Coco Chanel once called The Ritz Paris home, Marlene Dietrich resided at the Hotel Lancaster, Peter Sellers set up home at London's Dorchester Hotel for decades and Cole Porter saw out his final 15 years at the Waldorf Astoria.

As well as a plethora of legendary rock stars and writers, even former British PM Margaret Thatcher lived in a hotel, ensconced in her final months in the five-star comfort of The Ritz in London.

Now mere mortals can live the hotel lifestyle in Melbourne, without the hefty hotel bills or the inconvenience of living out of a suitcase, by buying an apartment in buildings shared by hotels or with hotel-style facilities and services.

Developers in Melbourne's competitive apartment market have been trying to outdo each other replicating hotel style and comforts in their projects with grand lobbies, extravagant pools and gyms, rooftop gardens and full concierge services on offer.

A growing trend in Melbourne is to take that hotel experience one step further by offering mixed-use developments with residential apartments sitting atop luxury hotel rooms on the lower floors.

Residents can indulge in hotel extravagances, such as room service, housekeeping and even massage or hair and beauty salon services in their apartments.

The appeal of combined hotel-apartment developments was illustrated this week by the extraordinary sales success of apartments above the latest Art Series Hotel, Whitehorse Towers at Box Hill.

All 511 apartments in the Asian Pacific Group development sold out within a month of the project gaining a permit.

"It's been an incredible result," says Asian Pacific Group CEO Will Deague.

"These [mixed-use hotel-apartment developments] are something we've seen as a trend in New York, London and some of these international cities and I think we are just at the start of it in Australia."

Deague predicts we will see more mixed-use developments in Melbourne as they are viewed favourably by the state's new planning regime under Labor and the costs of building a hotel alone is increasingly prohibitive.

"I think the new Planning Minister [Richard Wynne] doesn't want to see just huge super towers which are straight residential with no sort of community benefits so I think everyone will start looking at better ways to improve their buildings and give back to the community," he says.

Melbourne developer BPM is making its first foray into luxury hotels with its chic 46-level Southbank development called Shadow Play that will have nine storeys of hotel rooms below 494 apartments offering residents access to all hotel services through an app on their phone.

Sam Tarascio's Salta Properties last month announced plans for a $300 million mixed hotel and apartment development above the Hermes boutique on the corner of Collins and Exhibition streets.

The Arthur hotel-apartment project by Hallmarc at 14 Queens Road directly overlooks Albert Park Lake and the golf course.

Hallmarc director Michael Loccisano says buyers have responded favourably to the benefits of living above a five-star hotel, although some needed to warm to the concept.

"Some buyers aren't sure when you first mention the five-star hotel but once the benefits are explained they see it working really well," he says.

Putting on the Ritz - Hotel Apartment  Living

• Life is one long holiday when you can order room service, cleaning or perhaps beauty salon treatments in your apartment or building.
• Owners' corporation fees can be significantly lower if the hotel is footing half the bill for shared facilities such as pools or gyms.
• The concierge can receive your deliveries when you are not at home or let in tradesmen, as well as providing security to the building.
• When the in-laws come for a prolonged stay, you can keep your privacy and sanity by putting them up in the hotel, often at reduced rates for residents.
• Your building's lobby and any facilities shared with the hotel will be kept to a five-star level of cleanliness.
• Many hotel-apartment developments have bars, cafes or restaurants for guests and residents.
• You have the cachet of an instantly recognisable address which will impress your friends – and cab drivers might even be able to find it.

Feature Property

105 Clarendon Street, Southbank
Price guide: $371,000 - $862,500

Developer BPM's highly sculptural, 46-level residential tower at Southbank designed by architects Elenberg Fraser will be the realisation of a lifelong dream for the company's founder, Jonathan Hallinan.

"This is unprecedented for us and it's come from a childhood dream of mine that I wanted to impact the skyline of Melbourne," says Hallinan, whose company has primarily been known for its low-rise and mid-rise projects in the bayside area.

"It's so accessible to the CBD without being right in it but the big one is you are within minutes of walking to the leafy suburb of South Melbourne," he says.

Beneath the elegant rippled glass façade, Shadow Play will consist of 494 one to three-bedroom apartments with interiors by Hecker Guthrie, sitting above a nine-level luxury hotel on the former King Furniture site near Crown Casino.

Communal facilities include private dining and lounge areas, a rooftop champagne bar, meditation and yoga room, gym, spa, sauna, pool, steam room and barbecue facilities as well as the full-time concierge and a ground-floor BPM cafe.

An added lure for residents will be the availability of all the hotel services, such as room service and cleaning, which can be ordered from a BPM app.

Internal sizes range from 43 to 51 square metres for one-bedroom apartments, 54 to 76 square metres for two bedrooms and 92 to 101 square metres for three bedrooms.

Construction is expected to be completed by April 2018.  A display suite is open on site at 105 Clarendon Street, Southbank, Sat-Thurs noon-4pm, phone 9555 9821.