Little National Hotel Newcastle on Honeysuckle Drive will welcome its first guests on Monday, April 15.
When Crystalbrook Kingsley opened in 2021 it was Newcastle's first five-star hotel. A year later, QT Newcastle opened and became the second.
Little National Hotel Newcastle has the potential to be the city's third - not that newly appointed hotel general manager Thomas Craigie is too concerned about ratings just yet.
There's work to be done before the hotel opens, after all. He is carrying a heavy gas cylinder up the hotel's fire escape when the Newcastle Herald calls.
"Sorry, I'm a little bit puffed," he said, laughing.
"Everyone is hands-on at the moment. There's no job too small or too big."
Plans for the $44-million development were first lodged by Canberra-based developers DOMA with the state government in 2018. The build has taken about two years to complete. It is the third Little National Hotel and the seventh property in the DOMA group's hotel portfolio.
It's also the first Little National Hotel to offer suites and "little apartments" with washing, cooking and drying facilities which Mr Craigie says will appeal to guests wanting to stay longer for work or play.
DOMA collaborated with architect Bates Smart and interior designer Luchetti Krelle to achieve "a refined and sophisticated, modern Australian style, providing a comfortable and serene environment for guests".
Each of Little National Newcastle's 181 rooms feature a signature portal wall-to-wall window.
High-thread-count sheets, high-specification "super king" beds, 55-inch smart televisions, bathrooms with luxurious Byredo amenities, high-quality public spaces ... it's all about "intelligent design, clever use of space, quality materials and focusing on the things that really matter to people" said DOMA managing director Jure Domazet.
He described it as "affordable luxury, a luxurious offering through the ethos of everything you need and nothing you don't".
The hotel's library and lounge space spans two storeys - with an open atrium - and offers views of Newcastle Harbour as well as unlimited WiFi, USB, power ports, a coffee machine and sparkling water. It and the onsite bar will be open to the public as well as guests.
"The hotel will also feature a sprawling 24-hour wellness centre with advanced Technogym equipment," Mr Domazet said.
An independently run cafe will be located on the ground floor and open seven days for breakfast and lunch.
Onsite parking is for guests only, and small meeting rooms can be booked for up to 15 people.
"DOMA has developed much of the Honeysuckle corridor since 2014," DOMA managing director Jure Domazet said.
"The location has always been a preferred area due to it being perfectly situated between the harbour, CBD and the Honeysuckle precinct."
Added Mr Craigie: "The Little National Hotel brand started in Canberra, branched out to Barangaroo in Sydney and now Newcastle, then, moving forward, there's Adelaide which will start shortly, as well as properties in Port Stephens, Brisbane and Melbourne."
He said Little National Hotel Newcastle offered "all the bells and whistles of a five-star hotel without the price tag".
"We're definitely not saying we can offer everything a five-star hotel offers, for example, we don't have a full catered restaurant or catered in-room dining, but we do make it easy for people to connect to food delivery platforms and we can guide people to local eateries.
"We have our own Little National-branded bags and plates and cutlery we send up to your room, almost like it is your own in-room dining service. We make it kind of fun.
"We're definitely not putting ourselves in the five-star category, but some of the amenities and offerings people will consider to be of that calibre."
Mr Craigie has 20 years of experience working in the hotel industry and has been involved in 13 bar and restaurant redevelopments and launches.
"He has aligned with the Newcastle Industry Tourism Group (NITG), to proactively focus on accommodation offerings, sustainability and disability inclusion schemes," Mr Domazet said.
Mr Craigie attended a recent tourism group monthly meeting and said he "not only learnt a lot but also got to meet lots of people who were all very excited to see what was being done to reactivate this side of town".
About 940 people applied for jobs at Little National Hotel Newcastle. Thirty were successful.
"We believe in meeting people face to face so it was a long recruitment process," Mr Craigie said.
"The hotel will speak for itself, but at the same time it's all about having the right people in there to run it."
