Boutique and bright: Heart Hotel and Gallery Whitsundays opens at Airlie Beach

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Boutique and bright: Heart Hotel and Gallery Whitsundays opens at Airlie Beach

By Julietta Jameson
A room at Heart Hotel.

A room at Heart Hotel.

The first new build hotel in the Whitsundays in a decade has just opened at Airlie Beach. Recognising the Whitsunday gateway village of Airlie Beach had a good supply of holiday apartments but not upscale hotel rooms, developers saw an opportunity to offer something different and Heart Hotel and Gallery Whitsundays was conceived in a boutique and upscale yet casual and bright style.

Situated on a corner block on Airlie Beach's main street, Port Douglas-based Hunt Design Architects, whose previous work includes Peppers Airlie Beach and Mantra Boathouse Apartments, also in Airlie, and Silky Oaks Lodge, at Mossman in Far North Queensland, have used their local understanding to create a property with the characteristics of a traditional Queenslander: high pitched roofs, spacious verandahs, timber cladding and facade detailing.

Inside, it's white, modern and minimal, befitting its beachside location. Rooms afford beach and ocean views.

Modern and minimal: Heart Hotel at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays.

Modern and minimal: Heart Hotel at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays.

The onsite restaurant and lounge bar is a casual, open eatery and on the top floor of the hotel there's an art gallery which will feature monthly exhibitions from local artists.

Its opening comes at a time when Airlie has recovered from the ravages of the GFC, and the low Australian dollar has contributed to a rise in domestic visitors to the Whitsundays. Chinese visitor numbers also continue to skyrocket. Recent Tourism Research Australia figures for the 12 months to March showed 220,000 overseas visitors arrived in the Whitsundays during that period, up 5.3 per cent. Of that the number of Chinese rose more than 60 per cent – to 16,000 people.

Hunt Design Architects are also involved in ONE Whitsundays, a $70 million, five-star resort and spa under construction at Airlie Beach.

Rooms from $200 a night. See hearthotelwhitsundays.com.au

See also: Why Australia's best beach is still a mystery to scientists

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