Brb, just met the hotel of my Pinterest dreams
Standing on the balcony of my hotel room, I overlook the turquoise 30-metre-pool below. It's lined with cabanas, palm trees and turquoise-and-white pool brollies hovering over sun decks. It's a scene that will not look out of place in Miami or Palm Springs.
I’m at the ultra-hip Calile Hotel (pronounced “Kal-Isle”), that’s made for the ’gram. Just opened in October this year, the photogenic property is the oasis of relaxed cool in the city of Brisbane. This once-sleepy neighbour of touristy Gold Coast is having its moment in the sun—on the Sunshine Coast, no less—with hip hotels sprouting up all over. But I suspect I've stumbled on the coolest one.
1. First Impressions
I find out that the Calile Hotel was built as an urban resort, inspired by other warm-weathered cities, and with a goal to embrace the sub-tropical Brisbane climate. The seasons are mild: Winters don’t drop below 11 °C, and summers hover around 30 °C. I visited the hotel two weeks after it opened in October, so it was the end of Spring and a perfect 20 °C.
Don’t expect dark-carpeted lift lobbies; this isn't your usual hotel. Instead, find a large open-air space, that allows breeze and natural light to flow through the corridors that are populated with oversized pots of plants. Even the exposed brick walls are made of “breeze blocks” with a semi-circle punched out of each brick for air-flow.
