Springfield Lodge was the third and last hotel that I stayed at during my trip to Australia earlier this year. It was a short stay as I spent my last two nights in Sydney here after a side trip to Tasmania. I was finding limited options for hotels at a reasonable price. It seemed like all the nice hotels in Sydney CBD were priced above $100 USD. Hence, I decided to look at other areas nearby. One of these was Potts Point. This area is known to have better pricing for lodging, partially because of the reputation of nearby Kings Cross which is known to be a bit of a rough neighborhood. Upon my search for hotels, I came across Springfield Lodge. The prices were well within my budget and the reviews seemed to be promising, so I decided to book directly through the hotel's website. Though you book through the site, note that payment for the room is actually deducted at check-in and there is a credit card surcharge. To get to the hotel from Sydney Airport, I took the train to Central Railway Station. From there, I had to change trains and get on the T4. This is a little bit tricky if you have luggage as you will need to use many lifts. I would advise taking an airport shuttle or taxi if you have too much to carry. After arriving at Kings Cross Station, take the Victoria Street exit. From there, turn right and you will see an alleyway that you walk through to reach the hotel. The hotel reception desk is open from 7:30 am till 11 pm, so please make sure that you will be able to check in during those times before booking. The hotel doors are locked and the reception is boarded up during the closed hours. I was a little apprehensive about this since I needed to check out before the reception desk opened on the day of my flight back to US. But this wasn't a problem. I simply let the staff know on the day before that I would be checking out early the next morning and then left my key card at the desk before leaving. Stayed in a budget basement double room which was just as it sounds. It is on the floor below the ground floor of the hotel. The room was comparable in size to the other hotel I stayed at in Sydney, except that it had a bathroom (albeit small). There was also a room fridge and the TV had many channels on it. The hotel offers free Wi-Fi, though they give you codes (up to 500MB/day) to enter to limit the amount of data that you use. My room was just down the hall from the laundry room and there is a guest kitchen and dining room available to use. The price is lower for the basement rooms because they get less light and there is no view. I could hear outside noise from above, but it wasn't too loud. The biggest issue I had with this room was that I found a couple bugs scurrying on the floor, which I attribute to the basement location and the fact that it was pouring rain for my whole stay here. Being from Hawaii, this didn't faze me. But if this freaks you out, I suggest booking a room upstairs instead. As for safety in the area, I didn't have much of an issue traveling around. Though the area's reputation was on my mind. The main street in the area, Darlinghurst Road is a little sketchy to walk during the night. So be sure to walk with authority, like you know where you are headed. Overall, I thought Springfield Lodge was fine for a short stay. The reasonable room rates and close proximity to the nightlife in Kings Cross are the biggest reasons for staying here. It is a decent alternative to staying in a hotel in the Sydney CBD as it is fairly close to that area and is a short walk away from Kings Cross Station which you can take the train to head to Sydney Airport upon transferring at Central. read more

Stay away from here. Without a doubt one of the rudest and inconsiderate set of staff and hotel management I've ever encountered. They somehow "lost" my reservation when I showed up. After providing proof of emails, they offered me a "discounted" rate that was the EXACT same as the rack rate. They somehow thought I'd be stupid enough to fall for it. After flying for so long, I had no energy to deal with these arrogant people and left for a hotel 2 minutes down the road, thanks to TA. This hotel single-handedly ruined my first visit to Sydney. I would avoid them at all costs and I've advised my company to never use them for business. read more

Great hotel at a budget price. If you're expecting an upscale, you're going to have to pay upscale prices. I booked the hotel directly and let them know I would be arriving early. Though they couldnt make any promises in advance, I was able to check in early. The room was simple enough: clean bed, toliet and a shower with hot water. The woman at the front desk was an absolute gem: so kind and willing to help out on walking paths to things around. Since I was only in Sydney for 24 hours, she helped me plan the best use of my day. Walking to the Opera House only took about 30 minutes and you get to walk through the botanical gardens which is gorgeous. Plus the path on the harbor has a beautiful view of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. Overall, it's a simplistic hotel and great for a short duration. read more

