Luxury hotel operator Mandarin Oriental Group will open its first Australian hotel in a stunning, vase-like Melbourne tower designed by the world's greatest female architect Zaha Hadid, before she died unexpectedly last year.

The 50-storey building wrapped in white latticework is expected to become a new visitor drawcard, a "destination tower" at the west end of Collins Street.

Mandarin Oriental Group will operate a 196-key hotel in the Zaha Hadid-designed tower in Collins Street.

Mandarin group, which operates 29 hotels around the globe and is renowned for its opulent interiors, restaurants and wellness centres, has been searching for an appropriate hotel location in Australia for nearly a decade.

The group said it had signed a management agreement to operate a 196-key hotel in the Hadid-designed building, taking up levels six to 24.