Negroni at 11, bed by 9: Spend 48 hours in Qld’s hottest new hotel

Designer clothes, the cool crowd, an elite pool club … this is what it’s like to stay at Australia’s hottest new hotel.

I packed a linen shirt and a vague sense of confidence. What I should have packed was a stylist and a Celine bag.

Queensland’s hottest new hotel doesn’t whisper luxury – it air-kisses it across magnesium pools and adds a perfectly timed DJ set.

It’s the kind of place where guests float around in matching activewear that costs more than my mortgage repayments, sipping açai-garitas while pretending not to care about being seen.

Inside one of the suites at Mondrian Gold Coast. Photo: Justin Nicholas.

The Mondrian Gold Coast at Burleigh Heads.

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I, meanwhile, was deeply relieved I’d hired an outfit for the weekend – just to blend in with the human Pinterest board lounging beside me.

Steps from the sand on the Burleigh beachfront, Mondrian Gold Coast is the kind of hotel that arrives with an attitude and a strong Studio 54 vibe that you’d expect from the iconic hotel brand.

Thanks to Vitale Property Group, the new addition to the coastal skyline brings new meaning to the term “barefoot luxury” and officially puts the southern end of the Gold Coast on the world map.

Inside one of the suites at Mondrian Gold Coast, Burleigh Heads.

Inside one of the suites in Mondrian Gold Coast. Photo: Justin Nicholas.

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Designed by architects Fraser & Partners, the hotel offers 208 rooms enveloped in sweeping curves, tinted windows, and dramatic angles. Think brutalism on a juice cleanse.

Inside, things get warmer. Still polished, but softened with timber accents, travertine, French washed walls, sculptural furniture, and tasteful, retro-inspired hues. It’s minimalism for people who appreciate a $300 candle and know the difference between stonewashed and sandblasted.

My suite on level 18 overlooks the ocean, which feels like the bare minimum for a hotel of this calibre, but still manages to take my breath away every time I spot the headland in pure, interrupted glory.

Liz Tilley checks out the view in her ocean suite at Mondrian Gold Coast.

The view from The Mondrian Gold Coast at Burleigh Heads.

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The interior design by Alexander &CO is subtle: curved walls, soft textures, and just enough high-end touches to suggest money, without the gaudy chandeliers or marble overload of a hotel trying too hard.

There’s no obvious branding, no laminated signs reminding you of where you are – because, of course you know. That’s why you booked.

The crowd at Mondrian is worth its own write-up. It’s young(ish), polished, and painfully cool. Think film producers on weekend sabbatical, models pretending to be off-duty, and the who’s who of the property industry elite.

Haven restaurant at Mondrian Gold Coast. Picture: Justin Nicholas

The Pool Club at Mondrian Gold Coast.

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Even the children wear bucket hats that match their mothers’ Zimmermann sets. The hotel has two main restaurants: LiTO, offering fresh Italian food on the beachfront on the ground floor; and Haven, a swanky, poolside perch with elevated coastal cuisine for people who take their oysters with a side of discretion. Of course, I had to try both.

LiTO’s open kitchen and woodfire oven gives it that friendly neighbourhood feel, with authentic Italian fare to match, such as the wood-fired breads, pork sausage rigatoni, pumpkin and sage cappellacci, and tiramisu.

Spaghetti alle vongole at LiTO restaurant, Mondrian Gold Coast.

Oysters with Finger Lime Mignonette at Haven restaurant. Photo: Content Lion.

Haven, on the other hand, feels like a scene from a European film where someone is about to confess an affair – but make it luxury.

Between meals, I dipped in and out of the Pool Club, which is more social experiment than swimming zone.

There’s a DJ, there are sculptural umbrellas, and there’s an unspoken competition for who can lounge most effortlessly while holding a cocktail with three garnish elements.

It’s here that I saw a man remove his shirt to reveal abs so defined they deserved their own room key.

The red light therapy bed at CIEL Spa at Mondrian Gold Coast. Photo: Content Lion.

For balance, I booked a treatment at CIEL Spa, where I experienced the Zero Body Dry Float – a wellness trend that basically involves lying on a heated membrane while pretending to float. It’s what I imagine being cryogenically preserved would feel like, if Gwyneth Paltrow had designed the lab.

I left feeling deeply calm, mildly confused, and very well moisturised.

And because I’m a journalist, I took notes on the little things: the light switches make a satisfying click, the minibar is refreshingly adult (cocktail kits, not Pringles), and the staff strike that perfect balance between attentive and invisible. No one asked if I was “celebrating something special?”, which, in a luxury hotel, is the truest form of respect.

Zero Body Dry Float at CIEL Spa at Mondrian Gold Coast. Photo: Content Lion.

By the end of the stay, I’d slipped fully into the Mondrian mindset. I had a favourite spot by the pool. I was on a first-name basis with the barista. I seriously considered asking reception if they’d let me move in on a content-for-rent arrangement.

Of course, it’s not all effortless elegance. There’s a touch of theatre here, and the service is still struggling with some teething problems.

Mondrian isn’t pretending to be your beachy barefoot escape. It’s your high-gloss, carefully curated weekend fantasy.

While the Gold Coast has long known how to throw a party, Mondrian brings something else to the table – a quieter confidence, a bit more poise. It feels international without feeling imported. Sophisticated, but not stiff. You can have a Negroni at 11am and still be in bed by nine. It’s that kind of place.

Would I come back? Absolutely. But next time, I’ll pack more than one outfit, wear sunglasses indoors, and practise saying “No lime, just mezcal” with conviction. Because at Mondrian Gold Coast, the dress code is confidence, the mood is aesthetic, and the currency? Vibe.

The writer was a guest of the operators

Mondrian Gold Coast

3 First Avenue,
Burleigh Heads

Room from $539 a night

mondrianhotels.com/gold-coast/

Originally published as Negroni at 11, bed by 9: Spend 48 hours in Qld’s hottest new hotel