Brisbane Apartment Short Term or Hotel Stays in Suites

I am often asked which apartment buildings are good for short term stays. That is, which apartments in Brisbane downtown and nearby are furnished, safe and have good facilities.

These are my recommendations, in this order:

1. Quay West, on Alice Street overlooking the Botanical Gardens.

Consistently rated as the number one hotel in Brisbane on TripAdvisor.
One and two bedroom suites, with daily service and room service. Pool, gym, restaurant. Large balcony. Great location and great views from all suites. The one bedroom suites have kitchen, large living area with desk, laundry room, bathroom and large bedroom. Two modern flat screen TVs. The nicest pool in Brisbane. Operated by Mirvac.
Book here.

2. Felix Apartments on Felix Street at Eagle Street.

An apartment building that Oaks has turned into a short term stay building. Good location, and most rooms have river views. Pool. Partly air conditioned (not central air conditioning). No room service. No hotel facilities. Good clientèle. Weekly clean.
Book here.

3. Saville Hotel at SouthBank

Only 18 months old, one of the newest hotels in Brisbane. Great location, just out of the downtown, but with many good restaurants nearby. A full service modern hotel. Pool and gym. Room service.
Book here.

4. Oaks - 212 Margaret Street

This was once a good place to stay, but now has a large construction site next door. No services.
Book here.

5. Oxygen Apartments, at Spring Hill

This is a favourite place for IT workers. Small apartments, just out of the city. No services.
Book here.

...

The best hotel, for a standard hotel room, is Stamford Plaza, on the Brisbane River. Book here.

South Bank - Arbour on Grey - Recent Sale

Apartment 2218, 180 Grey Street, South Bank
Arbour on Grey, a Mirvac development
Sold at auction for $635,000.
2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, Stage 2, 2nd floor.

Where to Find Good Apartments for Rent in Brisbane

See updated post: click here.

Many of the good apartments for rent are hard to find. Often, this is because they are snapped up quickly. Also, onsite managers often control the rental rolls, and don't often advertise on the usual property websites (as they don't need to do so). Some have their own website. Also, onsite managers may have a relationship with executive relocation services, that are feed the better apartments.

If you are looking for a place to rent a good inner city apartment, I believe that this is the best site to look at: http://www.seqrents.com.au

Also, try: http://www.raas.com.au

You have to find out how each manager advertises his/her vacancy. You want to avoid any buildings managed by Oaks, as they focus on short term hotel style rentals.

Some places to look:

I recommend Arbour on Grey at SouthBank: http://arbour.com.au/cms/welcome.html

Also, Saville at SouthBank is one of the nicest buildings if you get a river facing apartment: http://www.seqrents.com.au/saville/index.htm

I know people at LeftBank at West End who like living there, but it is a little bit far to walk to any shops -- it is in an industrial area: http://www.seqrents.com.au/leftbank/

In the city, Admiralty One, is good value - see prior posts: http://www.seqrents.com.au/admiralty/

Admiralty Quays and Admiralty Two are also good quality.

Nearby on the river in the city is River Place, that is not as good quality, but is likely to have availability as this is a large complex. Careful of Storey Bridge noise. Great views.

On Alice Street in the city, if you can get an apartment in Quay West, that is fantastic, as it has park and river views -- for long term rentals, the best agent to try is Blockside & Fergerson for this building. Half of this building is a hotel managed, so it is easy to get short term accommodation in Quay West. All apartments are privately owned. You want to get above level 7.

For an inner city downtown building, Metro 21 is one of the better quality buildings. It has only 4 apartments per floor -- and tries to be more upmarket so is better than most buildings that aim at students -- it seems to have better availability, and some of the two bedroom apartments have three bathrooms. The baloneys are large: http://www.realestate.com.au/realestate/agent/metro+21+brisbane/mlibri
and http://www.metro21apartments.com.au/

In the back of Toowong, Encore is a relatively nice complex, with good pricing (but currently construction next door, so take care of which apartment). http://www.seqrents.com.au/encore/

St Lucia is harder to find quality -- there are few onsite managers.

In Indooroopilly, Riva is the only quality building -- again, some are noisy due to nearby construction. Some have river views. http://www.seqrents.com.au/riva/

This is a list by a selling agent about various innercity buildings:
http://www.openhouserealty.com.au/html/residential/21/apartment-buildings