2015 GT Australian Hotel Guide Awards

Hotel of the Year

When the Langham Group took over Sydney’s landmark Observatory Hotel in 2012, and then closed it for a major makeover midway through last year, no one knew quite what to expect. Now we do. Langham took a $30 million wrecking ball to the Observatory’s 21-year-old interiors to create a precious gem of a hotel that is remarkable for the imagination behind its transformation, the precision of its finishes, the attentiveness of staff, and the effortless comfort of guestrooms and public areas. This is a hotel with real personality, too, from its inner harbour views to the bold Australian art adorning its walls (including no fewer than seven Sidney Nolans). The Observatory is dead. Long live the Langham.

New Hotel of the Year

A great international city like Sydney desperately needs some fabulous new hotels and the new Langham delivers on so many levels. The attention to detail is exquisite – from the lemon parmesan olives served in silver bowls to the custom-designed furniture, lighting, carpets and beds. From the outset, service has been impressively suave. The Langham Sydney’s overnight success is a tribute to the hard work and sharp eye of general manager Sonia Lefevre. She oversaw every stage of the transformation and now ensures the experience more than lives up to expectations. Brava.

Large Hotel of the Year

There is no hotel quite like Melbourne’s Crown Towers. Fuelled by the takings of its casino, this glossy, glamorous riverside tower is home to late-model capitalism in high gear. With 33 floors of luxe yet understated opulence, it’s a pleasure-den world of its own, where no request is too outlandish, no appetite is left wanting and where no expense has been spared. It’s a triumph of the more-is-more philosophy.

Boutique Hotel of the Year

When a vision as original as this arrives, everyone takes notice, and Canberra’s – no, Australia’s  accommodation scene is so much richer for the arrival of the so-good-they-named-it-twice Hotel Hotel. There have been some innovative new boutique hotels open in the past year, but none has come close to the game-changing, ante-upping attitude of Hotel Hotel. We love everything about the place – including the new salon at Monster Kitchen and Bar – and can’t wait for the Efkarpidis brothers to bring their unique vision to inner-city Melbourne (Collingwood is next on their cool-hunting radar). Bring it on.

Regional Hotel of the Year

Pumphouse Point is our Regional Hotel of the Year because it’s a uniquely magical place to stay in a precious part of the world. And that’s something worth celebrating. Originally conceived by developer Simon Currant as an extravagant five-star resort, when it opened in January this small, remote complex of whimsical former hydroelectric buildings was revealed as a comfortable but pared-back 18-room hotel. The emphasis here is firmly on the environment – gorgeous, untamed, ethereal – and the experiences within this World Heritage wilderness.

Best service

With a view this spectacular, a hotel might be tempted to rest on its harbourfront laurels. But not the Park Hyatt. From check-in to room service to concierge, the service at this showpiece property is a study in cool sophistication. The tone is adult and discreet, while the attitude is can-do and no-fuss. There’s a reason many of the world’s celebrities call it home when they visit Sydney (we’re looking at you, Sir Elton). It’s a temple of good taste with service so smooth and unobtrusive it simply melts into those magnificent views.

Best breakfast

Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt celebrates the first meal of the day in inimitable style. At the crystal-curtained lobby restaurant, Collins Kitchen, the vibe is more bustling hawker kitchen than hotel breakfast room. Every egg dish is cooked à la minute, and juices are squeezed to order; there are bowls of silky chawanmushi, dumplings, congee, just-baked muffins and cakes, a whole tub of goat’s cheese, noodles, fresh sambals – you name it. If that delectable list isn’t proof enough of the supremacy of the Grand Hyatt breakfast buffet, consider this: the kitchen shops local and sources most ingredients within Victoria.

Best pool

This five-star self-described “super tower” on the Surfers Paradise beachfront has many features in its favour, not least those vast ocean views and Seaduction restaurant. But the irresistible drawcard for holidaymakers is Soul’s quartet of pools dedicated to guest pleasure. There’s the alluringly tiered 25-metre outdoor pool with sweeping sightlines from Burleigh Heads to Stradbroke Island, and the 25-metre heated lap pool indoors, plus two wading pools for little swimmers. Add to that inventory heated indoor and outdoor spas, a sauna and steam room, and you’ll understand why we think Soul makes the biggest splash pool-wise.

Best bar

Australia does not, on the whole, do great hotel bars. There’s nothing to rival, say, the refinement and razzmatazz of London’s Connaught Bar or the celebrity and service of the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz Paris. But we now have a hotel bar worthy of the name – in Canberra, of all places. Monster Kitchen and Bar is a real bar, somewhere we’d love to drop by for a drink regardless of whether it’s attached to a hotel. The regional wine emphasis is appealing, Sean McConnell’s food is always satisfying and the cocktails are terrific. But more than all that, this is a bar with a strong personality that works hard to ensure guests have a good time.

Best Club Sandwich

We’ve chewed our way through dozens of triple toasties to bring you our definitive verdict of Australia’s best club sandwich and, at the risk of giving one hotel too much love in one year, our vote goes to the The Langham Sydney. Six white-toast triangles skewered in a row and stuffed with leg ham cut from the bone, house-smoked chicken, two layers of curried egg, lettuce leaves and cucumber, with a pot of aïoli and a bowl of dark-golden hand-cut chips. As club sandwich experiences go, it’s easily a 9/10.

Best minibar

Okay, so they’re not exactly mini, but the bars in Mona’s eight pavilions are our benchmark for hotel booze offerings. These personal cellars stock house wines from the Muse, Moorilla and Praxis labels, as well as the likes of Egly-Ouriet Champagne and Pol Roger, Alphonse Mellot Sancerre, Barossa syrah and Clare Valley shiraz. Guests have a choice of 30 bottles of wine, as well as Cape Grim mineral water, Weiss chocolate and organic potato chips. The bar list also includes non-potable items such as Moorilla-branded umbrellas, a “Lovers’ Intimacy Kit” and vagina-shaped soaps modelled on Mona’s 151-strong collection of moulded porcelain lady-parts. It’s enough to make you reach for a stiff drink.

Innovation of the Year

Next burst onto the Brisbane scene promising to be the most tech-forward hotel on Australian shores and, to everyone’s surprise, it really delivered. The forward thinking that’s gone into this Queen Street Mall high-rise is remarkable. For starters, a 24/7 Club Lounge, available before and after check-in where guests can snooze in a serenading sleep pod, swim in the pool, shower, eat, work out and do business. And then there are the smart phones given to guests on loan, loaded with free local calls and the keys to your room. In fact, Next’s Smart app converts any mobile device to temperature controller, lighting designer and room service attendant. At Next, the future is now.