The Bonobo by Raes opens next month with cedar saunas, a rooftop pool, 33 boutique rooms and food from one of Australia’s best chefs. Bookings are open now.
Raes on Wategos is one of those hotels people plan holidays around. The clifftop property outside Byron Bay has spent years being one of Australia’s most coveted addresses: intimate, impeccably designed and almost always fully booked. So when the group behind it announces a new hotel, it’s worth paying attention.
The Bonobo by Raes opens in Byron Bay’s town centre this June, and it’s a deliberately different animal. Where Raes on Wategos is about retreat and seclusion, The Bonobo is social and central – a modernist three-level building on Jonson Street designed by Richards and Spence, with interiors by Studio Manifold. Natural timbers, stone finishes and warm plaster throughout. Calm rather than flashy, which is exactly right for Byron.
The 33 hotel rooms are joined by 41 one, two and three-bedroom apartments with proper kitchens and laundry, a smart move for a town that attracts as many long-stay visitors as weekenders. Food and drink is in serious hands: Jason Saxby, executive chef of the two-hatted Raes Dining Room, is overseeing the Lobby Lounge and rooftop pool menu, which runs from 7am to midnight. Club sandwich, steak frites and cheeseburger done the Raes way – simple brief, high bar.
The wellness offering comes from Reset, a Sydney brand bringing cedar saunas, ice baths, a eucalyptus steam room and magnesium baths to a dedicated space within the hotel. It’s open to locals as well as guests, which matters in Byron where community credibility counts for everything.
The Bonobo by Raes opens June 2026. Bookings are open now at thebonobo.com.au .