Luxury Lodges of Australia celebrates the recognition of eleven of its member lodges in the 2026 MICHELIN Key Hotels selection, with Saffire on Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula and Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island both elevated to the highest distinction of Three MICHELIN Keys. Saffire and Southern Ocean Lodge join Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef in the world-renowned accommodation guide’s top tier, giving Australia three of only 155 Three-Key hotels worldwide, each a member of Luxury Lodges of Australia.

Announced on September 18, the MICHELIN Keys are the accommodation equivalent of the MICHELIN Stars, awarded by MICHELIN Guide inspectors after months of anonymous visits across 79 destinations.

Just 18 hotels were awarded Three Keys for the first time this year, a distinction that denotes an extraordinary stay, delivering the ultimate in comfort and service, style and elegance. Saffire and Southern Ocean Lodge are the only two hotels in Oceania to reach Three Keys for the first time in 2026, with Southern Ocean Lodge also named an editor’s pick in the global announcement.

Across the 2026 selection, eleven Luxury Lodges of Australia members were recognised as follows:

Luxury Lodges of Australia Executive Chair, Penny Rafferty, said the elevation of Saffire and Southern Ocean Lodge to Three Keys, joining Lizard Island, was a reflection of years of consistent work by the teams and owners behind the lodges and spoke to the constant evolution of Australian luxury travel.

“To have two additional Australian lodges, Southern Ocean Lodge and Saffire Freycinet, join Lizard Island in the world’s most extraordinary hotels at the Three Keys level in the same year is remarkable, and it tells a bigger story about where Australia sits on the world stage,” Ms Rafferty said.

“The lodges are entirely of their places – the granite peaks and oyster leases of Tasmania’s east coast at Saffire, the wild coastline and wildlife of Kangaroo Island at Southern Ocean Lodge, and rare access to the World-Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef at Lizard Island. That two of only eighteen new Three-Key hotels named globally this year are Australian says a great deal about the calibre of what our members have built and continue to invest in.

“The qualities the MICHELIN inspectors reward are exactly what our lodges have always been anchored by: architecture that belongs in the landscape, service delivered with genuine personal care, and a real contribution to the communities and environments around them. To see eleven of our lodges recognised across all three levels, from the Kimberley to the Daintree, the Great Barrier Reef to the Scenic Rim, is a credit to every person involved in delivering exceptional and distinctively Australian luxury lodge experiences.”

Australia’s presence in the selection continues to grow, with 54 Key hotels nationally and 92 across Oceania this year. MICHELIN inspectors assess hotels against five criteria: excellence in architecture and interior design, the quality and consistency of service, overall personality and character, value for the price, and a significant contribution to the neighbourhood or setting.