The Star Grand Brisbane (Queen's Wharf)

The Star Grand Brisbane opened its doors on August 29, 2024, as the flagship hotel of the AU$3.6 billion Queen's Wharf Brisbane precinct on the Brisbane River. The 340-key, five-star property occupies levels 8 to 17 of two river-facing towers, and its arrival marked the centerpiece of Brisbane's largest urban redevelopment ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

The place

The hotel sits within Queen's Wharf Brisbane, a 12-hectare precinct stitched together from restored heritage buildings and new riverside towers along the Brisbane River, directly across the water from South Bank and a short walk from the CBD. The 340 rooms occupy the upper levels of two towers, with river-facing and city-facing options over levels 8 through 17. Queen's Wharf was conceived as a single walkable district (dining, entertainment, a casino and a 250-metre Sky Deck are all folded into the same footprint) so the hotel functions less as a standalone property than as the residential core of a larger entertainment complex built to anchor Brisbane's profile before the city hosts the Olympic Games.

The concept

The Star Grand is the hotel component of The Star Brisbane, the casino resort operated by The Star Entertainment Group, and it opened in a staged rollout: bookings opened July 15, 2024, with the first check-ins on August 29 and a fully booked opening week. Design leans on Brisbane's subtropical setting rather than a generic five-star template: Calacatta Viola marble is worked into curves meant to echo the ripples of the river and the lines of the Kangaroo Point cliffs, and the lobby is anchored by a 21-metre glass oculus and a 15-metre floating botanical sculpture by First Nations artist Tony Albert.

Rooms split into 276 standard categories (City King, City Twin and River King), 60 suites (River, City and Skyline City), and four 217-square-metre Skyline Penthouse Suites occupying the top two levels. The property positions itself at the luxury end of Brisbane's hotel market, priced well above the city's existing five-star stock, and its scale (plus direct integration with a casino, an event centre and Queensland's largest new leisure deck) puts it closer to an integrated resort than a conventional city hotel.

Dining & wellness

Dining is spread across the wider Star Brisbane precinct rather than confined to the hotel tower: Sokyo, the long-running Japanese restaurant brand from The Star Sydney, has its Brisbane outpost on the Star Grand's Level 2 lobby, alongside Cucina Regina, Black Hide Steak & Seafood by Gambaro, Azteca and Fat Noodle from chef Luke Nguyen. The Level 7 Leisure Deck houses Isoletto Pool Club, three connected infinity-edge pools totalling 527 square metres with a gym, sauna and steam room, which opened to hotel guests from April 12, 2025.