Travel + Leisure Luxury Awards Asia Pacific 2023 reveals our readers’ picks of the best hotels, pools, spas and even general managers in Australia. A rush of new urban stays has gone up with gusto, but you can also find high luxury in the bush and on the beaches.
IT’S TAKEN A WHILE FOR cities in Australia to bounce back from the mass exodus of people seeking a sea- or treechange during covid. But if you ever needed proof that urban locales are cool again, just look to the growing crop of hotels, both boutique and big-chain, that have opened, or will soon, in Sydney. The unofficial capital is experiencing a renaissance, with sleek new dining precincts opening to complement the influx of stays in the city centre. And Sydney is not alone, with Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide and Perth all bringing something to the table.
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COMO The Treasury won Best City Hotel and Best Hotel Spa in Australia. Images courtesy of COMO Hotels & Resorts (2)
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Indeed, a heritage property in Perth, COMO The Treasury, won Best City Hotel and Best Hotel Spa in Australia. Look to its soothing, stylish interiors and rooms with heaps of history that make it the perfect base for exploring Perth’s laneways and bars. Meanwhile, the arrival of Ace Hotel Sydney (No. 9) last year with its buzzing lobby and one of the city’s most talked about rooftop restaurants, signified a shift in hotel culture that we hope more people will embrace: as well as creating communal spaces that welcome non-guests, regular art, music and other programming gins up a FOMO-inducing vibe. An example: Crescent Head beach’s SeaSea, due to open later this year in north NSW from the couple behind Bali’s The Slow, where the focus will be on music and surf in a retro motel that’s been revamped with contemporary design and interiors.
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No. 1 of Best Beach + Island Hotels. Image courtesy of The Langham Gold Coast
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No. 7. Image courtesy of Southern Ocean Lodge
Taking No. 1 on the Best Beach + Island Hotels list, with its shorefront luxury, polished dining and state-of-the-art gym, is the new Langham Gold Coast, an oasis in the heart of Surfers Paradise. Elsewhere in this category, Southern Ocean Lodge (No. 7) has returned more stylish than ever after it was destroyed in bushfires in 2019, while tented Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef Safari Camp (No. 9) gets you closer than ever to nature.
We will never tire of the bush, either. Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley is a wilderness stay surrounded by dramatic escarpments and frequented by kangaroos and wombats. This retreat in the Greater Blue Mountains is an homage to all that’s Aussie – and thus a spot-on winner of the Best Country Hotels and Lodges category. Working cattle station Bullo River Station (No. 10) in the Northern Territory is Australia’s answer to safari. And second-place Gemtree Wines CABNX offers a tiny stay on a vineyard just 45 minutes from Adelaide.
In the Best Hotel Pools department, it’s not just the panoramas over Darling Harbour that makes Sofitel Sydney’s winning infinity number so glam; its pool bar Le Rivage also serves up inventive cocktails. Special shout-out to JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa (No. 4) for its sand-edged lagoon pool and Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort Port Douglas for its nine pools spanning two hectares.
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Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, the Best Hotel Pool. Image courtesy of Accor
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No. 4. Image courtesy of Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort Port Douglas
…And for its general manager, Steve Molnar, who was voted best in his category for leading the hotel and its team through a handful of awards nominations and acknowledgments and has a strong commitment to sustainability and guest experience. Hattip also to Amy Moylan at Ovolo South Yarra for her leadership in innovation.
It’s been a challenging few years for Aussies, but they’re a resilient bunch and keen to showcase everything this great land has to offer. There’s been an effort to amplify indigenous voices through both city and country tours run by local elders in Australia’s major cities and beyond.
Best Beach + Island Hotels in Australia
2. InterContinental Hayman Island Resort
3. Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Port Douglas
4. JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa
6. Capella Lodge, Lord Howe Island
9. Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef Safari Camp
Best City Hotels in Australia
3. W Melbourne
4. Crown Sydney
6. W Brisbane
7. Sofitel Sydney, Darling Harbour
Best Country Hotels + Lodges in Australia
1. Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley
3. InterContinental Sorrento Mornington Peninsula
Best Hotel Pools in Australia
1. Sofitel Sydney, Darling Harbour
2. Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Port Douglas
4. JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa
5. W Brisbane
6. InterContinental Hayman Island Resort
7. Emporium Hotel, South Bank, Brisbane
Best Hotel Spas in Australia
2. Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley
3. Elements of Byron Resort & Spa
5. The Day Spa by Chuan, The Langham, Sydney
Best Hotel General Managers in Australia
1. Steve Molnar, Sheraton Grand Mirage Port Douglas
2. Damon Page, W Melbourne
3. Amy Moylan, Ovolo South Yarra
4. Jesse Tibert, Como The Treasury
5. Bernard Langer, Sydney Harbour Marriott, Circular Quay
You’ll find great diversity in these lists of our readers’ picks of the best hotels and hotel features across Australia for 2023. And for all of this year’s Luxury Awards Asia-Pacific winners, click here.
Lede image credit: zstockphotos/Getty Images/Canva.
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