Gourmet Traveller reveals winners of Australian Hotel Awards

IT MAY not look like much from the outside, but this converted 1940s storage facility is the most impressive hotel in the country.

2 min read

May 28, 2018 - 3:04PM

The world's most bizarre tourist attractions

IF YOU’RE not a local, you might not think there was anything particularly interesting about this 1940s-era brown building in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

But what’s inside is not only one of the city’s newest and most talked-about boutique hotels, but it’s officially the best in Australia.

Paramount House Hotel has been named Hotel of the Year in the 2018 Gourmet Traveller Australian Hotel Awards.

The 29-room hotel in Commonwealth St only opened in January after a four-year renovation of the former Sydney headquarters for Paramount Pictures Studios and the old film storage warehouse next door.

Paramount House Hotel has been named Australia’s 2018 Hotel of the Year by Gourmet Traveller.

It shares it space with the Paramount Coffee Project cafe and the stylish Golden Age Cinema and Bar, as well as a health club, co-working space and, coming soon, a new restaurant and bar.

And situated in trendy Surry Hills, it has a neighbourhood feel while being minutes from Sydney’s top city attractions.

“It takes a village to make a great hotel,” Gourmet Traveller’s panel of expert reviewers wrote as they announced Paramount House Hotel as hotel of the year.

Paramount House Hotel occupies the former offices and storage warehouse for the Sydney headquarters of Paramount Pictures. Picture: Paramount House Hotel

“[It’s] unique appeal lies in the strength of the building’s creative community and the immediate neighbourhood.”

Gourmet Traveller noted the hotel’s rooms featured pure linen bedding, potted plants, indoor-outdoor spaces and minibars that featured a range of delicious, locally sourced treats including cheese from Formaggi Ocello, charcuterie from LP’s Quality Meats and wine fromWilliam Downie and Tom Shobbrook.

The hotel’s co-owner, Russell Beard, said it was designed to give guests “a sense of place ... something that doesn’t feel generic and offers a real slice of the area”.

Even more impressively, the hotel only opened in January 2018.

The awards were part of the 2018 Gourmet Traveller Australian Hotel Guide featuring the nation’s top 50 hotels, which is published in the June issue of Gourmet Traveller, on sale today.

The guide was produced by a team of reviewers who visited the venues unannounced and paid for their own stay.

Their experiences led them to select Australia’s top 50 hotels and offer 11 award categories — with a couple of repeat winners.

Hobart’s Macq01 was named Large Hotel of the Year.

Another newcomer hotel, Hobart’s Macq01 hotel, took out Large Hotel of the Year and also the award for Best Minibar, thanks to its “maxibar” of Tasmanian wines.

And Jackalope, in Victoria’s picturesque Mornington Peninsula, was named Boutique Hotel of the Year as well as the place where guests could find Australia’s best club sandwich.

Jackalope in Victoria has the best club sandwich in the country.

“It’s called Drunk in Da Club (they love a quirky name at Jackalope) — an unholy marriage of drunken chicken, crisp chicken skin, pickled green tomatoes (made on site, with tomatoes from the garden), bacon jam and fresh lettuce on white bread, soft and fluffy but sturdy enough to avoid sogginess,” Gourmet Traveller wrote.