Baillies to open luxury boutique hotel in The Rocks, with Great Ocean Road next on the agenda
Husband and wife luxury lodge operators James and Hayley Baillie will open their first inner-city boutique hotel in Sydney’s The Rocks next year and expect up to 90% of guests will be wealthy international travellers.
The Baillies have acquired 35-year leases on two adjacent historic buildings on George Street.
The two buildings are five-level Merchants House at 43-45 George Street, dating back to 1848, and 47 George Street, a sandstone warehouse dating back to 1843 and previously a Westpac Bank branch.
They are currently being developed by Tim Greer of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer architects.
James Baillie tells Property Observer the Great Ocean Road is next on the couple’s agenda, while they also have ambitions of opening a second larger luxury hotel in Sydney.
“The Great Ocean Road is very much on the cards. We are looking at various locations and have received great support from the Victoria government on this,” he says.
“The end game would be to open a second bigger hotel in Sydney. One day we’d like to open a larger luxury hotel in the 50- to 80-room range," he says.
The Rocks lodge will be called Baillies Sydney and will feature 10 suites aimed at wealthy overseas travel market with rates starting from $1,200 per night up to $3,000 per night.
James Baillie says he chose The Rocks because it is a “quintessentially Sydney location” and “perfectly located close to all of Sydney key iconic attractions”
He says it will be “like nothing Sydney has seen before” with guests receiving “first-name service”.
“Luxury lodges have a highly inclusive element to them with all meals and beverages and in the case of wilderness lodges they would eat most of their meals at the lodge.
“However in the case of Baillies Sydney, we want to give them the opportunity to experience fine Sydney dining if they wish.
“We will include an open bar for guests and weary travellers can choose to have their meals in the hotel, but we don’t want to compete with Sydney restaurants,” he says.
Guests staying at Baillies Sydney will have the option of being driven to nearby restaurants and taken on behind-the-scenes tours of the Sydney Opera House.
The Baillies will next turn their attention to the Great Ocean Road with James Baillie telling The Australian he sees “amazing potential for a luxury lodge” on the famous Victorian coastal road.
Baillie Lodges was founded in 2003 and currently operates three luxury lodges in wilderness locations, these being Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island, the Baillies’ first venture, Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island (pictured above) and Remarkable Lodge in Tasmania.