer way to come.
Location Location
Parramatta is Sydney’s second CBD, and the ParkRoyal sits right in the thick of it. A short stroll takes you to Eat Street on Church Street, where the dining is as multicultural and delicious as the suburb itself.
Parramatta Park is just down the road, and the city’s history is all around you: this is one of the oldest settlements in the country, and the sandstone remembers. (It has seen things. It has also seen us in our early-2000s eyebrow era, and has chosen to stay silent.)
With the Powerhouse Museum about to open its doors, there’s never been a better time to be here
It’s also a gateway to greater Western Sydney. With the new Western Sydney Airport on the horizon, this is the sensible base for anyone landing in the west or heading out to explore it. Western Sydney is no longer the place you drive through on the way to somewhere else. It’s the place you were always going to end up, and it’s glowing.
For Ros and I, walking those streets together was the best kind of time travel. There’s the Westfield where we once spent entire Saturdays and entire pay packets, and the Collector where we danced until our feet cracked. We pointed at everything and said “remember when?” about thirty times an hour.
It’s the same suburb, but we’ve changed, and so has it. We’ve both levelled up, and neither of us has lost our edge. Okay, my knees have lost theirs.
From Finance Bros to Footy Fans
During the week, the ParkRoyal is a first-rate corporate base, with the space, the service and the location to keep a business trip running smoothly. Come the weekend, it becomes something else entirely.
With A-League and NRL fixtures running almost every week of the year – and the World Cup currently in full swing – the hotel fills with guests from all over Australia who’ve travelled to cheer on their team.
Having sat through plenty of those games ourselves, we loved knowing the lobby on a game weekend is full of people about to feel every emotion we know so well. (To the visiting fans: good luck, and be gentle with us.)
Business by day, big night out by night: this hotel has range, and that’s the sign of a proper glow up.
Room for two
The ParkRoyal Parramatta’s rooms are cool, calm and very comfortable – with plenty of space for two old friends and the full debrief of everything that’s happened since we last caught up.
The recent renovations have lifted the whole place, and you can tell the glow up was done with care. The bathrooms are crisp and bright, with smart mirrors and rainfall showerheads. The carpet has a scribbly gum pattern that’s a lovely local touch. After a lifetime of rushing home from The Roxy at ungodly hours, a hotel room this peaceful felt like an upgrade we’d earned.
While a little too cold to enjoy in the off season, the outdoor pool with a view of the Powerhouse should make for an excellent “sand-free” alternative to Bondi come Summer. Less parking hassles and reduced risk of burning the soles of our feet as we dash to the care … we’ll be back!
The support crew
This is where the ParkRoyal really won us over, and where it felt most like home. The team is warm, generous and genuinely proud of the place, and many of them are part of the community the hotel sits in. A glow up like this doesn’t happen without the people behind it.
At Bar 30 & Bistro, Riccardo, who studies at the local UWS university, and Lukas, a Parramatta local through and through, looked after us like old friends. They gave excellent suggestions, kept the night moving, and were funny without trying too hard, which is more than we can say for ourselves at seventeen. Two Western Sydney kids felt like VIPs in our own backyard, being looked after by people who know the suburb as well as we do.
Riccardo, Lukas and Lunja, if you’re reading this: you’re the reason we’ll be back.
Food for thought
Bar 30 & Bistro is an excellent restaurant that happens to be in a hotel. The prawn tacos arrived fresh and bright. The woodfired pizza came out blistered and properly charred, the kind you share with someone who’s known you since school and who also knows exactly how many slices you’ve had. And, wagyu burger turned up, rich, juicy and completely unapologetic, and any plans for a sensible dinner went out the window.
Much like our teenage food court feeds, this was lunch with better lighting and less judgement. Same greedy appetites, just a much better class of glow up.
And then, for room service, we went for the chocolate fondant. We cut into it, watched it ooze, and fell silent for 10 blissful minutes. It was the first time all season anything had been that reliably satisfying. No shade underperforming fullbacks …
Come breakfast, the buffet features all the icons (hash brown, muesli, eggs made to order), but the standout is the fresh juice station, where you become your own bartender and mix up your own DIY drink combos. It’s basically the Slurpee machine of our childhoods, all grown up and in on the health kick.
The green glow up: sustainability
We didn’t check into the ParkRoyal expecting a lesson in sustainability, but it turns out this glow up goes deeper than fresh carpet and smart mirrors, and the hotel has the credentials to back it up. ParkRoyal Parramatta holds Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Multi-Site Certification, earned as part of Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s wider commitment across its Australian properties. In practice, that means meeting international standards for responsible planning, community engagement, cultural heritage and environmental care.
The hotel’s efforts have also been noticed by the industry, with a finalist nod for Best Environmental/Sustainability Practices at the 2026 NSW Accommodation Awards for Excellence.
The good stuff shows up in the details, too. The filtered water taps in the rooms cut down on single-use plastic, and the wooden check-in keys are a small, smart touch. It’s reassuring to stay somewhere that’s thinking about the future without making a song and dance about it. A far cry from the plastic room keys we used to lose on school excursions. Turns out the best glow ups are the ones that look good and do good.
Seventeen Again, Minus the Curfew
We grew up in Parramatta. We danced here, shopped here, and suffered here through some truly heartbreaking football. Staying at the ParkRoyal felt like the grown-up chapter of the same story: a sophisticated, comfortable, delicious way to rediscover our hometown with the person who’s been there for all of it. The two of us have grown up, the suburb has glowed up, and the accommodation is the best example.
Parramatta has its own kind of glamour, and this hotel is proof.
Five stars, with a bonus point for not letting us down like our fashion choices have been since 1986.
