So you find yourself heading to Australia’s capitol city and looking for somewhere to stay that is a bit of fun but also has comfortable bed and offers you good food, drinks and comfortable beds. Well the QT Hotel in Canberra is the place to be. One of the top hotels in town, it was redesigned and relaunched 2 years ago, breathing new life into the political city.
Having taken over the former Lakeside Hotel, the QT Canberra building is steeped in Canberra history; Prime Ministers have been made and ousted to iconic acceptance speeches and back-room meetings.
But before you think the hotel is anything like a place you imagine politicians would be having formal meetings, the space has been redesigned by Nic Graham and celebrates the buildings rich history through bold design, a mix of quirky artifacts, bespoke furniture, a daring use of colour and art, and the ultimate food and beverage offering – all without taking itself too seriously.
6 reasons why we loved the QT Canberra:
1. Quirk & satire
I love a hotel with personality and the QT delivers that in all their hotels. At the QT Canberra they focus on the cities background of politics with a bit of tongue in cheek satire. All throughout the hotel there are quirky photos of of Australian political figures along side some of their less famous quotes. Like a post card in our room featured former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his famous quote “any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum”, which he said after Australia won the America’s Cup in 1983.
2. Location
With any hotel, you want to be in a good location. And the QT Canberra is a short walk to the shops, right by the lake, near the university and a short drive to Canberra Airport. The hotel also offers free bike hire for all guests if you want to go out and ride around the lake in their vintage style bikes. We wanted to go for a ride but Canberra had put on some rainy Autumn weather for us.
3. The rooms
I love hanging out in a nice hotel room, I’m not going to lie though, I love a good light coloured or interesting headboard for bed selfies. Luckily the QT Canberra has great geometric headboards and brightly lit rooms that that. A comfortable sized room with floor to ceiling windows, the rooms have impeccable décor and features a awesome mini bar with an emergency bow tie for all the gentlemen who have found themselves wanting.
4. Good foods & drinks
The QT Canberra is home to the Capitol Bar & Grill which serves delicious Australian cuisine for lunch and dinner, while putting on a killer buffet breakfast that makes almost every breakfast food you can imagine. Of course we chose waffles purely for Instagram photography purposes, but we can promise you we ate so much more after a night partying at Lucky’s. What is Lucky’s you say? The bar the QT of course. Home to some decadent cocktails and a slightly salacious atmosphere (there was a theme going on that night after all), it’s definitely a lot of fun to kick back with the girls and shake it up on the dance floor.
5. Barber Shop
I must say I was slightly disappointed there wasn’t a spa on site, but I’ll take a well groomed man instead. The hotel offers a traditional style barber shop where men can get a old school shave with a straight edge razor, a beard trim or a hair cut in an old fashioned leather barbershop chair.
6. Free Wifi
Australian hotels very rarely have free wifi, so I just had to note that this was a thing at the QT Canberra. No daily charge of $30 for wifi, you can surf as much as you want. Not that you will find yourself in your room on the internet much in this hotel.
