BRISBANE (dpa) – The gossip surrounding the construction of the new hotel on Australia’s eastern seaboard was as intense as the name was impressive – “Palazzo Versace”.
And all the jokes about it being over-the-top were made at the expense of Donatella Versace, who took firm control of the work that went into shaping the label’s – and world’s – first Versace hotel after her brother’s death.The hotel had a “soft opening” last September. Located about 80 kilometres south of Brisbane’s international airport, the five star deluxe hotel is a lot more tasteful than the gossips imagined.From top to bottom, every last detail in the hotel is stamped with the label’s style. Donatella Versace’s guiding hand has left its mark everywhere, above all in her use of the label’s symbol, the gorgon’s head, to great effect.The result is a hotel whose image is not subdued by understatement, but one which still avoids showiness. On site is, among other amenities, a 65-metre long pool with beach sand, and a Versace boutique. Every one of the 146 rooms and 59 suites is furnished according to designs drawn up by the late Gianni Versace.Denis Gruhier, the hotel’s general manager, emphasises that every last object in the hotel, from the entrance porch to the chandeliers, from the dressing-gowns in the bedrooms to the toothbrush-holders in the bathrooms all come from one single creative source.“Our guests drink from Versace glasses, eat off Versace plates. They sleep under Versace bedclothes and enjoy their tea in the morning when it comes served in Versace cups,” he explains.All the same, the hotel manager is aware that a long road lies ahead of him and his crew before the level of service on offer equals the aspirations of the 205-room building. But they still have enough time to iron out the last small inconsistencies, which do not go unnoticed by the most discerning guests.Soheil Abedian is the man responsible for the fact that the first of Versace’s six planned hotels has been built here, on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Abedian manages the Sunland group, which has invested enormous sums of money in the area for the past 17 years.Some 250 million Australian dollars (137 million U.S. dollars) were pumped into Palazzo Versace, which also includes 72 first class private, owner-occupied residences.Abedian’s dealings with Versace during the project did not always run smoothly, but he claims that this “destination within a destination” will tempt guests from all over the world to Queensland.
