Palm Cove Resort Joins Exclusive Brand

PALM Cove will be the first, and possibly the only, Queensland location of the Accor hotel group’s upmarket and exclusive MGallery brand.

The Reef House and Spa Palm Cove

The Reef House Resort and Spa will be rebranded next month.

It was previous managed by or branded Rydges and Sebel.

There are only five other MGallery hotels in Australia, and fewer than 60 globally.

After undergoing a refurbishment, believed to cost about $2.7 million, the hotel will join Accor’s MGallery Collection on February 22.

Built as a family home in 1958, the 69-room resort is on the beachfront overlooking the Coral Sea.

The resort is owned by hoteliers David Horbelt and Malcolm Bean, who have other interests in Adelaide and Melbourne. They bought the property in February 2011.

Accor Pacific chief operating officer Simon McGrath said the Palm Cove hotel was joining a boutique network of “unique personalities, premier locations and highly distinctive architecture, interior design and services”.

He said Accor now had three luxury resorts in Palm Cove and more than 10 hotels in the region.

“Reef House Resort and Spa has long been one of the stand-out properties in north Queensland,” Mr McGrath said.

“It has such a great history and we’re thrilled to be taking on the management rights.

“The MGallery Collection, which is all about boutique high-end hotels with unique stories, resonates particularly well with Reef House Resort and Spa and we are excited to see the hotel flourish under its new, internationally recognised name.”

Brett Skinner, who has worked for Accor for nine years, has been appointed general manager.

The property has three swimming pools and 300-year-old melaleuca trees.

Rooms have king-size beds with light muslin netting, private balconies or patios, a kitchenette, individually controlled air-conditioning, rain showers, a swinging “love seat” and free Wi-Fi.

Mr McGrath said the resort was a world-renowned network of hotels, including The Como Melbourne, the Grand Hotel Melbourne, Hotel Lindrum (Melbourne), Harbour Rocks Hotel in Sydney and the Fairmont Resort in the Blue Mountains as well as the St Moritz in Queenstown, the Baltimore in Paris, St-Ermin’s in London, The Convient Hotel Amsterdam and Vie Hotel Bangkok.

Article printed in The Cairns Post – 26^th January 2013

Peter Musso licensed real estate agent at Ray White Smithfield selling property in Cairns' beautiful northern beach suburbs including Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, Trinity Park, Smithfield, Yorkeys Knob, Holloways Beach, Machans Beach, Caravonica, Kamerunga and surrounds.