Seven luxury hotel openings to look forward to in 2024
This year is shaping up as a big one for the hotel industry, with around 5000 rooms expected to come online as major operators such as Marriott, Accor and IHG expand their offerings and new overseas players including 1 Hotels and Standard Hotels enter the arena.
Hoteliers will be feeling quietly confident about 2024. There was a strong bounce back in performance last year across all the capital cities markets, despite an additional 6000 rooms entering the accommodation pool.
Over the 11 months to November 2023, Sydney hotels averaged 77 per cent occupancy, up from 64 per cent over the same period in 2022, while Melbourne improved to 69 per cent from 59 per cent, figures from analysts STR show.
Over the same period, an average night’s stay in Sydney cost $264 – up from $244 – while Melbourne’s average daily rate (ADR) was $220 compared with $213 in 2022.
Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide all had higher occupancy rates and ADRs over 2023.
David Simpson, managing director at hotel management consultancy Axsia HTL, said factors that would drive strong performance in 2024 included the return of international business and corporate travellers, and the willingness of guests to pay more for an accommodation experience.
“The quality of the product available in the Australian landscape is growing by leaps and bounds, and consumers are enticed by this,” Simpson says.
The StandardX, Melbourne (February)
International boutique operator Standard Hotels is expected to cut the ribbon in early February on The StandardX on Rose Street, in the trendy inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.
It’s the first foray into Australia by the US-based group, which operates hotels in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and the Maldives.
Developed by local player DealCorp, the $60 million hotel features 125 rooms over seven levels, including an “intimate rooftop experience” serving Mexican cocktails and tacos, and a new Thai restaurant. The hotel was designed by architects Woods Bagot to complement its industrial surroundings, incorporating weathered steel and concrete in its facade.
Marriott Adelaide (May)
Marriott may not have the lengthy luxury lineup of 2023 – last year it opened the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne, W Sydney and Le Meridien Melbourne – but it will keep growing its high-end portfolio in Australia this year. In early May, South Australia’s first flagship Marriott Hotel will open as part of the redevelopment of Adelaide’s 152-year-old General Post Office building on the corner of King William and Flinders Street.
The $200 million hotel’s 285 rooms will be housed within a new 15-storey tower developed by Greaton, the group behind Sydney’s Ribbon building and the W Sydney. Amenities include 726 square metres of conference space, a 330 sq m ballroom, an indoor swimming pool and two dining venues.
It’s part of $1.2 billion investment since 2020 in upgrading Adelaide’s accommodation offerings, which has brought the city a 251-room Sofitel and 329-room Crowne Plaza.
Novotel & ibis Styles Melbourne Airport (July)
While not strictly a luxury hotel offering, Melbourne Airport will get a much-needed accommodation boost in 2024, when the 464-room dual-branded Novotel & ibis Styles development opens near Terminal 4 in July.
Originally due to open in 2021, the 10-storey development will offer guests the choice of affordable three-star accommodation at the ibis Styles or something a little more upmarket at the four-star Novotel.
Operated by Accor, the dual-branded property will include a gym and pool facilities, co-working spaces, a cafe, bar and restaurant, plus conference facilities.
The Star Grand Brisbane (August)
A development that will catch the eye of both local and overseas travellers in 2024 will be the first stage opening of the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf entertainment precinct in Brisbane.
Stage one will include The Star Grand, a 340-room, five-star hotel and casino within two arc-shaped towers. Among the hotel’s standout features is a leisure deck perched 35 metres above street level.
The 12,000 sq m open-air oasis will offer guests three swimming pools to choose from and views over the Brisbane River and South Bank arts precinct. The hotel will also connect with Queen’s Wharf’s Sky Deck, a 250-metre rooftop runway of restaurants and bars, 100 metres above the Brisbane River.
A further two hotels are due to open in subsequent stages at Queen’s Wharf – The Dorsett and six-star Rosewood. Once fully up and running, there will be more than 50 food and beverage offerings in a precinct that will undoubtedly become a focal point for Brisbane in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in 2032.
