An eye-catching, design-led Holiday Inn & Suites is coming to Ballarat, heralding an exciting chapter for IHG Hotel’s & Resort’s expansion into regional Victoria and a new partnership with hotel owners, Forte Group.

Holiday Inn & Suites Ballarat Goldfields will be one of the most striking hotels in regional Australia and a coveted MICE destination, boasting a highly visible location from the Western Freeway which links Ballarat to Melbourne CBD.

Designed by international, award-winning Hachem Architecture, the 110-room hotel is expected to open in 2024 and will be one of the region’s premier business, leisure and MICE destinations, with 400sqm of flexible meeting space including a large ballroom with stunning rural views, as well as an intimately designed 90-seat restaurant and bar, a day spa, gymnasium and outdoor pool.

IHG’s Holiday Inn brand has undergone a global transformation over the last 18-months and its next-generation design includes innovative open lobbies, amazing F&B and suite offerings, making leisure and business travellers take note and is fast becoming a brand of choice. Holiday Inn Werribee, which just opened last week, boasts Holiday Inn’s next-generation brand hallmarks and is a great example of how vibrant and stylish the new-look Holiday Inn hotels have become.

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For the uninitiated, Ballarat has a fast-growing technology sector and a number of major financial institutions have their base in the centre of the city, meaning the town is often abuzz with a regular flow of interstate corporate visitors during the week and leisure guests over the weekend.

Often referred to as the gateway to regional tourism in the Central Highlands and Goldfield region, Ballarat is also home to a number of iconic cultural and heritage assets of its own, such as Sovereign Hill, Her Majesty’s Theatre, which is Australia’s oldest continuously operating purpose-built theatre, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka and the Art Gallery of Ballarat to name a few.

Abhijay  Sandilya, IHG’s VP of Development for Japan, Australasia and Japan, said: “Holiday Inn has made its mark as one of Australasia’s fasted growing hotel brands, and we are thrilled to be adding this state-of-the-art designed property to the Holiday Inn family. What’s particularly exciting about this property is that it will truly be a destination in its own right, with a range of facilities and amenities, including a spa, pool, conference centre, restaurant, bar, that will give it a resort-like feel. This will help drive mid-week occupancy particularly from corporate and business travellers, and it will also be a popular destination for weddings. Plus, we know that locals and regional holiday seekers are without a doubt going to be enamoured with the hotel and we can’t wait for construction to start and doors to open.

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“We have been steadily growing IHG’s presence in regional Victoria and Holiday Inn & Suites Ballarat Goldfields will complement Holiday Inn & Suites Werribee, which opens this month, along with Holiday Inns in other great locations like Geelong, Richmond, Ringwood, Wagga Wagga and Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall.”

William Tan from Forte Group said “We are very proud to be working with IHG Hotels & Resorts to bring our vision for this property to life. The hotel’s location, just out of the centre of Ballarat, will be highly accessible which will provide leisure guests convenience to central Ballarat and further afield. Ballarat is one of Australia’s fastest growing regional cities and the third largest city in Victoria. With strength of IHG Hotels & Resorts network, loyalty and distribution systems we are excited to be bringing travellers a premium, design-led hotel in one of the country’s most iconic locations.”

Forte Group is an industrial, residential, commercial and hospitality developer creating thoughtful, design-led solutions. From façades and landscapes to floor plans and interiors, Forte Group creates holistically to ensure there is a seamless relationship between all aspects of a building’s design and function.

Holiday Inn & Suites Ballarat Goldfields will join the 41 open or pipeline Holiday Inn brand family hotels in Australasia & Pacific. Globally, it’s the world’s largest brand family with more than 4,100 open and over 1,000 in the pipeline, delivering the Joy of Travel in almost every corner of the world.