Wonil Hotel Perth – Western Australia
A riverside hotel where Noongar language, university life and philanthropy meet beneath the peppermint trees
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● Its name comes from the Noongar word for peppermint tree, connecting the hotel to the landscape and Aboriginal culture of Western Australia rather than simply borrowing a generic sense of place.
● Set beside The University of Western Australia and the Swan River, it offers a quieter, greener alternative to Perth’s CBD hotels.
● Most unusually, the hotel supports the Forrest Research Foundation, turning hospitality revenue into funding for scholarships and research.
A Different Side of Perth
Perth doesn’t end at the CBD. Follow the Swan River west towards the leafy grounds of The University of Western Australia and the city begins to feel very different. Peppermint trees replace high-rises. Walking and cycling paths trace the water. University buildings appear between gardens. This is where you’ll find Wonil Hotel Perth. And its location isn’t incidental. Landscape, education and a rather unusual social purpose are central to the hotel’s identity.
What’s in a Name?
Quite a lot, in this case. Wonil is a Noongar word for peppermint tree, referencing the trees surrounding the property and acknowledging the Noongar people, the Traditional Custodians of this part of Western Australia. It’s a small word carrying a much bigger connection to place. That makes considerably more sense to us than inventing another vaguely luxurious hotel name.
The First Handwritten
When it opened in 2023, Wonil became the first Australian property in Accor’s Handwritten Collection. The idea behind the collection is individuality: hotels with their own personalities and stories rather than properties designed to look identical from one city to the next. At Wonil, that personality is deliberately understated. This isn’t the exuberant, pattern-heavy Perth of QT. The atmosphere is lighter, calmer and much more closely connected to its riverside setting.
Nature Does the Decorating
Inside, the palette remains restrained. Natural tones, timber, muted greens and contemporary furnishings allow the landscape outside to take much of the attention. Large windows bring in the trees, sky and water, while the interiors have the uncomplicated ease of a modern guesthouse rather than a grand city hotel. The rooms continue that approach. Clean lines. Soft colours. Simple contemporary furniture. Depending on where you sleep, views extend towards the Swan River or across the leafy university precinct. It’s not a hotel trying to overwhelm you with design. Its strength is the calmness.
Life Along the Swan
The location also changes the rhythm of a stay. Step outside and you’re immediately connected to the river and its walking and cycling routes, while the University of Western Australia campus gives the neighbourhood a character quite unlike central Perth. There is an academic energy here, but plenty of space too. Morning can begin with a walk beneath the trees rather than a negotiation with city traffic. And you remain close enough to central Perth for this to work as a city hotel. Urban, without feeling particularly urban.
A Hotel That Funds Ideas
But the most interesting part of Wonil isn’t its interior design. It’s what happens to the money. The hotel is connected to the Forrest Research Foundation, established to support research and academic excellence in Western Australia. Revenue generated by the hotel contributes to the Foundation and its scholarship and fellowship programmes. That gives the property an unusually tangible purpose. You’re not being asked to reuse a towel and then being told you’ve saved the planet. The business itself has been structured to help fund education and research. For DNA Hotels, that’s a much more interesting definition of responsible hospitality.
University Hotel, Reconsidered
There’s something fitting about having this model beside one of Australia’s major universities. Hotels associated with academic institutions can easily feel functional: somewhere for visiting professors, parents and conference delegates to sleep. Wonil takes the idea somewhere more appealing. It works equally well for a leisure stay, while its relationship with the university and Forrest Research Foundation gives the hotel an intellectual and community dimension most boutique hotels simply don’t have. Purpose here isn’t a marketing department bolted onto the side. It’s part of why the hotel exists.
A Table by the River
Food and drink follow the same relaxed Western Australian spirit. The emphasis is on approachable contemporary dining and local produce rather than elaborate gastronomic theatre, with the riverside setting doing much of the work. It’s the kind of place where breakfast can linger and dinner doesn’t require an occasion. And when Perth’s light begins to soften over the Swan River, sitting outside beneath the trees may be the hotel’s simplest pleasure.
Quietly Different
Wonil Hotel doesn’t compete for attention. That’s precisely what we like about it. There are more spectacular hotels in Perth. More luxurious ones. Certainly louder ones. But few combine Noongar acknowledgement, riverside nature, university life and a philanthropic purpose in quite this way. Stay for the peaceful location and contemporary simplicity. Remember it because part of what you spent there goes somewhere beyond the hotel. Sometimes good hospitality can do more than give you a good night’s sleep.
