According to the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions in Victoria (Melbourne is the Australian state’s coastal capital), Melbourne saw 90.3 million visitors for the year ending September 2023, a 20 percent year-over-year increase, with total visitors returning to 93 percent of pre-pandemic numbers from 2019.

Part of this is because the Australian Grand Prix—held at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit—reported a record-breaking attendance of 444,631 across the four-day event in 2023, exceeding the previous year’s record by more than 25,000 people.

At the start of this year, the 2024 Australian Open held at Melbourne Park also broke attendance records, seeing more than 1 million fans come through the gates during the main draw, compared to last year’s record of 839,192.

These figures provide a glimpse into Melbourne tourism’s upward trajectory, which is attracting hotel developers from lifestyle and luxury brands alike hoping to capture the travelers booking trips to the city. According to the latest data from CoStar, there are 19 hotel projects under construction in Melbourne, seven in the final planning stages, and 32 in planning, with a pipeline of 10,155 rooms.

When they open, they will join a handful of hotels that have popped up across the city, including Quest Collingwood (crafted by Zunica Design, the property from Ascott Limited features 83 stylish serviced apartments), and the Dorsett Melbourne (Australian firm Cottee Parker designed the 316 guestrooms), both of which opened their doors last year.

The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne

Guests check in at the soaring sky lobby on the 80th floor of the Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne

Cottee Parker also lent a hand to the architecture of the Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne. With interiors led by locally based BAR Studio, the property opened last spring in the heart of the central business district. A highlight: To check in, guests are whisked up to the 80th floor sky lobby.

Meanwhile, the 257 guestrooms and suites are defined by dark wood and natural marble, complemented by handmade decorative glass panels, leather, and gold accents—a nod to the city’s Victorian-era gold rush history. Other metallic moments appear in the public spaces, including the 26-foot-high, self-supporting brass staircase that leads to the grand ballroom, and the 65th-floor infinity pool surrounded by abstract metal window framing.

Indigenous influences also inform the hotel’s design narrative. The ground floor gallery door handles, for instance, are a bronze casting of a welcome necklace by First Nations artist Maree Clarke that honors the Wurundjeri people, who are the original owners of the land. Works by other Indigenous artists, including Reko Rennie and Christian Thompson AO, grace the interiors, found from the arrival area to the sky lobby.

“Like Melbourne, the design of the hotel is understated yet confident,” says Alicia Lynch, director of interior design and design management, global design APEC at Marriott International. “The vertical journey charts the city’s creative contrasts, with an acknowledgement of place and indigenous heritage via references to land, water, and First Nations culture expressed through carefully curated art commissions.”

Le Méridien Melbourne

Midcentury-inspired furniture, polished natural stone, and terrazzo set the backdrop for art installations in the Le Méridien lobby

A mile from the Ritz-Carlton, a building at 20 Bourke Street—first opened as a hotel in 1850 and that has since moved through various chapters as a theater, nightclub, and live performance venue—now returns full circle to its original interpretation as the Le Méridien Melbourne.

Behind its Art Deco façade, the 12-story hotel pays tribute to its location’s theatrical arts history, with local firm Peddle Thorp orchestrating its design. Take the lobby with its midcentury-inspired furniture, polished natural stone, and terrazzo, featuring a large-scale sculptural installation by Marta Figueiredo and projected video art by Wendy Yu. “We want guests to feel a connection to Melbourne’s art and culture scene, an immersion into the site’s history, and to be part of the new chapter that Le Méridien brings to Bourke Street,” says Peddle Thorp associate Abigail Hamm.

The hotel’s 235 guestrooms feature a palette of dark wood and warm marble finishes, while F&B spaces take cues from the building’s past lives. At the romantic Dolly restaurant, for example, accessed via a spiral staircase, “guests experience a behind-the-curtain moment with its rich, plush interiors, and electric atmosphere, imbuing the fanfare and thrill of the site’s 1930s Apollo Theatre,” Hamm notes.

“The experience is undeniably 5-Star luxury,” she adds, “but with the comfort, warmth, and belonging of home.”

The StandardX, Melbourne

A rendering of the lobby at the upcoming StandardX, Melbourne, the brand’s first location

Also returning to its roots, Standard International is set to grace Melbourne this spring with its new accessible lifestyle brand, the StandardX. It’s a concept that embodies the youthful spirit that defined the hotel company when the now-shuttered Standard Hollywood opened on the Sunset Strip 25 years ago.

Nestled in the vibrant, post-industrial enclave of Fitzroy, the StandardX, Melbourne finds its home in a neighborhood with a rich history of record stores, punk clubs, and writers’ haunts that’s “thrumming with creative and bohemian rhythm due to its gritty Little Band scene roots,” says Verena Haller, chief design officer at the Standard Hotels. The design—by Standard’s in-house team in collaboration with locally based Hecker Guthrie and global firm Woods Bagot—pays homage to the city’s experimental post-punk scene with a modern approach.

The StandardX is “designed for you to check in and check out the city. It’s a low-key, less layered space to discover and socialize,” Haller explains. Columns adorned in macramé by local artist Sarah Smalltown anchor the lobby, which opens to an elevated, red-toned loft with plush seating. Paintings by Australian artist Dane Lovett complement custom furniture and antique pieces. Meanwhile, the 125 guestrooms are awash in a simple blue and white palette.

The StandardX, ultimately, is a “back-to-the-roots kind of brand,” Haller adds. “Simple but fun, basic but edgy, all you need and nothing more.”

1 Hotel & Homes Melbourne

Set on the banks of the Yarra River, the 1 Hotel Melbourne will be part of the multipurpose Seafarers project when it opens in 2025

On the horizon, the 1 Hotel & Homes Melbourne will make its debut in early 2025 as part of multipurpose Northbank project Seafarers, marking the brand’s first outpost in Australia. Set on the banks of the Yarra River, the hotel, with its 277 guestrooms and 114 branded residences, will feature a biophilic design by local architecture firm Fender Katsalidis and design studios ODO and New York-based Ward + Gray, in collaboration with SH Hotels & Resorts’ in-house team. The property—which will boast a handful of F&B options, a lobby bar with waterfront views, an indoor pool, and a spa—will also offer access to a sprawling public park.

In line with the brand’s sustainable ethos, the design vision is rooted in a reverence for the site’s surrounding land, water, and traditions. Timber used throughout the construction, for instance, is reclaimed from local wharfs and rail bridges, with “[nearly four miles] of recycled timber featured in the project,” says ODO director Samson Tiew. “If you look close enough, [it] may even feature historical markings that suggest a prior use.”

“Melbourne is a city renowned for its cultural vibrancy, sophisticated ambiance, and timeless appeal to tourists,” says Rebecca King, vice president of design at SH Hotels & Resorts. “The absence of lifestyle-focused brands in the current market makes it an ideal place for 1 Hotels to establish its inaugural Australian presence.”

 

Photos and renderings by Peter Bennetts, Elise Hassey, Dianna Snape, and courtesy of SH Hotels & Resorts and Standard International

This article originally appeared in HD’s February/March 2024 issue.