New hotel in Victoria’s second-largest city has the best views in town

The hotel

Crowne Plaza Geelong

Check-in

The way Geelong relates to Corio Bay has always trumped the way its big-sister city, Melbourne, tries to bring itself close to the water. Corio Bay is a proper bay shape, for starters, not an endless sprawl like Port Phillip. And the city made the right division between urban and industrial, with swathes of parkland stretching down green banks to the bay shores either side of the city centre. At its waterfront, Geelong keeps on improving and with Deakin University in the old wool stores, a spread of apartments and cafes, generous public space, and now this new hotel and convention centre and exhibition area alongside, it’s looking good. We’re about an hour’s drive from Melbourne, depending on traffic, and about a 10-minute walk from Geelong’s train station.

The look

Crowne Plaza is directly connected to the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre, a facility designed with the area’s Wadawurrung Traditional Owners (“Nyaal Banyul” translates as “open your eyes to the hills”) with a brilliant flow in its architecture and surrounds, even if the hotel is a more traditional tower behind. Inside Crowne, you can’t quite smell the paint, but it still has a very new feel – interiors are safe and neutral and the public spaces are a little bland. The hotel opened for business in January, the convention centre on July 1. The hotel has a fitness centre, a pool and two restaurants.

The room

I’m in a one-bedroom suite up the top on level 10 (there’s a door to the next suite if you want to make it even bigger) with huge windows to take in the bay views and action provided courtesy of the yachties and fishers, and the port’s shipping movements. I saw one of the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries at anchor and the soon-to-be-replaced ferries come and go, I also saw a submarine sail on in, escorted front and rear by tugboats (I wonder if AUKUS knows it’s in Geelong?). The suite is expansive, with the living area including a table and four chairs, lounge and armchairs, a big flat screen TV, a small bar fridge that’s empty and therefore available and a pod coffee-maker. You get the same big views from the bedroom – you can even make out Melbourne’s CBD on a clear day/night. There’s ample cupboard and hanging space and a huge bathroom with separate bath and walk-in shower.

Food + drink

Skyline Bar on level 10 might have to start taking reservations – this is as good a view as you’ll get of Corio Bay and here it comes with deep lounges and tub-shaped chairs, cocktails with some imagination, a wine list with local highlights and a menu of share plates, small plates and oysters. Downstairs on level two is Sociali Trattoria & Bar, open for lunch and dinner daily with an Italian- inspired menu including pizza, pasta and more sophisticated courses. This is also the spot for the hotel’s buffet breakfast, with cooked-to-order eggs. At street level, Verde on Smythe Cafe serves excellent coffee, along with pastries and light meals.

Out + about

If you’re here for an event at the convention centre (it comes with a 1000-seat theatre and plenty of exhibition space) then you have but a stroll to get there. If you want to stretch your legs further, wander through Johnstone Park to Geelong’s art gallery and library or head off along the foreshore to the historic Eastern Beach Sea Baths, and, beyond that, to the underrated Geelong Botanic Gardens. There’s also the food, wine and beaches of the Bellarine Peninsula to explore. See visitgeelongbellarine.com.au

The verdict

Great staff who know their stuff, even with such a recent opening. The hotel and the adjacent event and conference complex are a major addition to Geelong for business activity; this would also be a fine base from which to explore the city and region.

Essentials

Rooms from $206 a night; one-bedroom suite from $386 a night. The hotel has 10 dedicated accessible rooms. 33 Smythe Street, Geelong. See ihg.com

Our rating out of five

★★★★

Highlight

Those Corio Bay views – from your room if you’re on that side of the building and if you’re not, enjoy them from the Skyline Bar on level 10.

Lowlight

The reception and the ground-floor lounge feel a bit bland; when the exhibition and convention centre is running at full speed, that should give it the energy it needs.

The writer was a guest of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.