With Melbourne famous for its laneways and arcades within the CBD, the new Collins Arcade features upscale retail outlets plus a first floor health and wellness centre and a dedicated coworking facility.
The arcade, running off Melbourne’s major shopping street, Bourke Street Mall, has been repositioned as part of a development that closed last September but is due to open this September.
This heartland of Melbourne’s CBD shopping has not traditionally seen major brand-name hotels, so the adjoining properties from IHG Hotels & Resorts, a Holiday Inn and an Indigo, will be a welcome addition.
Both hotel websites are currently showing that accommodation and event bookings can be made from mid-October.
Both have small meeting spaces. Indigo Melbourne Little Collins has 179 rooms and a 14-pax boardroom. Meanwhile, Holiday Inn at Bourke Street Mall has event space on Level 2 that can be divided in three for small groups or training sessions, with a maximum capacity of 70.
However both hotels are well positioned to house delegates close to free tram services that almost extend to Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Bourke Street Mall remains as a large windy space, populated by regular buskers. While not a truly friendly pedestrian mall – it is dissected by tram lines, unlike some other public spacers such as Brisbane’s pedestrian friendly Queen Street Mall – it remains a retail mecca with major department and fashion stores as its anchor tenants.
