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GT Travel Awards 2008: Best luxury hotel

Palazzo Versace, Qld
Luxury comes in many guises but, for this year’s winner,the only luxury that matters is the fully imported, gold-plated Italian variety. When Palazzo Versace made its debut on the Gold Coast in 2000, it introduced Australians to a level of opulence previously confined to the grand palace hotels of Europe. The uniquely extravagant accommodation cleverly blends bespoke furnishings and fittings, bearing the distinctive Versace markings, with singular touches such as hand-fitted mosaics as well as a 750kg-chandelier salvaged from the State Library of Milan. This Renaissance-style palazzo, overlooking the beach at Broadwater, has 205 rooms and 72 serviced apartments that share three restaurants – breakfast in the all-day eatery Il Barocco has been dubbed the best in Australia – and 28 pools between them. Besides the myriad attractions of the Gold Coast, guests can visit the Great Barrier Reef by seaplane, go deep-sea fishing or join a 4WD safari into the nearby hinterland.
Palazzo Versace, 1800 098 000, www.palazzoversace.com.

Runners-up: The Observatory Hotel, Sydney, NSW (last year’s winner); The Park Hyatt, Sydney, NSW.

PHOTOGRAPHY DAVID MATHESON