Brisbane to welcome first new five-star hotel in 20 years
Brisbane’s first new five-star hotel in 20 years will open in June, marking the re-entry of the W brand into Australia.
W Brisbane at 81 North Quay, will be joined next year by W Sydney at Darling Harbour followed by W Melbourne in Collins St, in 2020.
The Brisbane offering, part of Shayer’s $1 billion mixed-use complex, includes 312 rooms with views over South Bank and west to Mount Coot-tha, and the brand’s “whatever whenever” service philosophy.
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The previous five-star hotel to open in Brisbane’s CBD was the Marriott at Petrie Bight, which famously hosted then US president Barack Obama during the 2014 G20 summit.
Marriott International, which owns the W brand, said the new hotel at North Quay would bring “bold design and playful luxury” to the western end of the CBD.
Deloitte partner and national tourism, hospitality and leisure leader Adele Labine-Romain says the addition of W hotels to Australia will have a strong impact on the market.
Other high-end brands such as Ritz Carlton and Mandarin Oriental are also due to open hotels in Australia for the first time in coming years.
“The next two years will see the largest amount of new rooms becoming available with an increase of 3.4 per cent to total supply each year,” Labine-Romain says. “Despite expectations of limited growth in occupancy rates, these and other luxury properties will help push the average daily rate upward over the three-year forecast period, growing at 2.8% a year.”
Labine-Romain says average room rates across the country have been increasing in the 10 years since the global financial crisis, with the trend continuing last year.
Australia-wide, room rates were up 2.4% last year to $161, which paved the way for solid growth in revenue per available room, of 3% over the year.
Sydney had Australia’s highest average room rate last year of $251.20, ahead of Melbourne on $199.60.
At the same time, room occupancy added one percentage point over the year to reach 68.5 per cent despite the addition of 5500 new rooms to the market.
“Occupancy rates are considered strong across the country, and then when you look across our capital cities most are sitting in the high 70s to mid-to-high 80s and that’s really high overall,” Labine-Romain says.
“The pipeline we can see coming will have an impact but in time the stronger demand profile that’s underlying the market will see it come good.”
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
