Accor Vacation Club has appointed Phil Reid to the position of General Manager Hotel Operations. In his new role, Phil will provide leadership to the Resort Services teams at Accor Vacation Club’s 23 properties located across Australia and New Zealand, and Indonesia.
Mantra Group has achieved its largest year of growth since its inception in 2009, with a record number of new properties (13) joining its hotel and resort portfolio in 2017.
A new level of inner-city sophistication has arrived in Brisbane with the opening of FV by Peppers.
The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts today announced it will debut the brand"s first-ever hotel in Tasmania in late 2018, following a full-scale renovation. Owned by Trawalla Group Parliament Square Hotel Operator Pty Ltd., The Tasman, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Hobart will reside in repurposed heritage buildings in Parliament Square, a new design-led, urban development that is set to revitalize the neighborhood, uniting the city"s unique past with its contemporary culture.
Best Western Australasia (BWA) today confirmed that SureStay, its new 'white label' economy hotel brand, is coming to Australia and New Zealand.Head of Commercial Steve Richards says fruitful discussions are under way with a number of hotels and anticipates the first property will go live in early 2018 with others to follow.Richards says Best Western sees the economy sector as a major network growth opportunity, especially across regional areas with a lot of competition but little brand differentiation."We estimate there are 2000 economy hotels across Australia and New Zealand and that 80% of them are unbranded independents," said Richards."These are the hoteliers who will benefit most by joining SureStay – it's a new brand with great values that we think has enormous potential for increasing visibility, credibility and bookings for independent economy hotels."He said to carry the 'SureStay Hotel by Best Western' brand hotels must be rated minimum 3.5 stars on TripAdvisor, offer guests good quality facilities and service, a continental breakfast and free wi-fi.In return, Richards said SureStay branded hotels will have marketing support, access to Best Western's preferred travel agent and corporate agreements, scale, and global distribution through numerous channels including bestwestern.com and the Global Distribution Systems."We are also targeting the corporate market with SureStay, giving guests the opportunity to earn or redeem Best Western Rewards points, which is a real point of difference in the economy sector," Richards said.SureStay was launched last year has now has 33 properties in the United States, Sweden and Thailand with another 44 in the pipeline.There are three brand tiers - SureStay Hotel by Best Western, SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western and SureStay Collection by Best Western.Richards says BWA has decided to keep things simple from a brand management perspective and only bring entry-level SureStay Hotel by Best Western to Australia and New Zealand."We wanted to avoid any kind of confusion with our core brands, Best Western and Best Western Plus, where uniformly higher standards of facilities and service are required."
Construction on Mantra Epping, a new $70 million hotel development in one of Melbourne"s fastest growing areas, is now underway following today"s sod turning ceremony.
Australian millionaire, art collector and professional gambler David Walsh has unveiled ambitious new plans for a hotel that will adjoin his MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The announcement of the hotel and the accompanying renders which illustrate both the ambition and the scale of the project were given by Walsh at a Tasmanian Tourism event in July, but plans have not yet been submitted to the Glen Orchy Council, who will need to grant planning approval for the development. Considering the size, scale and location of the scheme on the Berriedale Peninsula, there may be complaints from the public, as there often are in developments that constitute such a large change in the existing landscape and panorama. Walsh has said that if there is significant pushback from the local community that he won't go ahead with the proposed development.
Woolworths' hospitality arm, ALH Group, has appointed CBRE Hotels to market the Brighton Hotel in Mandurah – representing the second divestment in an $86 million portfolio of Perth venues it purchased in 2011.
Kicking off the first finals of the Project Aloft Star, Amplified by MTV competition, cutting-edge Aloft® Hotels and global youth entertainment brand MTV crowned Mr.HeadBox as winner of the Southeast Asia and Australia cluster. Now in its fourth year, the competition identifies the hottest emerging music acts throughout three clusters spanning nine markets – Southeast Asia and Australia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Australia), South Korea, and Greater China (China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). This year also proved to be the most successful edition, with over 1500 original song entries published, and more than 1.2M online votes cast. These figures represent an increase of 3x the number of submissions, and double the votes from 2016.
The New Esplanade Hotel, the successor to the storied old Esplanade hotel that fell to the wrecking ball in the early 1970"s, is embarking on a renovation and repositioning that will reestablish its position as a vibrant link on Perth"s Elizabeth Quay.
Mantra Group is set to manage Launceston"s 108-room Silo Hotel when it opens in April next year.
Booking.com, global leader in connecting travellers with the widest choice of places to stay, has appointed Luke Wilson as Area Manager for Australia. Wilson will be responsible for the development and leadership of teams in three offices across Australia as well as overseeing the management of Booking.com’s new and existing 18,000+ Australian properties.
Jeroen joins the award-winning PARKROYAL property after a highly successful career spanning almost two-decades at Hilton Hotels both here in Australia and abroad. Born and educated in the Netherlands, he attended the prestigious CHN University in Leeuwarden before undertaking a variety of sales and commercial roles at various Hilton properties throughout the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.
Mantra Group will operate the hotel and letting apartment component of Saraceno Group"s $1 billion mixed-use development in Clayton, one of the fastest growing employment corridors in Melbourne"s south-east, just 20 kilometres from the CBD.
Mantra Group Ltd (MTR.AX) on Thursday agreed to a A$1.18 billion ($920 million) buyout from French hotel company Accor SA (ACCP.PA), a deal which will create the biggest hotel group in Australia where tourism is rising sharply.
Steven Oakley joined IHG as General Manager at Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise in August. Steven moves from Event Hotels & Resorts, most recently as General Manager QT Museum Wellington, New Zealand.
Michael Foster was appointed as Hotel Manager at Holiday Inn Express Brisbane Brisbane Central prior to its opening in April 2017. Michael was previously at InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort since 2013.
Kirra Stott has opened the brand new Holiday Inn Express Adelaide City Centre as Hotel Manager in August. Kirra has been with IHG since 2010, most recently as Rooms Division Manager at InterContinental Sydney.
Sam Swaffield was appointed as Hotel Manager at Kirkton Park Hunter Valley, one of IHG’s newest hotels in Australia, moving from his role as Operations Manager at Crowne Plaza Auckland in July.
David Ross has become General Manager at Crowne Plaza Hawkesbury Valley, continuing his GM role with IHG following the conversion of the hotel from Sebel Hawkesbury Resort and Spa