Arrival –

We drove our little “Mitsubishi ASX” up the Palazzo Versace driveway (which we later found out that the cobblestone driveway was hand paved by 5 Italian men who came across to Australia, each bough stones from their different villages in Italy especially to pave the driveway.). We felt a little out of place with the 2 Audi’s, Ferrari and the parked out the front; however this feeling didn’t last long as the friendly porters/valet gentlemen helped us out of the car and asked if we needed any assistance with our bags.

The gentlemen opened the large double doors for me and my jaw dropped! The reception/lobby area was stunning, very open, colourful and glamorous. The massive chandelier hanging from the roof was the most exquisite piece. This massive chandelier used to hang in a the Grand State Library of Milan, Gianni Versace gifted the chandelier to the hotel as an opening gift however as it weights just over 750kg, the hotel had to make a few last minute remodelling changes, taking out 2 hotel rooms to reinforce the ceiling so it could support this exquisite chandelier.

I initially found the reception area a little confusing as there were 2 desk areas in the lobby (one on the right and one of the left), I didn’t see any sign that would one point out the difference between to 2 desks, so I walked over to “manned desk”. I was greeted by the gentleman and he asked if I was checking in, if so to please take a seat and he started the check in process. Check in was very quick and easy. All of the features of the hotel were well explained, the 3 restaurants, the pool, the spa and the car park, he also informed me of the restaurant times and types of cuisines they served and offered to make any bookings for us, then he handed me our keys and pointed out where the elevators were.

Room –

We arrived at our Superior Suite at the same time as the concierge who was dropping our bags off, he showed us into the room and made sure both of our keys worked so that we wouldn’t have to go back down to reception if they didn’t work properly (I thought it was really a nice gesture). Now that I think about it, he might have done this to make sure we were going into the right room and hadn’t just walked in off the streets.

The Superior Suite at the Versace Palazzo was a remarkable suite. It’s the 2nd smallest suite but it’s hardly a “small” suite, its quiet large compared to standard hotel rooms. There was a small bathroom on the right as you walked in and the wardrobe on the left, walking further into the room you come to the luxurious furniture in the seating area and on the left in the bedroom was a huge plush bed, walking through the bedroom into the bathroom which was laid with imported marble and had a huge luxurious spa bath (easily fitting 2 people).

All of the shampoo, conditioner, soap and the towels were Versace branded. We had 2 sets of towels, one set was for the bathroom and the other set was for the pool. The more time we spent in the room, the more “Versace Branded” things we noticed, almost every item in the room is from the Versace collection, the lounge, table, chairs, desk, the curtains, the bathroom taps…….everything was Versace Branded”, right down to the glasses in the minibar! Some people have said it is over the top but I like it was just right, reminds you of where you are.

We also found a lovely welcome note wishing us a great stay, a gift of a small Versace perfume bottle and a voucher for 2 drinks at Le Jardin from the hotel.

Housekeeping –

While we did not see housekeeping throughout our stay, every time we went back to our room the bed was made, the amenities were refilled and everything was spotless, the only small thing we noticed and this is us really trying to “find something wrong”, was when Pete opened one of the magazines on the coffee table, some crumbs fell out of it, Obviously a previous guest had been eating and reading and dropped crumbs into it, that is the ONLY thing I can fault, which really in the grand scheme of things, is nothing!

One night, when housekeeping came to do the nightly turn down service, they asked if we wanted our sofa bed made up, we said no and thought it was a strange request, later that evening when arriving back to our room after dinner the TV was on with a welcome message for someone else – we called reception as we were worried we might have a little visit form another guest (we don’t mind sharing but im not sure our bed could have fit 4 people! Haha!), they advised it was a system error and quickly fixed up the issue. This really wasn’t a big issue and was very quickly cleared up.

Pool –

The pool was wonderful, definitely one of the (many) highlights of our stay. The pool is a large lagoon with a small beach with chairs and beanbags on it. There were a few foam mats for floating around the pool on, which was wonderfully relaxing! The pool was “split” into 2 sections by a sign; one section was for adult only and other section for Adults and children. As the only thing separating the 2 sections was the small sign on the side of the pool, the kids in the pool didn’t pay much attention to it, so the whole pool was a kids pool, however we didn’t have much of a problem with any kids as we went during the week after school holidays, the kids that were in the pool were fairly well behaved and their parents kept them behaving.

We decided to spend a luxurious day sitting by the pool so we hired one of the luxurious “water salon cabanas”, which was approx. $50 to hire for the day or you can really treated yourself and book one with a package, the packages some with sparkling wine or champagne, sunscreen, water and a fruit platter, just to name a few things. Make sure take sunscreen and put it on! We left our day of luxury a little “over cooked” as we didn’t worry about sunscreen as we thought the mesh on the cabana would protect us from the sun, but I don’t think it does, it just provides some shade – oh well! We got a great tan!



