W Hotels & Resorts‘ second property in Australia has revised its opening date as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In May, the W Melbourne revealed its highly-anticipated launch was planned for December 2020, however, the Victorian capital’s ongoing lockdown has required the hotel to push back its debut to early 2021.
“The recent lockdown restrictions placed on Melbourne have impacted upon and caused production delays across a number of industries who are critical in their support of preparing W Melbourne for launch,” a spokesperson for Marriott International told LATTE.
“The hotel is in the final stages of getting Melbourne’s first luxury lifestyle hotel ready for guests but the delays have resulted in the official opening date to shift back slightly to February,” LATTE was advised.
Intriguingly, the W Melbourne’s website only lists rates based on check-in from 1 April 2021, priced from $349 per room per night for a Cozy room, from $369 for a Fabulous city view room, from $679 for a Marvelous Suite, corner room and from $999 for a WOW Larger Suite city view.
The Flinders Lane address property also has the pricey Extreme WOW Penthouse Suite priced from $8,000 per night.
In the meantime, as the opening date draws nearer, W Melbourne is on a recruitment drive, now accepting expressions of interest for their “talent casting”. The sister property to W Brisbane which opened in mid-2018 is looking to cast over 100 people and is on the search for “hospitality Rockstar’s who rebelliously rewrite the rules”.
In a W Hotels first, the recruitment drive will take place virtually. The first round of screening looking out for Talent who demonstrate the brand’s traits of Bold, Witty and Insider.
Positions are available across, Welcome (Front Office), Culinary, Curious (cocktail bar), Lollo (day, night and beyond restaurant), Warabi (speciality Japanese restaurant), Culprit (café-come-wine bar), WET (poolside bar), Finance and Engineering.
The Casting Call takes place the week of 12 October and expressions of interest close on the 5 October.
View the 57 listed jobs descriptions at W Melbourne here.
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