The new Lagoon Gallery space on the ground floor of JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa, just off the lobby, was launched to local industry last week, with an open day and a dinner that brought the global JW Garden Party concept to life for the first time on the Gold Coast.
Originally the resort’s lobby bar, the space has had various iterations – as the welcome centre for Marriott Vacations for almost a decade and a briefer stint as a pop-up event space.
Like the $35 million renovation of the resort, completed in under six months in 2020 to transform the property from a Marriott to a luxury JW Marriott, the Lagoon Gallery renovation has been done quickly and done well.
Dark parquet flooring has been replaced with light carpet and the 30-plus-year-old stackable doors have been replaced in the same style, allowing the indoor space to be completely opened up to the outdoors.
With an expansive, wraparound terrace, the outdoor portion of the venue – partly covered – is roughly the same size as the Lagoon Gallery itself – with the internal space measuring 335m2 and the terrace offering an additional 330m2 of open air space.
The Lagoon Gallery can accommodate 150 seated for breakfast, lunch or dinner inside and presents an opportunity for long-table meals on the terrace. For standup events, the indoor-outdoor capacity is 350.
Lighting and the acoustics of the venue were also much improved during the refurbishment of the venue.
The space is also the ultimate in terms of flexibility for the resort and for event planners, as a blank canvas for all kinds of events that can be sold independently of the property’s other meeting spaces, which typically require a room block to secure.
“It’s not dependent on residential conferences,” JW Marriott Gold Coast’s director of sales and distribution, Kerry Fowler, told micenet.
“So, the team can book local catering pieces [into the Lagoon Gallery] for the next three years, long range.”
In an early example of its flexibility, the first event in the space was a car launch, with six cars driven in through the lobby, the floor bearing a 15-tonne load, and event attendees dining around the vehicles.
“[The Lagoon Gallery is] a really good complement to what we do for our poolside events as well,” says Fowler.
“Where we usually have our stand-up cocktails around our pool, up to about 180 people, this now gives you capacity to overflow between the two spaces and have an inside-outside venue, but also guests can flow down to the pool as well, and we can accommodate much larger numbers.”
In fair weather, between the pool and the Lagoon Gallery, events of up to 450 people can be accommodated. There are also plans proposed to add a double staircase to the terrace to link it more directly to the pool area.
With the venue in the sales mix since June, Fowler says interest in the space is already strong, with the team reactively proposing it to clients enquiring about hosting events on the resort’s existing conference floor, which in itself can host events of up to 1,000.
“When the enquiries come in [we are] selling it, and it’s becoming very popular, the majority of enquiries that come in are booking that space because of the natural light and the views.”
Silvana Boulas and Simone Rodgers from event management company Imagine Experiences, who attended the opening JW Garden Party dinner in the Lagoon Gallery last week, were both impressed with the renewed space.
“Wow for sure,” said Boulas, who used to work at the resort and said the venue’s potential had always been evident.
“They’ve definitely put time and effort into making that space a space to do everything in. I feel like you could do a lot in it.”
Rodgers said there are few hotel venues on the Gold Coast which offer what the Lagoon Gallery does.
“It’s beautiful…you’re by the water, you’ve got [an] indoor-outdoor option to have a cocktail or a plated [meal] so it’s definitely ticking all the boxes.”
Last week’s JW Garden Party dinner was helmed by the resort’s executive chef, Paul Smart, whose onsite restaurant, Citrique, is hatted by the Australian Good Guide.
Featuring produce from JW Marriott Gold Coast’s onsite garden, including lavender and mint as signature ingredients for the evening, the three-course dinner offered the likes of torched scallops with caviar alongside herbs from the garden, braised wagyu beef short rib and flambeed crepes cooked at a live crepe station and topped with the signature garden mint.
The drinks were also well covered by the theme, with a JW Special for the welcome toast featuring house-made lavender syrup and the choc mint martini that wrapped up the evening being wonderfully reminiscent of an after-dinner mint.
Over the coming months, a bar, expanded toilets and a dedicated kitchen is being added to the Lagoon Gallery offering.
