Two major new resorts – and they couldn’t be more different.
Two multi-million-dollar Australian resort developments have just been announced, but that’s where the similarity ends.
The first, a $400 million redevelopment of the Star Gold Coast resort in Broadbeach, sees Dorsett Hotels make their debut in Australia.
The project by Destination Gold Coast Consortium includes a 53-storey 4.5-star hotel and apartment tower slated to open in early 2022. The Dorsett Hotel will take the tower’s lower levels, while 423 apartments ranging from 54 to 109 sqm, known as Star Residences, will occupy the upper levels.
The Dorsett brand, marketed as “richly tasteful”, comprises several midscale hotels across Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and London. It will join an elite group of hotels on the coast with more than 300 rooms and is to be second biggest in the Broadbeach region behind The Star Grand.
“The Gold Coast is an attractive tourist destination with its beautiful beaches and surfing spots, exciting theme parks, vibrant nightlife, great dining and shopping experiences,” said Dorsett Hotel International (DHI) vice-chairman Datin Jasmine Abdullah Heng.
Meanwhile, in Victoria a development of a very different nature is about to get off the drawing board.
The $100-million luxury hot springs spa hotel and retreat on the southern shores of Lake Wellington will be powered by renewable energy and will highlight traditional Aboriginal culture.
Named Nunduk, Gunnai-Kurnai language for ‘the bark of a tree’, it will be located on a Gippsland sheep farm and is the brainchild of the property owner James Troedel.
Developing the project through the Seacombe West development company he set up with son Harry, Troedel envisages 36 guestrooms in the main hotel, 45 guestrooms in villa units as well as restaurants, spas, treatment rooms, galleries and lounges.
The property will be run by international operators, with Six Senses, Goco Spa and Banyan Tree Spa all having expressed an interest in its management.
According to the Seacombe West website, Nunduk is envisaged as a “multifaceted” six Green Star-rated sustainable development using geothermal water for spas and generating its own power and water.
Its ‘light touch’ approach aims to “preserving significant and valuable habitat and regenerate some degraded areas to create land with improved ecological value”.
“This project aims to address the three pillars of sustainable development to provide positive environmental, social and economic outcomes,” said Seacombe West.
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