CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA—Peppers Hotels opened its first CBD-based hotel—Peppers Gallery Hotel Canberra—here in the New Acton district.
Formerly the Diamant Hotel, the 80-room boutique hotel offers Bicicletta Italian restaurant within an interior design showcasing an eclectic gallery of emerging and established art work.
Guestrooms are appointed with Bang and Olufsen plasma televisions, iPod docking stations, plunger coffee makers, free broadband access, original art work throughout and bathrooms with rain shower and marble vanity tops.
There are several meeting spaces, including the Smith Murdoch Room, named after the hotel’s architect; and the Ngunnawal Room, acknowledging the indigenous people of the area. Large-scale functions for up to 100 persons can be held in Bicicletta Restaurant or for up to 50 persons in both the Library Bar or the unique Courtyard in summer.
General Manager James Sharrock is overseeing the property.
Parent company Mantra Group CEO Bob East stated the company would continue to seek out opportunities for further CBD expansion for the Peppers brand. “It has always been our objective to take the Peppers brand to CBD locations and it is great to see Peppers in the national capital. We have a brand new Peppers development set to open in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct in 2016 and will continue to seek out further CBD opportunities in the meantime.”
Peppers Gallery Hotel Canberra first opened its doors as the Acton Hotel on May 5, 1927. The onset of the Depression forced the property to cease trading as a hotel three years later and it was transformed into to the census and patents office and later billeting for the Canberra Police Force and the University of Canberra during the World War II era. The post-war migrant population increase in Canberra saw the building re-commissioned back to a hotel. It continued to operate as the Commonwealth Hostel for three decades before converting to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and the Australian Federal Police & Resolution Centre. After being privately owned and vacant for nearly six years, in 2000 developers transformed the heritage façade and surrounding buildings into three spaces: a private residential building called “New Acton”; an 18-story tower known as the “Nishi Building”; and a luxury boutique hotel, which is now the Peppers Gallery Hotel Canberra.