Sydney’s quirkiest hotel hits the market

It looks great on Instagram and has been described as an industry “disrupter” and now this quirky Sydney hotel is looking for a new keeper.

The Collectionist, a truly unique boutique hotel in Sydney’s inner ring suburb of Camperdown is part accommodation, part creative experience, and has just been listed with a $2 million leasehold price tag.

Marketed through Metro Commercial agents Jerry Leis and Neville Green, the walk-in walk out listing is a chance for a new operator to walk in and get down to business.

“A buyer will pretty much come in an have a free business. You’re not really paying for the goodwill, you’re paying for the fixtures and fittings but all the hard work has already been done by the designers,” Leis says, adding that there is a 10-year lease plus a five-year option on offer.

“Our clients converted this from a warehouse two years ago and now they’ve done that, they’ve decided to deploy their equity elsewhere,” Leis says.

Get caught up in the unique experience. Picture: Supplied

Or, just slum it. Picture: Supplied

Unlike most hotels with dozens of “cookie cutter” rooms, The Collectionist has 39 individual rooms that have been uniquely styled by four designers, Andrew Cliffe, Amber Road, Willis Sheargold and Pattern Studio, so no two are the same.

The quirky rooms have names that are just as quaint including the “Queenie Fah Fah” and the “Jetset Rocket”. They range from 21sq m to 42sq m, with courtyards, and the nightly rate starts from about $200.

Some of the rooms are bold and brash, while others are more conservative and stylish, with the hotel claiming to be “no beige walls” and “no stock standard white sheets”.

You have to check out this bar fridge. Picture: Supplied

It’s like living in the future.

The vision of entrepreneur Daniel Symonds and his business partner Toby Raphael was to create Sydney’s first custom-designed hotel.

The pair had already transformed the former Newtown RSL into the hugely popular Urban Newtown Hotel.

Guests at The Collectionist can’t book a specific room before they arrive, instead they can browse through the available rooms once they’ve turned up and then choose their favourite. What they do get to choose is one of four price points – Bootstrap, Moonshiner, Tinkerer and Artisan.

Once the room has been chosen, guests at the largely-automated hotel are then texted a pin code to keep for their stay.

No two rooms are alike.

Artwork is scattered throughout the rooms and the hotel.

You can request a staff member to show you around, or just take a DIY approach to the “smart” hotel.

“It’s a beautiful product and it uses state of the art technology so most things can be operated through the app. There is a staff, but it’s a skeleton staff,” Leis explains.

“It would really suite someone new to the industry who wants a quick learning curve from people who are really experienced.

“They’re going to be making money from the day they walk in with plenty of additional forward bookings.”

Located at 9-13 Marsden St in Camperdown, The Collectionist is just off bustling Parramatta Rd and within minutes of RPA Hospital, the Sydney University campus and the popular eateries and boutiques of Newtown and Glebe.

This article from The Daily Telegraph originally appeared as “Quirky Sydney Collectionist Hotel hits the market”.