Early 2010 whilst planning our round the world trip in which we had a small budget for each accommodation we stumbled across this place. Sydney is pretty expensive, Australia on the whole is pretty expensive when you are converting from British Pounds to the Australian dollar so it was quite difficult to find a place which was central but was not a backpackers place. Hubby didnt want to stay in a youth hostel despite my protests that there were private rooms for couples. After doing some research after booking this place we found that this place was close to King's Cross. HMM. So we arrived in Sydney having flown from Melbourne, took a train and got off in King's Cross- this was the closest station. It was a Thursday night. I had been informed by friends that Thursday nights were the mad nights in Kings Cross. Walking down the street with our backpacks I was shocked... Kings cross was madness. People everywhere. Some in super short skirts, prostitutes, people being sick. Needless to say I was quite wary that the hotel we had picked was going to be right smack bang in the middle of it all. As it happens we turned the corner and there hidden away was our hotel. Not only that but it was SILENT round that corner. We managed to make the 11pm check in. JUST. A word of warning, if you are intending to arrive late may be best to call ahead and warn them. The hotel was an older style, some of the walls were slightly thinner but they were clean and nice. Best of all was that you couldnt hear the noise at all from where everyone was partying in King's cross. This hotel was perfect for our needs. It was a budget hotel which suited our needs enough to be a 4 star review. read more

Good location, friendly front desk staff and amazing curb appeal. The rooms are a bit on the small side with a musty smell and no room ( or rack) for luggage. read more

3 and a half stars. Springfield Lodge was decently priced in a relatively convenient part of Sydney, within 5 minutes walking distance to the Kings Cross train station. The walk to the hotel goes through some sketchy strip bars, but Sydney is an exceedingly safe city, so there was never a problem, just know that it's not the most family friendly ambience. The hotel itself is more old-fashioned, something like a mix between a European hotel and a college dorm. The lift doesn't go to the top most floor, where our room was, and the stairs to the top are very narrow. Ask for help with your luggage if you need it. The rooms are spare but spacious enough, and the bathroom was weirdly laid out with lots of different steps and levels. Our reservation claims free wifi but they actually gave us once-a-day codes for 500 megabytes of bandwidth each. You can use each code on multiple machines but you're sharing the data. It felt weird to have to monitor but should be fine when all you want is check your email and catch up on news. Danni, the lady at the front desk, was very nice otherwise in the short interaction we had with her. read more

Springfield Lodge is just OK. We paid about $200 per night for the room and I felt it was way overpriced for the quality. I hope that was Australian dollars rather than American... The rooms are very tiny and old. The bathroom is like a repurposed closet. There's six inches in front of the toilet to get to the sink and shower. The location is great. Close to some good super markets and St. Vincent's Hospital. Tons of backpackers in the area. The room was very clean and a bit noisy at night. There wasn't an elevator up to our room so we got some good exercise climbing 4 flights of stairs which was ok. All in all not a great deal. Limited wifi was free. Close to Kings Cross Subway station. read more

Our first stop in Australia was in Sydney for few days and we were looking for inexpensive lodging somewhere in the city and Springfield Lodge seemed to fit the bill. The hotel itself is quaint, but located right in the middle of a super busy section near Kings Cross Station where you'll see tons of partiers, exotic dancers, prostitutes, and more. What a cross section of humanity! I was wary, but the hotel itself was quiet and clean. My only complaint was that we were given a small room on the basement floor with a view out the window of an alley and it smelled like a backed-up drain. The front desk told us they had just cleaned out the restaurant grease traps and gave us some air freshener and after a few hours the smell dissipated, but I would have preferred one of the higher-priced rooms on the first or second floor. As this was only a short stay we opted to keep the room. The location was convenient, though, to many attractions and there is a supermarket located directly across the street for those of you (like us) who like to save money by shopping for groceries instead of eating in restaurants all the time. If you're lucky you'll be there when they set up a small farmer's market around the corner in a local park. Look for the man selling falafel balls, hummus and baba ganoush. Best baklava ever! read more