Ardo opened in May 2024 on Townsville's foreshore at The Ville precinct, an AUD 88 million development and the city's first five-star hotel. The 132-room property has two signature restaurants and a rooftop pool with Coral Sea and Magnetic Island views.
The essentials
Group Independent (Morris Group)
Opening May 2024
Rooms & suites 132 rooms and suites
Segment Luxury
Designer NC
Entry rate From AUD 235 Official website → The place Sir Leslie Thiess Drive, at The Ville precinct on Townsville's foreshore.
The concept Developed by Morris Group founder Chris Morris as an AUD 88 million new-build, Ardo is Townsville's first five-star hotel, positioned on the city's waterfront with sea views from most of its 132 rooms toward the Coral Sea and Magnetic Island.
Dining & wellness Two signature restaurants, Marmor and Terasu, plus Ardo Rooftop, a rooftop bar and pool deck with panoramic Coral Sea views, and a day spa.
Our take The rooftop pool and dual-restaurant program are unusually ambitious for a regional Queensland city — Ardo is a genuine bet that Townsville's tourism market can support five-star rates, not just a scaled-down capital-city format.
Google guest reviews 4.2/5 · 266 reviews
Recently stayed at Ardo Hotel and had an absolutely fantastic experience. Being one of Townsville’s newest hotels, everything feels fresh, modern, and truly top-class.
The rooms are luxurious, spacious, and incredibly comfortable. The beds were excellent, and the bathrooms were spotless and beautifully presented. The ocean views are stunning and make the whole stay feel extra special.
The staff were friendly, welcoming, and always happy to help. The dining options were also outstanding. The sushi restaurant downstairs was excellent, and the steak restaurant upstairs served one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. The rooftop bar is a great place to relax, with amazing views over the water and a fantastic atmosphere.
If you’re looking for a premium stay in Townsville, I couldn’t recommend Ardo Hotel highly enough.
I mistakenly booked the wrong date and realised my error only two minutes after confirming the reservation. I immediately called Ardo Hotel to cancel, but I was told that because it was a same-day cancellation, I would have to pay the full room cost as a late cancellation fee.
The alternative offered was to move the booking to the following day, but this would mean paying an additional $200 for the Friday night rate. After some back-and-forth, and dealing with a very short-tempered customer service representative, the booking was eventually cancelled.
A couple of hours later, I received another call from a different representative asking why I had cancelled one room and booked three additional rooms. I had not made any such booking and explained that I had nothing to do with those additional reservations. I was told they would investigate and let me know if they could cancel them. Eventually, they discovered that the extra bookings had been created due to an error in their own system.
What should have been a simple mistake corrected within minutes turned into a lengthy and stressful experience. Instead of receiving understanding and assistance, I was left dealing with confusion, poor communication, and the possibility of being charged for three additional rooms that I never booked.
I hope Ardo Hotel reviews its booking processes and customer service approach, as this experience was extremely frustrating and could have been handled much more professionally.
What a disappointment. To the owners: you have built a beautiful hotel in a fabulous location but you are not 4 star. You don’t offer breakfast and your staff are not kind and helpful. Particularly the front desk staff need a serious attitude reset.
Rukshen Weerasooriya · 1/5 Very disappointed in the service at this hotel. Unfortunately it looks like and claims to be a five star hotel however basic things you expect from a five star hotel don’t happen here.
We also both got food poisoning at Marmor and still got charged for late check out. $80 per hour.
We were not permitted to use the pool for an hour after checking out which was unusual for a five star hotel.
There is no breakfast on premises. You have to walk next door to the casino buffet which is a very different atmosphere and not in tune with the brand you are paying top$ for.
For these reasons the price is far to high for this hotel which is run more like and overpriced Airbnb.
Fantastic spot. Very limited food in Sunday and Monday nights. We had to go over to the Casino for a meal. Which was only a 2 minute walk. For a five star hotel to have both of its signature restaurants closed was very disappointing.
Definitely wouldn’t rate this as a 5 star hotel. The ceiling in our room was concrete which wasn’t painted and looked awful. There was a piece of half eaten chocolate left by the housekeeper in the door of the fridge. Was also a bit disappointed that guests didn’t get priority over visitors in the rooftop bar. It wasn’t stated to us on torch in that we should book a seat to secure a balcony view for drinks.
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