Vitale Property Group is bringing Australia’s first Mondrian hotel and branded residences, Mondrian Gold Coast, to an iconic Burleigh Heads beachfront location on the Gold Coast. In this exclusive interview, HM sits down with Vitale Property Group Directors, Chris and Letitia Vitale, to discuss their latest project with Accor.
The Mondrian forms part of the Mondrian forms part of the Accor portfolio of brands, which includes Fairmont, SO/, Sofitel, MGallery, Art Series, Pullman, Swissôtel, 25hours, Hyde, Mövenpick, Grand Mercure, Peppers, The Sebel, Mantra, Novotel, Mercure, Tribe, BreakFree, ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget.
In partnership with world-leading hospitality group and global leader in the lifestyle sector, Accor, Vitale Property Group is on track to open Mondrian Gold Coast in 2023. The luxurious newbuild dualtower property will feature 83 sumptuous residential apartments and, within the hotel, 208 guestrooms. The buildings will be united by a three-level podium that acts as the building’s common space and activity hub, including a state-of-the-art fitness centre, spa, restaurants and swimming pools, all overlooking the world-famous beach and Burleigh Headland National Park.
Mondrian Gold Coast is on track to open in 2023
The Porte Cochere entrance to Mondrian Gold Coast.
Vitale Property Group has made a considerable investment in the Gold Coast’s tourism and property sector. What interested you in investing in the Gold Coast?
Even on a global level, the Gold Coast is a very unique place. We have this modern city, which is built on an area between 40km of world famous beaches and the Great Dividing Range. Within this area, we have more canals, rivers and lakes than any other city in the world. Adding to this, the sun shines 300 days a year and the average temperature is almost always in the low 20s. These attributes draw people to both want to live and holiday on the Gold Coast, which is the ideal recipe for developing residential apartments and a five-star hotel.
Mondrian Gold Coast will be the first Mondrian branded property to open in Australia. How did you decide on the Mondrian brand for this development?
We have always thought the Mondrian in West Hollywood was one of the best lifestyle hotels in the world. Hotel operators have always struggled to deliver iconic, curated food and beverage experiences within their assets however Ian Schrager (Morgan Hotel Group) and Sam Nazarian (sbe) mastered the concept of delivering amazing F&B within their hotels and the Mondrian was at the forefront of this. As F&B plays a significant part of the Mondrian Gold Coast experience, we wanted to select a hotel operator that could provide us with world-class offerings within both the hotel room experiences and F&B and that was without a doubt Accor. This is very rare commodity in the hotel world.
Do you have plans to expand your hotel and branded residences footprint outside of Queensland?
Yes, when the time is right and the right location can be sourced, we would look to undertake another hotel and residence project like the Mondrian Gold Coast. However, we are a patient group, and our number one prerequisite for another project is site location. We intend on holding the Burleigh Heads hotel in the family long term and the strategy within the group is to build a portfolio of iconic, profitable hotel assets.
What are residential developments managed by renowned hotel brands delivering that traditional managed residences aren’t?
Branded residences deliver an amenity and service offering that traditional apartment complexes will never be able to compete with. Quite simply, it’s not commercial for a residential complex to try and emulate services that a five-star hotel provides. For example, our branded residences at the Mondrian will have a team of dedicated staff, including a Residence Manager, concierges and a driver, who are employed only to service the residents tower. In addition to this, the hotel team will also provide services to the residence tower. This can’t be replicated within a residential tower that is not attached to a hotel operation.
We believe it is very important to provide absolute privacy and separation for our owners.
Chris and Letitia Vitale, Vitale Property Group
How important is it to give permanent residents separate access, facilities and a seemingly different experience than short-term hotel guests? How is the divide between the two managed and balanced?
We believe it is very important to provide absolute privacy and We believe it is very important to provide absolute privacy and separation for our owners. We have designed our project to ensure our owners have
full privacy and separation from the hotel guests. This includes separate entries, lifting, staffing, and amenity areas that cannot be accessed or utilised by our hotel guests. However, our owners also have the ability to
easily access and utilise the world-class amenities the hotel has on offer.
Accor is renowned in the industry for bringing unrivalled expertise and experience in the management of luxury hotel and branded residences. With the Mondrian brand at the heart of the most exciting
cultural scenes in the world, we know Accor will seamlessly deliver an immersive Mondrian experience for hotel guests and residents alike at Mondrian Gold Coast.
Mondrian Gold Coast will provide hotel services for short-term guests and permanent residents.
Originally published by the Hotel Management Magazine.
