This might be the most authentic thing ever filmed in Sydney

This article has been republished from our Rewind newsletter.

As someone who grew up in Western Sydney, the version of Australia that’s often captured on screen is usually a far cry from the one I know.

Enter The 24 Hour Check-In. The series, which stars musicians Wesley Stormer and Conor O’Donoghue as themselves, follows the pair as they embark on a journey through the sometimes sketchy world of budget Sydney motels. That’s a simple setup, but that straightforwardness is part of the charm. Every time you hit play on a new episode, you sort of know what you’re in for, even if you don’t know exactly what you’ll be getting.

The first half of The 24 Hour Check-In is all about initial impressions. You get to be a fly on the wall as Stormer and O’Donoghue run into the reality of their latest short-term rental, for better or worse. The experience of walking into a hotel room and immediately seeing all the places where corners have been cut, or spots where a little bit of extra effort has been expended, is a process that is instantly familiar but made unexpectedly compelling by the fact that it's usually a private moment rather than one captured on camera.

Then, in the second half of each episode, the pair will usually bring in a guest for a second opinion. Sometimes, this structure will be broken up by a serene and dreamlike interlude wherein the pair either wander off screen to get dinner at a nearby pub or clock off early for a quiet evening. These sequences are usually set to music by Stormer’s band Sun Affair and blur the lines between the mundane and the cinematic in a way that’s hard to look away from. It all feels so scenic and yet so real.

As someone who spends a lot of their time writing reviews, it’s possible that some slice of The 24 Hour Check-In’s specific appeal to my tastes has to do with watching that process unfold at a distance. Even so, I think that most viewers will find the series’ assessments of affordable accommodation to be as relatable as its rating system – “How many nights could you get away with staying here?” – is original.

The 24 Hour Check-In is an off-kilter odyssey that never outstays its welcome, though the same can’t be said for some of the staycation spots that feature in it.

The first two seasons of The 24 Hour Check-In are available to stream on YouTube.

Fergus Halliday

Digital Content Editor

Fergus Halliday is a journalist and digital content editor at WhistleOut Australia. He’s written about technology, telecommunications, gaming and more for over a decade. He got his start writing in high school before interning at magazines like CRN Australia and freelancing for publications like the AU Review, Gizmodo, Kotaku, GamesHub, Press Start, ScreenRant, Superjump, Nestegg, and more.

Read full bio