’Extremely surprised’: the family-run hotel that beat the best

A little known family-run resort in regional Queensland has upstaged some of the most prestigious hotels in Australia.

A LITTLE known family-run resort on the outskirts of Rockhampton has upstaged some of the most prestigious hotels in Australia after making the top 10 on a respected review website.

At $157 per night, the three-year-old Korte’s Resort at Rockhampton finished ahead of the likes of COMO The Treasury in Perth ($645 per night), The Langham in Sydney ($523) and even the Qualia Resort on Hamilton Island ($1508).

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Korte’s Resort was fifth on TripAdvisor’s annual Traveller’s Choice Award which was topped by Ovolo Woolloomooloo ($434) and with Pinetrees Lodge on Lord Howe Island ($1,387) as runner-up.

Korte's Resort, Rockhampton, has made TripAdvisor's top 10 annual hotel's in Australia. The family run business only opened three years ago. Photo: Supplied.

Korte’s Resort’s chuffed owner Bill Korte said after finishing 12th last year, all they wanted to do was retain their ranking, and couldn’t believe it when they found out they made the top 10.

“I’m extremely surprised,” Mr Korte said.

“If we could have even retained our No. 12 ranking it would have been a great achievement. “To make number five nearly blew out socks off.”

Mr Korte said the resort was built from scratch, is far from complete and the best was yet to come.

Situated around 12km north of the city centre on Yaamba Rd, Korte’s Resort has 54 units and a large function room that can accommodate 400 people, while a further 36 units are planned for the site.

Korte's Resort, some 12km north of Rockhampton’s city centre, has made the top 10 on TripAdvisor's annual Traveller's Choice Award. Photo: Supplied

“We’ve built a man-made lake which is part of our wedding reception area and are going to build a steakhouse, so by the time it’s finished it will have 90 units,” he said.

Oddly, even though it made number five on TripAdvisor’s annual award, it’s not the number ranked on in Rockhampton.

That mantle sits with Henderson Park Farm Retreat, a family-owned commercial beef property that specialises in weddings.

Mr Korte said the award was even more satisfying given they have a restaurant and they could easily be marked down if the patrons did not appreciate their food offerings.

“It’s all based on the people’s votes during the last 12 months,” Mr Korte said.

“People don’t realise how difficult it is to obtain a good reviews when you are serving food because people can be very critical and can mark you down on that alone and we are up against hotels that don’t serve food.”

Other Queensland hotels in the top 10 were:

4. Peninsula Boutique Hotel, Port Douglas ($405 per night)

8. Qualia Resort, Hamilton Island ($1508)

9. Meriton Suites, Southport ($236)

10. Freestyle Resort, Port Douglas ($264)