Entries open · Win a weekend

Win a weekend at any Top 50 motel.

Flights included. One winner, their pick of the list. Tell us your favourite independent motel in Australia and you are in — and your answer becomes a nomination for the Best 50.

Nominate a motel ★ How it works

Open to Australian residents 18+. Full conditions on the giveaway post and in our terms.

How to enter

  1. Follow @retromotels and the campaign partner.
  2. Tag a road trip buddy in the comments.
  3. Comment your favourite boutique hotel or motel in Australia.

Entries close 14 November · 62 days left

What this is

One list. Fifty motels.
Argued about at every barbecue in the country.

The Australian motel is having its moment. A generation raised on road trips is rediscovering neon signs, kidney-shaped pools and keys on actual keyrings, and a wave of young operators is turning tired roadside properties into design destinations. What is missing is the authority: one credible list that names the best and hands every summer road tripper their itinerary. Bars have a Top 50. Hotels have a Top 50. Nobody has claimed the motel.

1

Crowdsourced

Nominations come in through the giveaway and the form on this site. Every entry names a favourite independent stay, so the public builds the long list — not a committee.

2

Credible

A small judging panel of respected operators and media locks the criteria and the final 50. The criteria are published before nominations close, so everyone can see how it was built.

3

Useful

The full 50 lands in early December as the summer road trip guide, mapped state by state, with every property bookable direct.

Not a paid listing. Not a members club. A list worth being on.

Free to nominate ★ Free to be included ★ Judged independently

How it works

Five gates, then six things worth arguing about.

Every nomination is checked against five yes-or-no questions. Everything that clears them is scored out of 100 by the panel, from a standard dossier, so like is compared with like.

01

It is a motel

Drive-up or courtyard, ground or two storeys. Not a resort, high-rise, pub or caravan park.

02

It is independent

No chain or franchise flag over the door.

03

It is open

Trading and taking summer bookings by 1 November.

04

Six rooms or more

A motel, not a guesthouse.

05

Clean record

No unresolved health, licensing or safety orders.

Character & design

Motel soul kept or reinvented, not erased. The neon, the pool, the nerve of the renovation.

25

The room

Bed, bathroom, air conditioning, blackout, soundproofing, cleanliness.

20

The welcome

The operator, the front desk, the late arrival, the local tip.

20

Sense of place

The town, the trip it anchors, what is on the plate and in the glass.

15

Value in bracket

Scored against its own price band, never across bands — so a $150 country motel can outscore a $700 one.

10

The X factor

Judge's discretion. The tie-breaker, and where the stories come from.

10
Read the full criteria Nominate a motel

The panel

Judged by people who actually stay in motels.

Four seats: a motel operator of note, a designer, a travel photographer, and the media partner's judge, who holds the casting vote. Judges declare their conflicts in writing and stand down from any property they are connected to. Retro Motels holds no vote.

To be announced

Motel operator

Seat on the panel

An operator of note, who knows what a good front desk feels like at 10pm.

To be announced

Designer

Seat on the panel

For the character and design dimension — restoration judged on nerve, not budget.

To be announced

Travel photographer

Seat on the panel

Someone who has slept in more roadside rooms than anyone should.

To be announced

Media partner

Seat on the panel

The masthead's judge, who holds the casting vote on the final 50.

The runway

Launch in October, live for summer.

September

Lock it

Partner signed, criteria and categories agreed, judging panel confirmed, prize partner locked.

★ We are here

October

Launch

Campaign goes live: nominations open, the giveaway drops in collab, scouted long list begins.

November

The countdown

Nominations close, shortlist of 100, panel scores. Weekly category and state reveals.

Early December

The 50

Full list revealed as the summer road trip guide. Number one crowned. Awards night poolside, neon on.

The calibre

The best rooms in the country are already independent.

Ex-motels winning global awards, TIME listings and Condé Nast crowns. These are the kind of places the Best 50 exists to celebrate — and the list is decided by the panel, not by this page.

Shown for reference. Inclusion in the Best 50 is decided by the judging panel alone.

Retro Motels Collective

Independent together. Join the collective.

Retro Motels brings the machinery of the international hotel groups to small independent operators: revenue discipline, group procurement, marketing and a shared recruitment pipeline. You keep your name, your keys and your soul. Join the waitlist for membership, partner offers and first access to the deals we negotiate for the group.

  • Revenue
  • Procurement
  • Marketing
  • Recruitment
  • Partner offers

Join the waitlist

    Membership, offers and campaign updates. Unsubscribe any time. Joining the waitlist has no bearing on the Best 50 — membership is not a criterion for inclusion.

    Let's build the list Australia argues about every summer.

    Nominate a motel ★ Vote in the People's Choice

    Entries close 14 November 2026. The full 50 is revealed in early December as the summer road trip guide.