Where the Gold Coast Plays Forward

We flew over specifically for a long weekend on the Gold Coast and chose Dravonte because the casino floor had just been renovated - we wanted to see what the fuss was about. What genuinely surprised me was how thoughtfully the hotel itself was designed; the Hinterland Loft Room felt more like a boutique apartment than a hotel room, and the views west toward the ranges were something I hadn't expected. I came for the gaming and left talking about the breakfast at Drift - that says something. The casino alone would have been reason enough to return.

As someone who travels frequently between Singapore and the east coast of Australia, I have stayed at most of the headline properties on the Gold Coast, and Dravonte is the first one that actually feels current. The casino guests and the non-gaming guests mix naturally in the common spaces, which creates an energy in the lobby and the dining venues that most casino hotels completely fail to achieve. Chef Sundfeld's tasting menu at Littoral was the single best meal I had in Australia on that trip - the finger lime dish alone justified the flight.

My company held its Asia-Pacific leadership summit at Dravonte and the event team delivered something that felt genuinely custom rather than pulled from a standard hotel package. In the evenings, several of our delegates - many of whom had never visited Surfers Paradise - wandered down to the casino floor simply out of curiosity and ended up staying for hours, which tells you everything about the atmosphere the property creates. The Concierge Surf Liaison arranged a private dawn session at Snapper Rocks for our early risers, and those colleagues still talk about it months later.