Review: Sage Hotel James Street, Brisbane

  • Family
    All Ages

There is nothing like the experience of seeing your home town through the eyes of a tourist, and doing it in style!

This happened recently when the we were invited for a staycation and to get acquainted with the Sage Hotel in James Street, Fortitude Valley.

We arrived at Sage Hotel on a rainy Friday afternoon and the kids went nuts when they discovered a teepee the lovely staff had setup in our room  for the boys, complete with mini robes all laid out ready to go – which of course meant INSTANT undressing and lounging. 

The room was very well appointed with all the bits and bobs you expect in a good hotel room from coffee maker, to well stocked mini bar, to ridiculously pleasing beds. Sage is brought to Brisbane by Next, who are one of the world's leading hoteliers so they know what they are doing in terms of making their guests feel comfortable. What stood out was the perfect temperature of the room, no fiddling with aircon required, and that the toilet was in it's own room behind opaque glass which was delightful for a bit of privacy away from the kids. Our breakfast basket was also very generous and staff catered to my coeliac dietry requirements.

View from the hotel verandah

We were staying in "superior double double" room which sleeps up to 5. What surprised me the most was how much space we had, absolutely not one of those pokey hotel rooms where you are all on top of each other and can't wait to get out, and that we also had a good size verandah with really cool urban views over New Farm to Brisbane city. The images on the website are a little deceptive and don't actually show how big the room is. As a mum of active boys, I walked into that nice big space and breathed a sign of relief (alhough of course we still ended up with a minor head injury as the littlest adventurer rolled off the bed while wrestling).

The room in fact was so delightful that the boys and I agreed to abandon all plans for outdoor activities (we were going to take advantage of the free entry to Valley pool that guests are entitled to) and instead hunkered down and watched a bunch of movies for the afternoon as the rain came down.

The rooms do have room service but I felt we should at least make a token effort to stretch our legs so we derobed and ventured out for dinner – well we caught the lift downstairs to the Queens Arms hotel and enjoyed a great pub meal. Not cheap but everything was delicious so I didn't mind paying a bit extra. There was a million and one other options for eating and drinking but the kids were happy with a pub meal and were keen to get back to the room and their robes and watch more movies.

We did get our tourist on the next day. Sage Hotel is located in a fantastic part of town in chic James Street, so first up next morning we decided to take advantage of this coffee and shopping mecca and had delicious coffee from Jamie's, brunch at Harvey's and I got to scratch my shopping itch (wlthough frankly, window shopping was about all I could afford). I loved seeing James Street through the eyes of a traveller and I was actually pretty blown away by how cool the whole strip is and the exclectic mix of people from casually dressed locals, ladies in their active wear and very well dressed international tourists. I do head to James Street at night sometimes for dinner, but I am never staying in a hotel, so it was a real novelty.

Overall we had a really fantastic experience at Sage Hotel, the service was great, the room was really comfortable and a perfect size for a family and the location was the bomb. I'd definitely recommend for a family weekend away. One thing to bear in mind that the parking underneath the hotel is s run by a third party operator so it is an additional cost and quite expensive ($25 for 24 hours). The hotel does offer a chaffeur service for those wanting to make the most of the city and surrounds.

Where: Sage Hotel Brisbane, James Street

Address: 70 James Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006

Phone: 07 3222 3111 

Learn more: https://www.nexthotels.com/sage/james-street-brisbane/

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