Food –

We had absolutely no complaints about the food at all; in fact we ate very very well!

I will touch on the restaurant experiences here however keep your eyes pealed for a full review of the restaurants at the Palazzo Versace!

We enjoyed a late lunch at the Vie Bar and Restaurant. Had a Buffet breakfast each morning with a huge selection of hot and cold foods, cereals, pastries and fruit. A staff member would find us a great seat and bring us our coffee orders, ensuring that we always had a nice hot coffee!

The first night we indulged on the nightly seafood buffet, which was CRAZY (the only word I can think of to explain it!). The Buffet had every type of seafood you could think of and then more, after we had our fill of the seafood we headed for the desserts, after all that food and drinks we had to literally “waddled” around the pool to get some fresh air before heading back to our room and collapsing into a food coma!

On our last night we enjoyed our drink voucher at Le Jardin and then dined at the Palazzo Versace’s signature restaurant “Vanitas” . Vanitas serves modern Australia food with real silver service. It is the restaurant that we will compare all others to from now on. The service was absolutely impeccable, the staff knew everything there was to know about the food and wine and the food was exquisite.

Spa –

Sadly we spent too much time sitting around the pool to get a chance to try the spa, however we have heard fantastic review about the spa and it will be in our on the top of our to do list for our next trip!

Location –

The Palazzo Versace is in a fantastic area in Main beach on the Gold Coast, while the hotel isn’t directly on the beach it’s very close to Main Beach (plus the hotel has its own beach in the pool lagoon!). It’s also located next to the retail precinct of Marina Mirage and if you have kids or want to be a kid for the day, Sea World is just down the road!

Versace Boutique –

Have you seen something you fancy at the hotel? Did you know you can purchase it at Versace Boutique! I wanted to purchase a few of the glasses or something “Versace” branded as a souvenir from the Boutique but I always felt too underdressed to go in. If you don’t get a chance to purchase something from the hotel directly you can purchase a few things from the Hotel Luxury Collection or you can email the Versace Boutique and order something via email from them.

Staff worth a Special mention –

It’s almost impossible to single out one particular staff member; absolutely everyone was extremely friendly (but still professional). Too be honest, I was silently expecting the staff to be snobby and have a “we are better than you” attitude but we didn’t even get a vibe of this from the staff. Nothing was too difficult and everyone was very helpful and friendly.

Paula from the Seafood buffet, always made sure we have enough to drink and come to check on us now and then, we never felt forgotten (as we were on a section away form most other tables) and we never felt bothered.

Scott the front house manager was very friendly and helpful with a few questions we had.

Mathieu, Amber & Antonio in Vanitas did a fantastic job looking after us! Mathieu greeted and seated us and checked on us through out our visit, Antonio served our food and explained what everything was and how they all work well together and Amber was the restaurants wine sommelier, her knowledge and helpful attitude was greatly appreciated.

Marco from the “water salon” looked after us while we relaxed by the pool.

Did we have any issues during our stay –

No hotel is without its faults. These “issues” were no big deal and were quickly fixed up.

We made a booking for the Seafood Buffet with reception after we arrived, however it got lost in the system, the restaurant manager apologised as they had recently started using a new booking system (teething problems happen everywhere!) and seated us in a nice “private” area, where we were able to enjoy our dinner.

The guest compendium was a little out of date, it stated that the “plug in/broadband” internet is free of charge however we were unable to find the cord and when calling reception they advised this was incorrect. With that said the wifi was very cheap!

Would we stay here again? –

In a heart beat! We had a fantastic time! All of the staff were very respectful and very friendly, no one was judgemental or rude. When we had lunch at Vie, we had come from the pool and weren’t dressed “appropriately” none of the staff said anything however Pete did get changed as he felt rude sitting there in his board shorts.

General Summary –

Palazzo Versace opened its doors to their first guest in September 2000 but it certainly doesn’t look like a 14 year old hotel, everything looks brand new, spick and span! The elevators were very quick and would be there within seconds of pressing the button, which made quick trips to the bedroom for forgotten items very easy.

Overall we had a fantastic stay, the staff, the room, the food, the pool, everything was fantastic!

Don’t forget to your eyes pealed for a full review of the restaurants at the Palazzo Versace and 9 things to do at the Palazzo Versace (this hotel is like its own little destination!)

So what do you think? Palazzo Versace is Ultra Luxurious for a 14 year old hotel!

Disclaimer: Thank you to the Palazzo Versace who kindly hosted us for one night (the 2nd night and activities were paid out of our own pockets) . All opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way.