HOTEL OF THE YEAR

Jackalope, Mornington Peninsula, Vic

Prepare for the unexpected: a seven-metre mythical creature at the entrance of a Modernist black-box extension beside an 1876 homestead in a working winery. In lesser hands the juxtaposition of rural vineyard setting, ultracontemporary architecture and almost cinematic design could have been an expensive – in this case $40 million – failure. Instead, Jackalope creator Louis Li, general manager Tracy Atherton, chefs

Guy Stanaway and Martin Webster, and a team of enthusiastic staff have created a hotel unlike any other in the country. And we mean that in the best possible way. jackalopehotels.com Finalists: Como The Treasury, Perth, WA; Halcyon House,

Cabarita Beach, NSW