New hotel helps address room shortage at one of our best beach spots

South-east Queensland’s beach hotspots can be summed up as a tale of two sisters. The Gold Coast to the south of Brisbane is the showy, glamorous sibling, while the Sunshine Coast to the north is the more understated, au naturel one.

While both have undergone significant population growth and residential development, particularly since the pandemic, the serene Sunshine Coast has avoided the intense tourism build-up of the glitzy Goldie, thanks to planning rules that restrict building heights, aiming to preserve natural assets and a laid-back lifestyle.

This is despite the more than 3000-square-kilometre region – on land traditionally owned by the Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi and Jinibara peoples – having more than 60 kilometres of open shoreline and more than 70 kilometres of estuary, as well as glorious mountains and rainforest.

But with both regions named co-hosts for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, the Sunshine Coast is undergoing a tourism reset. Next year will provide a glimpse of that with the opening of Avani Mooloolaba on the foreshore of the eponymous beachside town.

Built by Queensland-based KPAT, which won the tender for half of a former ground-level bitumen car park owned by Sunshine Coast Council (the remaining half was converted into a multi-storey car park), the Avani occupies a prominent corner, offering hospitality at street level and full hotel facilities above.

KPAT managing director Kenneth Wagner says the hotel is desperately needed. South-east Queensland faces a hotel room shortage and estimates suggest 30,000 to 40,000 new rooms will be required by the time the Olympics arrive. Wagner argues this shortage is the legacy of two decades of inaction and poor planning, rather than the fault of current governments.

In Mooloolaba, 50 kilometres south of Noosa, supply is tight. “You’ve got what’s been listed as one of the top 10 beaches in the world, and there’s nowhere to stay,” Wagner says. “The place is full of managed-apartment letting, much of it owned by individuals who don’t place their units in the letting pool. Many sit empty all year round. What the region desperately needs is a range of fully serviced, two-to-four-night-stay hotels.”

The Avani is a start.

The hotel is a collaboration between Minor Hotels, owners of the Avani brand, and KPAT, which has overseen everything from design (architects Cottee Parker were involved initially) through to construction, and will manage the property under Minor’s exacting brand guidelines when it opens in April 2026.

For guests, this means sweeping ocean views from the rooftop pool and bar, an AvaniFit gym, an AvaniSpa and 180 rooms across 12 levels.

It is the first Avani hotel in Australia (there is an apartment-style Avani in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast). Wagner describes Avani properties as lifestyle hotels that are “energetic, punchy, loud” – “loud” referring to style, not noise.

Interior designer Taryn Raso, who is overseeing the fit-out, says the aim is to “make people feel welcome straight off the beach” while still honouring an upmarket feel. She highlights custom rugs, blue-and-white striped bedheads and bespoke artworks as favourite touches.

“The whole design is about capturing the spirit of the Sunshine Coast – dynamic and playful,” she says.

Meanwhile, just outside the hotel, Sunshine Coast Council continues its extensive Mooloolaba foreshore revitalisation, and further afield, Sunshine Coast Airport is pressing ahead with its $170 million upgrade.

With just a few years until the cauldron is lit for Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics, there’s plenty more to come.

See Avanihotels.com

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