Wonil Hotel Perth - Handwritten Collection

Wonil Hotel Perth opened in February 2023 as Accor's first Handwritten Collection hotel in Australia, a 66-room new-build on the Swan River at the University of Western Australia's Forrest Hall Precinct. Its most notable feature isn't the design but the model: the hotel's net revenue funds the Forrest Research Foundation's scholarships rather than external shareholders.

The place

On the Swan River at Crawley, adjacent to the University of Western Australia's Crawley campus, roughly 15 minutes from the Perth CBD.

The concept

Wonil is Accor's first Handwritten Collection hotel in Australia and the hospitality centrepiece of UWA's Forrest Hall Precinct, a new-build development that also houses accommodation for Forrest Scholars and Fellows and offices for the Minderoo Foundation. Its 66 rooms — including river-view balcony options with custom timber headboards — sit on the Swan River waterfront, on land the Noongar people knew as a resting place; the hotel's name, meaning peppermint tree in Wadjuk Noongar language, was chosen in consultation with Noongar elders. What sets Wonil apart from a standard campus-precinct hotel is its financial model: Accor operates the property, but its net revenue is reinvested into the Forrest Research Foundation, which funds scholarships and fellowships across Western Australia's five universities. It is a boutique hotel built to fund research rather than shareholder returns — a genuinely unusual structure for a Handwritten Collection debut.

Dining & wellness

The hotel includes a food and beverage outlet with panoramic views over the Swan River and UWA's Crawley campus; specific restaurant branding and spa details have not been published.