Noosa to ride five-star wave as developers check in for hotel revamps

A digital render of The Calile Hotel, planned for Noosa.

Queensland’s beachside Noosa is set for a hotel revival as the five-star Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort undergoes a major renovation, just as plans are announced for the development of a The Calile Hotel in the resort township.

Sofitel chief executive Maud Bailly told journalists in Sydney that the 176-room Sofitel in Noosa’s Hastings Street retail precinct, owned by the Laundy and Karedis families, was about to be fully renovated.

Ms Bailly was on a visit to Sydney for the grand relaunch of the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel, which was celebrating its 60th birthday.

Since her appointment in 2023, Ms Bailly has been meeting with Sofitel owners around the world to get them to agree to either renovate, change hotel brands or de-flag, and so far six owners had agreed to de-flag their properties to another Accor brand.

She said renovating always paid off for owners over several years, because it allowed them to increase their room rates.

The pool area at the Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort. Picture: Ian Waldie/Sofitel

“The Sofitel Noosa Pacific will be fully refurbished,” she said.

Speaking generally about renovations, Ms Bailly said there was no point in undertaking minor renovations to a hotel’s public spaces and food and beverage areas and ignoring guest rooms; the whole property should be renovated at the same stage.

“When you renovate you attract higher average daily room rates,” Ms Bailly said.

It was announced in September that the Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort had extended its partnership with Accor.

Meanwhile, The Calile Hotel in Brisbane, which is co-owned by the Malouf family and is the first property of its branding, has just been named one of the world’s top 50 hotels for the second consecutive year.

In Noosa, its owners have won planning approval to build a 153-room, 29-suite and four, three-bedroom villa hotels on a 2.4ha site fronting 3-7 Serenity Close at Noosa Heads, which is about 2km from the resort township’s busy Hastings Street strip.

A digital render of The Calile Hotel planned for Noosa.

Architecture firm Richards and Spence, which also designed the Brisbane property, have plans for a 50m swimming pool plus a smaller pool in a private garden, wellness facilities and function spaces for the Noosa property, which will be developed in bushland.

According to sources, the council had approved 199 units, but that number was decreased to create more retail space.

A rooftop garden to grow produce for the restaurant is also included in the plans.

“We worked collaboratively with the Noosa council and finetuned the scheme to ensure we addressed the planning scheme and community expectations,” said Calile co-owner Michael Malouf in a statement.

The resort will be called The Calile Noosa. Construction is scheduled for early 2025 and is expected to take three years. Buildcorp is the builder.

The Calile Hotel on James Street in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley has won fame on the world stage, including being named the 25th top hotel in the world, and the best in Oceania in the 2024 World’s 50 Best Hotels list.