Boutique Brisbane property Spicers Balfour Hotel has been named Australia's best destination for business travellers by hotelscombined.com, beating large international chains in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.

The hotel topped the listing after the Australian-based hotel price comparison website found it offered the best work-life balance for those who work on the road.

Spicers Balfour Hotel edged out two Melbourne hotels, the Langham and the InterContinental at The Rialto; Adelaide's InterContinental and The Westin Sydney. 

Located in the fashionable suburb of New Farm just 3kms from Brisbane's city centre, Spicers Balfour Hotel features just nine individually designed rooms with creature comforts such as a Nespresso machine, Bose sound system and comfortable workstation.

It also offers a well-equipped boardroom accommodating up to 18 delegates, a rooftop bar overlooking the Story Bridge, onsite restaurant The Balfour Kitchen, a wrap-around verandah, secluded courtyard, library, in-house massages, free WiFi, free parking and 24-hour room service.

Spicers Balfour Hotel general manager Willie Smuts said Spicers Balfour provided the privacy and comfort lacking in larger generic hotels.

"Spicers Balfour Hotel recognises that travellers commute between cities on a regular, even daily basis these days, so we've created a destination with the comfort and welcoming feel of home but the class and character of a luxury international hotel you would find in London or New York," he said.

"Our vision has always been to offer a unique and intimate environment for corporate guests and we're delighted to be recognised as Australia's best destination for business travellers."

Originally built in 1901, the building is a grand three-storey Queenslander that once housed returned World War II servicemen. In 2010, Spicers Retreats developed the Queenslander into a contemporary nine-room boutique hotel with a vision to offer a unique, intimate and stylish city retreat for corporate and leisure travellers.

"Guests can conduct business from either our conference room, quiet library, courtyard lounge, or take it all in from the rooftop bar," Mr Smuts said.

"But they also have easy access to the thriving art, culture, restaurant and entertainment scenes of New Farm and nearby Fortitude Valley after hours, as well as the CBD. Spicers Balfour Hotel truly allows business guests to maintain a sense of work-life balance."

The Hotelscombined.com listing is the latest in a long line awards for Spicers Balfour Hotel, with others including Best Hotel under 50 Rooms at the International Design & Architecture Awards 2012, and Best New Tourism Development at the Queensland Tourism Awards 2011. 

The hotel is also currently ranked the number one Brisbane hotel on TripAdvisor and also took out three awards in the TripAdvisor 2013 Traveller's Choice Awards.

Hotelscombined.com lists 400,000 hotels around the world.

High res images are available for download from the Spicers Retreats media centre: www.spicersgroup.com.au/media   

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