Sunshine Coast’s Element on Coolum Beach in top 10 of TripAdvisor list

Take a look inside the luxurious penthouse at the Sunshine Coast beachside apartment complex recently ranked as one of the best in the South Pacific. Watch the video.

An apartment complex in the heart of a Sunshine Coast beachside suburb is one of the best in the South Pacific, according to a traveller-rated best hotels list.

Element on Coolum Beach was ranked seventh on TripAdvisor’s 21st edition of the Best of the Best Hotels list announced last week.

Office manager Lizzy Schedler said she was “incredibly proud” because it was a list that travellers had input on.

“We’ve got amazing staff and contractors that we use,” she said.

Element on Coolum Beach office manager Lizzy Schedler was proud of the David Low Way apartment complex’s placing on the Best of the Best Hotels list. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The office manager said the secret was to build relationships with guests.

“We’re very amenable, we try to meet all requests as far as possible and we equip the apartments to a very high standard,” Ms Schedler said.

A luxury penthouse with an ocean view has about a $1200 a night price tag. Picture: Patrick Woods.

She said the complex had great working relationships with wedding venues in the region, sporting groups that liked to stay close to the nearby bowls club and other venues and the complex had also retained “regular, repeat” guests since the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of the bedrooms in a penthouse. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The complex’s most expensive short-stay apartment - with a price tag of about $1200 a night - is a luxury three-bedroom penthouse with an ocean view and high-end fittings.

Other units’ rates varied depending on the season and the number of bedrooms.

Terry Beauchamp has lived in the apartment complex for more than two years. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The two-bedroom units had similar layouts and only a few had partial ocean views.

Apartment complex resident Terry Beauchamp has lived in the complex for more than two years.

A two-bedroom unit at Element on Coolum Beach. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“We love it, we downsized from a four-bedroom home in Yaroomba and we just decided to, well we came across this unit … and decided to buy it,” she said.

The resident said the attraction was the central location and the complex had a “tropical” feel.

“We lived in the South Pacific, in Samoa, and ran a resort over there for 12 months and it’s sort of, got that same sort of feel,” Ms Beauchamp said.