Who's shouting the next Meriton?

A hotel room seemingly for business people, travelling interstate during the week, can be seamlessly transformed into a scene fostering drug and alcohol consumption over raucous weekends.

Image Credit: Nandini Dhir

New Year's Eve, 2020. I sit with my friend on the roof of the old David Jones car park by Parramatta River to watch the council fireworks from afar. As we count down the seconds to 2021, we hear cheers and screams of laughter from the Meriton suite next door. Levels above us these people yell their Instagram handles, we add them online, and we’re messaging strangers from this Meriton party at 12:04am. Soon, we hear a metallic tink against the concrete, followed by another two empty nangs, as used laughing gas cylinders rain down from above. 

From the later years of high school through to the first couple years of uni, it’s a waiting game of who’s hosting the next Meriton party. The Meriton suites of Kent Street, World Square, and Parramatta alike are fabled for chaotic party nights, fragmented recollections, and no shortage of Snapchat memories.

“Did you even go to school in Sydney if you didn’t go to at least one sweet 16th at Meriton World Square?”, Layla* says.

For just over $300 a night, a fresh 18 year old can book a two bedroom and two bathroom Meriton suite for ‘four’ guests — or rather, an affordable party venue in the sky in the heart of Sydney or Western Sydney’s CBD. Meriton suites, also referred to as ‘serviced apartments’, include a full kitchen, laundry, living area, and open balcony. Yet, a hotel room seemingly for business people, travelling interstate during the week, can be seamlessly transformed into a scene fostering drug and alcohol consumption over raucous weekends. 

Aside from the drug busts that have blanketed the news — with police camped outside the suites and hundreds of penalty infringement notices issued  — what really happens behind the doors of a Meriton party?

“My friend starts vomiting out of nowhere,” says Amanda*.

“We call 000 and everyone is freaking out, especially the underage girlies, because they’re not meant to be there. Turns out my friend got food poisoning from KBBQ, and I’m drunk as fuck holding my mate’s hand while they inject him with anti-nausea medication. Meanwhile, everyone is scrambling to hide the weed and get the underage girlies out without looking suspicious."

“A group of people ended up at Town Hall Maccas to wait it out before sneaking back in.”

Meriton parties are notorious for the scattered entries in pairs and trios up the elevators, as well as copious amounts of Gatorade bottles, balloons, Vicks inhalers, and red cups. Alongside Nike Air Force 1s in about every size (children’s, men’s, and women’s), Glassons crop tops, and a plethora of vape flavours, chundering is the recurring theme of a Meriton party.

Morgan* says, “Too many people got too drunk and there were like four people in each bed. Even worse, people had chundered in each bedroom, one was in the drawer of a closet.”

“I had too many brownies and shots, and then chundered my guts out,” Jason* says. 

“A random girl was keeping me alive and brought me water, I somehow ended up sleeping with her.”

“I blacked out at 10:30pm, woke up with two mysterious bruises, and thought, ‘Oh, who chundered in the toilet?’ It was me.” Diya* says.

It is unclear where Meriton stands between the innumerable police and ambulance visits to their buildings and facilitating a night to remember for countless young adults of Sydney. They did, however, release a “No Party & No Excessive Noise” policy, on their booking site in 2017, that requires all visitors to leave the building at 11pm. Despite the innumerable horror stories from those who stay too late at a Mertion party, these hotel shindings are still part of Sydney’s weekend nightlife. 

“Very litty, deep chats on the living room floor, everybody queer as fuck, snacks galore, loud singing, and a popping fance floor. Easy access to the toilet for tragic queens who need to vomit. Overall, solid 10 out of 10.” Jasmine* says. 

Beyond the uncurbed alcohol consumption and immoderate drug usage, there is continual appeal in Meriton parties. These serviced apartments will always be a place for people to, “get drunk in the kitchen, high on the balcony, pregnant in the bedrooms, and sick in the bathrooms.” Cynthia* says. 

Can you shout the next Meriton?

*Names have been changed