InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef

InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef reopened on 1 July 2019 as Hayman Island by InterContinental, after Cyclone Debbie closed the island in 2017 and owner Mulpha Australia spent AU$135 million rebuilding it under a new flag. The move ended the property's long run as One&Only Hayman Island and brought IHG to the Whitsundays' flagship private island, with 166 rooms, suites and villas across three wings and five restaurants and bars. It was renamed to its current title in November 2024.

The place

The resort has the whole of Hayman Island to itself, the northernmost of the 74 Whitsunday islands and the closest private island in the group to the outer Great Barrier Reef. Guests arrive by launch or helicopter from Hamilton Island Airport, and there is no town, no through traffic and no second hotel — the island is the property. The accommodation is arranged in three wings, Pool, Beach and Lagoon, each with a different relationship to the water rather than a different grade of room.

The concept

Hayman has been the Whitsundays' flagship address since long before this incarnation, and until 2017 it operated as One&Only Hayman Island. Cyclone Debbie closed the island that year, and rather than restore the old identity, owner Mulpha Australia used the shutdown to change brand entirely: AU$135 million of refurbishment, and a reopening on 1 July 2019 as Hayman Island by InterContinental. The property was renamed InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef in November 2024. This guide treats it as an opening rather than a renovation because the operator, the brand and the public name all changed — the building is the constant, not the hotel. The refurbishment was handled by DBI Design with DAARC and KY Design, and it reorganised 166 rooms, suites and villas across the three wings, up to and including a three-bedroom Hayman Beach House. The Pool Wing carries 46 one- and two-bedroom suites arranged above the resort's landmark Hayman Pool, several with swim-out access directly from a private double balcony. Alongside the hotel programme, IHG built environmental commitments into the relaunch — reef-safe sunscreen and a glass-to-sand recycling operation among them — which read less as marketing than as the minimum expected of a resort sitting inside a World Heritage marine park.

Dining & wellness

Five venues serve the island: Pacific for breakfast, Bar Fifty as a 1950s-themed cocktail bar, AQUA for poolside seafood, Amici Trattoria for Italian cooking with pizza ovens, and Bam Bam for pan-Asian food. The Hayman Spa works in partnership with the Australian skincare brand Sodashi, and the Planet Trekkers kids club covers younger guests.