Drift
A major refurbishment of the former Ramada Reef Hotel, Drift (Grand Mercure), is designed to achieve a 4½ Star Rating. The old 223 room hotel has been transformed into 123 serviced apartments and 6 new beachfront condominiums. Combining clean modern lines and finishes, with beautiful crafted timber work, the resort is a modern interpretation of classic, tropical Queensland architecture.
There were several Challenges with the existing hotel layout. Guests arrived at the lobby by way of a tavern’s carpark at the rear of the site with no view of pool or beach - Solution: Relocate the lobby with direct street access and open it out to the lagoon pool and views of the beach. This means previous guests would not recognise the hotel, giving the illusion of a completely new resort.
Existing room configurations did not provide the right grid to design a two bedroom unit from 2 hotel rooms - Solution: innovative design of a day bed room that allows 2 bedrooms within the same space.
