One of Brisbane's most recognisable buildings is getting a head-to-toe refresh. The InterContinental Brisbane, the 5-star hotel occupying Harry Seidler's landmark tower on Queen Street Mall (it traded as the Hilton Brisbane before IHG took over), will undergo a multi-million-dollar, ground-up refurbishment from October 2026 to late 2027 — and it will keep trading the whole time.

Here's the practical part: because the works are staged, bookings won't be blocked out. Anyone staying at the 319-room hotel between October 2026 and the end of the renovation can still check in as normal, and by the time the dust settles the room count will have grown slightly to 324.

The design is being led by Woods Bagot, the same studio behind the revamps of InterContinental Sydney and InterContinental Sydney Double Bay's sibling at Coogee Beach. Their brief: modernise without trampling Seidler's original architecture. The centrepiece is the hotel's grand atrium, reworked so every one of the 324 rooms looks down onto it. Guestrooms and suites get warm neutrals, natural stone, marble, dark timber and mid-century-style furniture, with meeting and event spaces updated along the way.

Level 6 becomes the social heart — a new concierge gallery, an upgraded arrival area, lobby and reception, plus the Club InterContinental lounge moved up to overlook the Queen Street Mall and Edward Street luxury precinct. Food and drink gets two new outlets: an Argentinian grill and a small Italian pasta-and-wine bar, alongside a reworked lobby bar. There's also a new gym, a spa and wellness space, and a redesigned pool deck.

The timing is no accident. The hotel wants to be finished in time for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and Brisbane's broader build-out ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games is raising the stakes across the city's hotel scene — Moreton Bay just scored its first 5-star property nearby. A polished, bigger InterContinental in the city's prime retail-and-dining address gives Brisbane a genuine luxury flagship for both events.

For travellers, the takeaway is simple: you can still book and stay during the works if you don't mind some staged disruption, but if you want the full reimagined hotel — the new restaurants, the atrium views, the Level 6 club — aim for a visit from early 2028 onwards. Architecture fans may also find the transition period interesting in its own right; few hotels let you watch a Seidler icon evolve in real time.