InterContinental Hotel Double Bay, Sydney - host to the stars

The only five-star hotel in Sydney outside the central business district, the InterContinental is located in the well-heeled harbourside suburb of Double Bay. It is a A$25 million (HK$148 million) revamp of the old Ritz-Carlton; a marble-lined palace that once hosted a who's who of international A-listers including Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Tom Cruise, Bill Clinton, Elton John and Princess Diana.

Yep, in 1997, the INXS frontman and ex-King George V (Kowloon) schoolboy met his grisly end in room 524, putting the Ritz-Carlton on the global map for all the wrong reasons. Understandably, the new hotel is keen to distance itself from that tragic event. In fact, the room numbers have all been changed and staff will artfully deflect any questions about the incident.

We'd call it contemporary glamour, rather than groundbreaking. You enter the hotel through a porte-cochere, where the valets are busy parking Porsches, Mercs and Ferraris. Step through the gilded elevator doors and take the lift up to level one, which opens out into a massive Italian marble lobby (above). The walls are clad in white timber panelling and the mouldings and cornices picked out in the same grey hues found in the veins of the marble.

There are 140 of them. Some look over leafy Double Bay village while 29 have views of the internal courtyard (above). The best suites are the 37 Bay View rooms, which - as the name suggests - overlook one of Sydney Harbour's most glistening bays. Rooms are light and airy and feature the original white marble bathrooms, albeit substantially updated.

Well, that would be the Royal Suite, with its four balconies facing the bay. It's 175 square metres of pure opulence, including a large bathroom with spa tub, a study, a dining room for eight guests, a lounge area and a butler's kitchen with a separate entrance; let's face it, nobody likes having to fraternise with the hired help.