USD
Largest Australian Hotel Opening of 2024 Lands at Melbourne Airport
Written by Paul Chai
The new-build Novotel & ibis Styles Melbourne Airport also boasts Melbourne Airport’s first health and wellbeing club.
Melbourne Airport welcomed its first new hotel in 20 years this week with the launch of Accor’s Novotel & ibis Styles Melbourne Airport. The dual-branded hotel is a much-needed addition to the airport which has already returned to pre-pandemic visitor levels and sees the current hotels regularly at capacity.
“This is a fantastic addition to Melbourne’s portfolio of hotels, we have ambitions as a state to grow our visitor economy from what was a record of $39.3 billion at end of March to something closer to $54 billion in 2028 and to do that we need 15,000 more visitors a night to Melbourne so we need more hotel rooms,” said Visit Victoria CEO Brendan McClements at the launch. “Today is a great day for the visitor economy and today is a terrific day for Accor and Melbourne Airport.”
The hotel offers 464 guest rooms split across Accor’s Novotel (248 rooms) and ibis Styles (216 rooms) brands as well as three food and beverage outlets, function facilities for up to 330 guests, and Aerofoil Workspace, a hotel-serviced co-working space.
Novotel & ibis Styles Melbourne Airport also boasts Melbourne’s first airport health and wellbeing club, Higher State, home to an infrared sauna, pool, yoga studio and spa treatment room. The food and beverage offerings include Small Holdings for coffee and pastries, Boccata Restaurant for more substantial Italian fare and Amber State Taphouse & Kitchen, a modern gastro-pub (opening spring).
Clever design touches abound, including a bluestone entrance to mimic Melbourne’s laneways and a lobby carpet that references the Great Ocean Road. In the ibis Styles, designed for the Gen Z market, the carpet is inspired by the CBD’s Hoddle grid and rooms have a variety of decals celebrating Melbourne culture.
Accor Pacific COO Adrian Williams said that opening new hotels was one of the most exciting parts of his job but that airport hotels where particularly special.
“You’ve got the romance of travel, people will be staying here as they plan to head off tomorrow for their international flight or they wait here at the bar for friends and family to return back to Melbourne,” he said. “But this airport is no longer just about air travel or jumping on a plane it is a community in its own right; there are tourist facilities like URBNSurf, you have great wineries and food and beverage experiences and it is home to 20,000 employees and the Novotel and ibis Styles is now their home.”
Discover Australia
Looking for more travel inspiration? Tuck into 20 of Melbourne’s Best Restaurants.
