It’s not every day that Australia and New Zealand’s most stylish hotels become global stars, but this week, they’ve been handed a gilded key to global recognition.
In a ceremony as elegant as it was exacting, the MICHELIN Guide unveiled its latest MICHELIN Keys honourees in Paris, bestowing accolades upon 35 Australian and 19 New Zealand hotels. For an industry that’s been fine-tuning its design and hospitality game for decades, the recognition feels somewhat like a standing ovation.
Launched in 2024, the MICHELIN Keys program was initially limited to a handful of regions across North America, Europe, and Asia. However, it has now opened the doors to the world’s most remarkable stays. Australia and New Zealand joined the exclusive club this year, stepping into a select circle of destinations where excellence is expected and engineered.
“Just as MICHELIN Stars celebrate the world’s most exceptional restaurants, MICHELIN Keys now honour hotels that offer truly remarkable stays, where design, service, and location come together to create unforgettable moments,” said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of The MICHELIN Guide.
With its sharp eye for detail and unerring taste, the MICHELIN team assessed hundreds of contenders before settling on those that truly captured the spirit of modern hospitality.
TFE Hotels Take a Bow
If one name keeps popping up regarding local hospitality flair, it’s TFE Hotels. The group’s Chief Operating Officer, Chris Sedgwick, described the awards as “a reflection of Australia and New Zealand’s growing influence on the world stage.”
Auckland’s The Hotel Britomart was one of 19 exceptional hotels in New Zealand.
And rightly so. Three members of the Collection by TFE Hotels shone brightly:
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The EVE Hotel Sydney is a bold new entrant challenging city design conventions.
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The Calile Hotel in Brisbane, a modernist haven where subtropical glamour meets timeless understatement, and
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Auckland’s The Hotel Britomart is a boutique property that proves sustainability can be stylish.
Each earned the coveted One Key recognition, symbolising good looks and good service, a blend of polish and personality that the MICHELIN Inspectors admire.
“The inclusion of these three independently owned and developed hotels in the MICHELIN Keys program not only celebrates the achievement of delivering elevated service standards, but also signals a broader shift where Australian and New Zealand hotels are setting new global benchmarks for design, sustainability, and the guest experience,” Sedgwick said.
TFE’s boutique gem, The Interlude at Destination Pentridge, also found itself in distinguished company, rounding out an impressive showing for the home-grown brand.
A Global Standard, Locally Crafted
The MICHELIN Keys aren’t handed out lightly. Inspectors assess each property on five universal criteria:
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Excellence in architecture and interior design
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Quality and consistency of service
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Distinct personality and character
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Value for price
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Contribution to the local community or setting
This recognition elevates Australasia’s reputation for creative hospitality in an era where design hotels are as much about storytelling as sleep quality. Where else can you sip coffee brewed by a barista who moonlights as a poet, or sleep under bespoke lighting inspired by the Outback’s night sky?
Sedgwick was quick to acknowledge that these honours celebrate more than just aesthetics. “Every one of these hotels not only represents excellence in hospitality,” he said, “but also the heart and soul of the teams, owners, and developers behind them.”
Redefining Luxury on Home Soil
The inclusion of Australasia’s finest underscores how far the region’s hospitality sector has come from its sun-and-surf beginnings to a design-driven renaissance that can compete with Europe’s grand dames and Asia’s avant-garde retreats.
For travellers, it’s an invitation to rediscover what luxury looks like down under: intimate, authentic, and deeply connected to place. Whether it’s the lush minimalism of The Calile or the urban poetry of The EVE, these hotels are proving that good design is more than what you see; it’s how it makes you feel.
With MICHELIN’s seal of approval, Australia and New Zealand’s hotel scene has officially checked in among the best in the world.
For the complete list of honoured hotels, visit the official MICHELIN Guide Australia and MICHELIN Guide New Zealand.
By Charmaine Lu
BIO:
Charmaine has always had a quiet kind of courage. She grew up in Shanghai, a city that moves at a tempo all its own, and somehow managed to keep her own rhythm studying accounting for the discipline, then the arts for the sheer love of beauty. “I needed both,” she says, “to feel whole.”
When she left China for Sydney in the 1980s, she carried nothing but a degree, a suitcase and a belief that she could start again. The first sea breeze off the harbour felt like permission. She met Stephen, and together they built a family, two children, a home filled with laughter, and a life straddling two cultures without apology.
Work has always been more than a job. Before search engines became the centre of commerce, Charmaine was quietly helping companies be found and read, not just SEO but stories people wanted to click on. That is still her gift: finding connection in a crowded world.
Her life is less a résumé than a testament to grace under change, the accountant’s discipline, the artist’s eye, and a heart big enough for two continents.
