Mövenpick, SO/, 25Hours: Accor strengthens its offering in Melbourne

Already one of the best-represented groups in Australia, Accor will be expanding its offering in Melbourne with, among other things, a Mövenpick expected next May. The brand's second Australian establishment after Hobart, this future top-of-the-range hotel is located at the junction of two of the Victorian capital's main thoroughfares, Spencer Street and Bourke Street.

Surrounded by restaurants and fashion boutiques, the Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne on Spencer is ideally placed for business travellers, as it offers a wide range of facilities and services.in the heart of the business districtThe hotel is located just opposite Southern Cross station and not far from the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. In addition to 172 rooms, the hotel offers its business guests a conference room, as well as a 25-metre swimming pool, a sauna and a fitness area.

Renowned for the quality of its culinary offering, the Swiss brand acquired by Accor in 2018 is extending this expertise with a bar-restaurant, Miss Mi, where traditional Asian barbecue and grilled dishes will be revisited in a designer decor. As part of Mövenpick's commitment, the establishment will also be organising daily.., a Chocolate HourA moment of conviviality around chocolate, one of the brand's signatures, as well as its range of "healthy" dishes.

The Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne on Spencer occupies the first six levels of a 78-storey tower, the Premier Tower, designed by architect Elenberg Fraser. An architect who is also involved in the development of SO/Melbourne. Expected to open in 2023, this future design hotel will be built on the upper levels of a slender tower designed by Elenberg Fraser as part of a mixed-use development. This urban regeneration project, which includes the conservation of a heritage building, comprises two towers that will incorporate, in addition to the SO/ luxury hotel, 20,000 m² of offices and co-working spaces, as well as a high-end shopping centre.

Located, like the Mövenpick, in Melbourne's Central Business District, more precisely on the corner of William and Franklin Streets, the SO/Melbourne will offer views of Flagstaff Gardens, the city's oldest park. The hotel's green credentials will also permeate, with hanging gardens and lush landscapes adorning its walls and interiors.

But it is above all in its design that the future SO/ will stand out, with interiors designed by P49 and rooms and suites heralded as avant-garde. Accor also specifies that " a famous fashion designer will lend his artistic vision to the property. "In addition to 288 rooms, some with outdoor terraces, the hotel will also include a meeting room and ballroom, a club lounge, restaurants and bars and an outdoor terrace with, on the wellness and fitness side, a SO/SPA and SO/FIT centre, as well as a swimming pool.

Until 2023 and the unveiling of the hotel, another brand of the Accor group, the affordable lifestyle brand 25Hourswill also have made its appearance in Cremone, on the outskirts of Melbourne and just three kilometres from its business district. This 206-room hotel, due to open at the end of the year, is part of a project to renovate a former industrial district, the Malt District, into an urban living space combining housing, offices, shops, bars and restaurants. And of course a microbrewery, as the Malt District is obliged to do.