Michelin Keys come from tyre company Michelin, who is also behind the global standard for restaurant acclaim – Michelin stars.
With 2026 keys announced on Friday, this is the second year hotels in Australia and New Zealand have been included in Michelin Key coverage, which began with a smaller focus on just 15 destinations in 2024.
In 2026, Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Saffire Freycinet in Tasmania were each awarded three keys, the highest rank for Michelin’s hotel accolade. With both the luxury lodges up from two keys in 2025, they join Lizard Island Resort on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland at the top of the pile across Australia and New Zealand, with the Lizard Island property retaining its three keys from last year.
Just 155 hotels around the world were awarded three Michelin Keys in 2026.
The other seven Australian hotels that received two keys in 2025 have retained them, including two Spicers properties, Spicers Peak Lodge in Queensland and Spicers Sangoma Retreat in the Blue Mountains and three more properties from Beckons, Longitude 131 at Uluru, Silky Oaks Lodge in the Daintree and Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island. Jackalope Hotel on the Mornington Peninsula also retained its two keys.
New additions to the two-key fold in Australia are Capella Sydney – which also just ranked in the world’s top 50 hotels – and Sequoia Lodge in the Adelaide Hills.
A further 42 Australian properties received one Michelin Key, with new additions including two InterContinentals – InterContinental Sorrento Mornington Peninsula and the new InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach – The Langham, Melbourne, The Porter House Hotel Sydney, The Sundays on Hamilton Island, Lanson Place Parliament Gardens in Melbourne, The Sanctuary at Alba Thermal Springs and Spa, another recent opening on the Mornington Peninsula, and the recently refurbished Ardour Milton Park in Bowral. Two more very remote Australian properties also received a Michelin Key for the first time: El Questro – The Homestead in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and Mt Mulligan Lodge in the outback of Far North Queensland.
A few properties also lost their Michelin Key status altogether in 2026.
Salter Brothers Hospitality, who owns three hotels receiving Michelin Keys in 2026 was delighted with their recognition.
“To see Ardour Milton Park awarded a Michelin Key in its first year, alongside Spicers Peak Lodge and Spicers Sangoma Retreat retaining their two Michelin Keys, is an incredibly proud moment for our teams,” said Salter Brothers Hospitality’s CEO, Tash Tobias.
“These are three very different hotels, and that individuality is exactly what we value. Each has its own story, its own sense of place and its own way of creating an experience guests remember.”
Salter Brothers Hospitality’s parent company, Salter Brothers, also had a Michelin Key win, as the owner of the InterContinental in Coogee.
In New Zealand, 10 hotels received two Michelin Keys, including all three Rosewood properties – Rosewood Matakauri in Queenstown, Rosewood Cape Kidnappers in Hawkes Bay and Rosewood Kauri Cliffs in Matauri Bay – Huka Lodge and new two-key recipients Delamore Lodge on Waiheke Island and Wallingford Homestead in Wallingford. The Rosewood in Queenstown was also a first-time two-key recipient.
No hotels fell out of the one-key ranking in New Zealand – although a couple moved up – with new additions including ROKI Collection Queenstown, Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses in Kaikoura and The Clements Hotel in Waikato.
