Palm Cove’s Reef House Resort and Spa has joined Accor’s MGallery Collection.
Originally built as a family residence in 1958, the 69-room resort, which boasts beach frontage overlooking the Coral Sea in Palm Cove north of Cairns, Queensland, will become Australia’s sixth MGallery hotel on February 22, 2012.
Over the last two years, Reef House Resort and Spa has been undergoing an extensive renovation, with owners Malcolm Bean and David Horbelt spending several million dollars upgrading the hotel since purchasing the property in early 2011.
“We have spent a couple of million dollars at Reef House and it’s far to say the work that we have done over the past 20 months certainly brings the hotel back to its former glory,” Bean exclusively told HM.
He revealed some work is still being done on the northern wing of the boutique property that will add another dimension to the hotel’s inventory. Bean said 21 rooms were in the process of being converted into 16 apartments and spa suites, including two spacious three-bedroom suites, as well as a four-bedroom suite complete with its own pool.
“That will be completed by the high season,” Bean said, noting it would be ready by the end of June.
Given the recent renovations, Bean said MGallery was the perfect fit for the property, particularly given the Collection’s significant expansion locally and internationally, as well as the caliber of hotels the brand now boasts.
Accor’s Chief Operating Officer for the Pacific, Simon McGrath, has welcomed Reef House to the fold, saying it would complement the organisation’s network in Far North Queensland, which now includes three luxury resorts in Palm Cove and more than ten hotels in the region.
“Reef House Resort and Spa has long been one of the standout properties in Palm Cove and indeed in Tropical North Queensland,” he said. “It has such a great history and we’re thrilled to be taking on the management rights to the resort and look forward to seeing Reef House benefit considerably by being part of the Accor network.
“The MGallery Collection which is all about boutique, high end hotels with unique stories, resonates particularly well with Reef House Resort and Spa and we are excited to see the hotel flourish under its new, internationally recognised name.”
Brett Skinner, who has worked for Accor for nine years, has been appointed General Manager of Reef House Resort and Spa, which joins The Como Melbourne, The Grand Hotel Melbourne, Hotel Lindrum (Melbourne), Harbour Rocks Hotel in Sydney and the Fairmont Resort in the Blue Mountains in MGallery’s Australian Collection.