ASX-listed Star Entertainment Group will operate the new hotel and casino after vacating its existing casino and hotel in the heritage-listed Treasury building complex, which is up for sale for more than $200 million.
Queen’s Wharf is being developed by the Destination Brisbane Consortium, a joint venture between Star Entertainment, Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.
Crown Plaza Melbourne Carlton (third quarter of 2024)
Originally due to open way back in 2021 (and then in the final quarter of 2023), the former Rydges on Swanston hotel in Carlton on the CBD fringe has been brought back to life as a luxury 107-room Crowne Plaza by new owner Ross Pelligra and global operator IHG Hotels & Resorts. Amenities include a rooftop pool and bar and a 300-person meeting space.
The luxury revamp should remove the stigma attached to the former isolation hotel, which became infamous as being the source of a crippling COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne in mid-2020.
The Eve, Surry Hills/Redfern (September)
A 102-room boutique hotel nestled in a labyrinth of lively laneways connecting Surry Hills and Redfern is due to open its doors in September.
Operated by TFE Hotel – a joint venture between the Vidor family’s Toga Hotels and Singapore’s Far East Orchard Limited – the Eve Hotel at 10-40 Baptist Street has been built on the site of the former Wunderlicht factory, which manufactured pressed metal ceilings for Sydney homes.
It forms part of a new lifestyle precinct within Toga Group’s Surry Hills Village called Wunderlich Lane, which will feature boutique shopping, al-fresco dining and commercial and event spaces.
The hotel itself will feature a lavishly landscaped rooftop deck, swimming pool, bar and restaurant, with a fully operable glass roof and walls.
“Every aspect of The Eve has been carefully crafted to evoke a sense of elegance, sophistication, and comfort,” says TFE Hotels CEO Antony Ritch.
1 Hotel Melbourne (end of year)
While no firm date has been given for its opening, it’s likely one of the world’s most sustainable luxury brands, 1 Hotels, will make its Australian debut on the banks of Melbourne’s Yarra River before the end of the year.
Announced back in 2019 as part of Riverlee’s redevelopment of Northbank Wharf, the 277-room hotel will be the first foray into Australia by SH Hotels & Resorts, the accommodation group established by legendary US hotelier and investor Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood Hotels and private equity giant Starwood Capital.
As with other 1 Hotels in New York, London and Hollywood, 1 Hotel Melbourne will incorporate significant amounts of reclaimed and recycled materials as well as plenty of plants and other natural elements into its design and function.
Part of a development called Seafarers, it includes the repurposing of the heritage-listed No.5 Goods Shed – a former cargo storage warehouse – into a 1000-seat function centre and the creation of a 3500 sq m public park.
There will also be a full-service wellness centre, and a residents-only rooftop retreat with private dining rooms, library and garden, as well as restaurants and a lobby bar.
In a first for Melbourne, the 1 Hotel & Homes development will include the city’s first hotel-branded apartments, as well an $18 million penthouse that hit the market in December.
A spokesperson for Riverlee says Seafarers is due to be completed in fourth quarter this year with the hotel itself expected to open sometime after that.
Shangri-La Melbourne
No official launch date has been announced for the 500-room luxury hotel overlooking Carlton Gardens in the north-eastern corner of Melbourne, but Choon Wah Wong, an executive at the Hong Kong-listed Shangri-La Group told Globetrender.com last year that it would open in 2024. (The Australian Financial Review has sought confirmation from Shangri-La Group).
The hotel sits within the tallest of two curved towers in the 60-storey skyscraper known as Sapphire by the Gardens, which was completed last year by listed Malaysian developer SP Setia.
Amenities include a mix of high-end dining, a grand ballroom and health and wellness facilities,
SP Setia put the unfinished hotel up for sale in March 2022, with an asking price of around $500 million.
Having the hotel open and trading in 2024 may help find a deep-pocketed buyer.
