Luxury Lodges of Australia members have featured extensively in some of the world's most sought-after travel awards in recent weeks, including the just-announced Conde Nast Travel Readers' Choice Awards across the United States and United Kingdom titles and the new MICHELIN Keys awards, which have extended to include high-end hotels and luxury lodges in Australia for the first time in 2025.

The esteemed Condé Nast Readers' Choice Awards 2025 have been announced across the Atlantic this week, with Luxury Lodges of Australia members collectively taking a sweep of reader-voted honours in both the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) lists.

 The UK's Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards has this year seen Silky Oaks Lodge in Queensland's Daintree Rainforest claim first place in the Best Hotels in Australasia category with a score of 99.67 from a possible 100. Meanwhile, Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island has claimed first place in the World's Best Resorts in Australasia and the South Pacific with a score of 99.17, while Tasmania's Saffire Freycinet has come in fifth place with a score of 86.67.

Across the globe, a whopping 757,109 keen travellers cast their votes in the US-based Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards, where The Louise in South Australia's Barossa Valley has come in first place in the Best Hotels list for Australia and New Zealand. Across the region, the awards' Best Resorts in Australia & Pacific list includes Southern Ocean Lodge in 10th place and Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island in 20th position.

Meanwhile an outstanding eight properties from across the Luxury Lodges of Australia collection have claimed the highly sought after MICHELIN Keys presented in a global awards ceremony in Paris on October 8. The event marked a historic milestone, as the MICHELIN Keys program has expanded around the world to include Australia for the first time.

The MICHELIN Keys are the hotel equivalent of the well-known MICHELIN Stars for restaurants. They are awarded to exceptional high-end hotels and luxury lodges with a series of one, two and three Key status, assessed by dedicated MICHELIN inspectors as offering guests an outstanding stay.

In Australia, Lizard Island in Tropical North Queensland is the only property to have been awarded the outstanding three MICHELIN Key status. Longitude 131° at Uluru-Kata Tjuta, Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island, Silky Oaks Lodge in Queensland's Daintree Rainforest, Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island, Spicers Peak Lodge on Queensland's Scenic Rim and Saffire Freycinet in Tasmania have each been awarded two MICHELIN Keys in the 2025 awards. Qualia in the Whitsundays has scooped one MICHELIN Key.  

Longitude 131° was also amongst the five finalist nominees for this year's special 'Local Gateway Award' category, celebrating hotels that facilitate the most remarkable and authentic local experiences for guests. 

Lastly, Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island has also just been awarded the American Express Travel 'One to Watch' award for 2025. The prestigious award comes in advance of the World's 50 Best Hotels List 2025 which will be announced in October this year, and is given to a rising-star hotel that has the potential to break into a future 1-50 ranking in The World's 50 Best Hotels list. A link to the World's 50 Best Hotels 2025-produced dedicated reel for Southern Ocean Lodge is here. here.

Luxury Lodges of Australia Executive Chair Penny Rafferty said the suite of prestigious awards shone a spotlight on the diverse and rewarding luxury experiential tourism offering in Australia to a global audience.

“We're delighted to see this well-deserved and timely recognition for so many properties from our Luxury Lodges of Australia community in these world-leading awards, and we hope to see more globally-curious travellers choosing Australia as their next holiday destination,” Ms Rafferty said.

“The collection's twenty luxury lodges are located across a vast and varied continent, and with more than 350 experiences of place, people, wildlife and culture on offer between them, there's all the more reason to stay a little longer and combine multiple lodge stays in one extraordinary itinerary,” she said.   

The September 2025 Media Update across the Luxury Lodges of Australia collection includes all the latest news from the members, while a roundup of all the latest offers, events, media coverage and awards is available on the website here.  

Editors' Notes: Luxury Lodges of Australia (LLoA) is collection of independent Luxury Lodges located in some of our most spectacular Australian regions. Location is key, each location has a compelling reason to visit to do something. All lodges feature upscale, intimate lodging with all the soft luxuries of eat well, drink well and sleep well. However it is the exclusivity of access, to place, people, knowledge, craft and over 350 experiences delivered by the lodges that showcase our extraordinary diversity and defines Australian luxury.

Media enquiries:

Penny Rafferty              

penny@luxurylodgesofaustralia.com.au

+ 61 0428 633 408

Sarah Shields
media@luxurylodgesofaustralia.com.au

+61 425 318 966

Julie Earle-Levine (US)

+1 917673 3095 in New York

julie@julieearle.net