If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise. Or so the tune goes. Ready to welcome guests from April 1, the 46-room Hotel Jackalope is an hour's drive from Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula. Set amid Willow Creek's 11-hectare vineyard, surrounded by another 50 cellar doors and three of Australia's top-10-rated golf courses, the woods have not looked this enticing for quite some time.
The hotel – named for the mythical jack rabbit with antelope horns – strikes a balance between the theatrical, the sensory and the "surreal" in the words of its developer, Louis Li, a 28-year-old who studied film at Swinburne then an MBA at RMIT. Li grew up in southern China's tourist city of Kunming, before moving to Melbourne in 2007.
"My desire was to merge art and hospitality, taking them to another level," he says with a confidence belying his youth. By way of example: the hotel's restaurant, Doot Doot Doot, is lit by 8000 light bulbs that change intensity to mimic the bubbling process during fermentation.
Through the family's JKLP Group, Li bought Melbourne's famed Prince of Wales Hotel for a reported $45 million in 2015, following his 2014 purchase of the 1911-built Maria George Building at 181 Flinders Lane for a reported $11.4 million. He bought Willow Creek in 2013 for $9.5 million.
7-metre-tall jackalope
Li commissioned a suite of Melbourne creatives to bring Jackalope to life. The Carr Design Group and multi-disciplinary studio Fabio Ongarato Design did the architectural honours and interiors, while Zuster put together the furniture. Moving outside, Taylor Cullity Lethlean did the landscaping, which you can admire from the sleek black 30-metre infinity lap pool. Bathroom products are by Hunter Lab – and you certainly won't miss the property's seven-metre-tall mythical jackalope, sculpted by Emily Floyd. General manager Tracy Atherton, formerly of Aman Resorts and more recently, Canberra's innovative Hotel Hotel, oversees it all.
Salivating yet? Then tuck in your napkin: Guy Stanaway (formerly of Noosa's Bistro C) is executive chef, and Jackalope's cellar door, Rare Hare, will provide a tipple.
Concept designs are already under way for a sister property in the Maria George Building.
"It's an exciting time," says Li. Room rates start at $650. BYO teddy bear and picnic.
