Trump Tower plan for the Gold Coast dumped
A Trump Hotel that was announced for the Gold Coast in February will not go ahead.
While the Australian developer of the site, Altus Property Group CEO David Young, says there are still plans to build a hotel on the site, it will not bear the Trump brand.
The Trump Tower plans had included a 285-room luxury hotel, event spaces, retail offerings and restaurants and bars, alongside 272 residential apartments. The development was expected to cost nearly $1.5 billion.
Two IHG properties hit milestones
IHG Hotels & Resorts has made important progress on two key InterContinental properties in Australia.
In April, the international hotel group celebrated the full completion of the transformation of the Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach into the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach.
The property closed in the first half of 2025 for the major renovations, reopening as an InterContinental on December 1, with the first of two phases of works completed. The first phase included revamps of all guest rooms and the opening of two new restaurants, one of which was a flagship Sydney offering from celebrity chef Rick Stein.
The second phase, including a new pool deck, a couple of pickle ball courts and the Club InterContinental lounge, was completed this year.
The pool deck can be used for events, accommodation cocktail functions of up to 60 people.
The Èliva Spa has also now opened at the property, offering a variety of treatments as well as warm magnesium pools, two saunas, a steam room and cold plunge baths.
The InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach has 198 rooms, including 22 suites, alongside several event spaces, with the largest, its Grand Ballroom, able to host 260 for a gala dinner.
Meanwhile, in regional South Australia, an InterContinental resort slated for the Barossa Valley has received planning approval.
The new-build property in the renowned wine region will have 150 rooms, extensive event space and a winery onsite.
Rebrands for Accor
Accor has opened a hotel on New Zealand’s North Island and has announced the rebranding of one of its Adelaide properties.
Accor has opened its first property in Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, just above Rotorua.
The former Hotel Armitage and Conference Centre is now Mercure Tauranga.
The 80-room hotel has seven event spaces, the largest of which can host 150 delegates.
A multi-million-dollar uplift of the property as it moves to its new brand is nearly complete.
And in Australia, Accor will convert the existing Peppers Waymouth Adelaide to a Mövenpick hotel.
The hotel will move to its new brand in December and will be undergoing some refurbishment in the lead-up to the transition.
Crystalbrook Collection achieves golden sustainability certification
All three luxury Crystalbrook Collection hotels in Cairns – offering 877 rooms collectively – have received EarthCheck Gold certification, representing over five years of independently verified continuous sustainability improvements.
These have included a 15 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the three properties since 2023, alongside a 14 per cent drop in energy use and a seven per cent drop in waste going to landfill.
Crystalbrook has been quick off the mark to achieve this level of certification, given the relative youth of the three hotels.
The first of the three Crystalbrook properties in Cairns, Crystalbrook Riley, opened in late 2018, with Crystalbrook Bailey following in late 2019 and Crystalbrook Flynn opening in late 2020.
