Greater Melbourne sold a record 12.1 million hotel room nights in 2025, and the supply keeps coming: 1 Hotel's Australian debut in a heritage goods shed on the Yarra, IHG's first dual-branded precinct in the country, and a Four Seasons with a 63rd-floor sky lobby on the books for 2028.
The headline opening is 1 Hotel Melbourne, launched in June 2025 on 220 metres of Yarra frontage at North Wharf — Barry Sternlicht's sustainable-luxury brand built around the restored Goods Shed No. 5, the city's last heritage freight shed. The Melbourne Walk precinct followed: Australia's first dual-branded IHG property pairing Hotel Indigo Melbourne Little Collins (~179 rooms) with Holiday Inn Melbourne Bourke Street Mall (~273 rooms) — 452 rooms across one CBD block.
The boutique tier landed Hannah St Hotel in Southbank's Queensbridge precinct in September 2025 — 188 rooms over ten levels, and Gourmet Traveller's pick as the country's 2026 Best New Hotel. Extended-stay and mid-scale filled in behind: Hyatt House South Melbourne (97 rooms), Park Inn by Radisson Melbourne Carlton (89) and Crowne Plaza Carlton (107).
The 2026 pipeline adds Mercure Melbourne La Trobe Street — 195 rooms near Flagstaff Gardens and Queen Victoria Market — and the twin-tower A by Adina and Collection by TFE Hotels development in Docklands, with event spaces and a rooftop infinity pool. The StandardX has already planted the lifestyle flag in Fitzroy, taking the wave beyond the CBD grid.
The trophy shelf is reserved for 2028: Four Seasons Hotel Melbourne with 210 rooms and a Sky Lobby on the 63rd floor, and COMO Melbourne — the Australian wellness brand's long-awaited homecoming. Both land as the city's room-night records keep compounding: 11 of 12 months in 2025 set monthly demand records.
Our read: stay on the river. 1 Hotel is the most interesting new address in Australia right now — book a Yarra-facing room on a weekend and walk the North Wharf strip. For Grand Prix or Australian Open weeks, the CBD classics (Ritz-Carlton, Park Hyatt) still win on location; book them six months out, because event weekends now sell the whole city to 93% occupancy.
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