Mondrian Gold Coast and 1 Hotel Melbourne to launch Australia's first hotel-branded residences

Australia is poised to enter the world of hotel-branded residences with the upcoming openings of Mondrian Gold Coast and 1 Hotel Melbourne. These developments mark the country’s first foray into this global trend, offering high-end apartments managed by five-star, international hotel brands.

Residents will enjoy a suite of luxury services akin to a permanent hotel stay, including room service, cleaning, laundry, and access to on-site restaurants, bars, and wellness centres.

The Mondrian Gold Coast, owned by SBE, part of the Accor accommodation giant, brings the prestige of its 10 global designer hotels, including locations in Cannes, Ibiza, and Los Angeles, to the Australian market. 1 Hotel Melbourne, a sustainable luxury hotel chain with an international presence in cities like Miami, Paris, and Copenhagen, will offer a similarly elevated living experience.

More branded residences are on the horizon. Future projects include the Four Seasons Melbourne in partnership with developer Beulah and the Waldorf Astoria at Sydney’s Circular Quay, backed by iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest.

Adrian Parsons of Total Property Group, responsible for sales and marketing at Mondrian Gold Coast, believes these residences will appeal to affluent, globally minded buyers.

“There’s such a transfer of wealth happening in Australia with people travelling overseas and seeing the opportunities out there in Dubai, Miami and so forth,” Parsons told Domain, “that people are now becoming more familiar with branded residences than they ever have been.”

“They’ve cottoned on to this great lifestyle that people have in the US, certainly Asia Pacific, and parts of Europe, because there are more and more high-net-worth buyers who have multiple residences around the world. But rather than having traditional homes where they are cooking their own meals every day, they have restaurants on tap where they can engage a private chef and it’s a living at a very premium level.”

According to Karen Wales, head of hotels at Colliers, branded residences offer a unique perk for buyers: the ability to entertain guests in hotel-style accommodations within the same development. This feature sets these residences apart from others that offer similar amenities,

“Some of the developers would argue, ‘Well, what is a hotel brand bringing that we don’t have?’ because they’ve got the depth of marketing, they’ve got the databases, and the hotel brands charge a premium for the use of the brand and the access to their global sales networks,” Wells told Domain.

“But I don’t know if we’ve got such a deep pool of global buyers with deep pockets to match.
“Then the hotel brand has a halo effect that allows for cut-through from a marketing perspective and also then there’s obviously the ability to offer hotel services, which gives something additional to the people who are buying the apartments.”

Jonathan Jackson, 19^th February 2025