Checking in: The Standard Hotels chases local flag

Lisa Allen

First published 07 July 2023, 7:00am

The Australian Business Network

The Standard Hotels is looking for more city properties in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as resort locations in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied

One of the world’s most successful boutique hotel operators The Standard Hotels is looking for more city properties in Sydney and Melbourne as well as resort locations in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, declaring that Australia is under-serviced by boutique properties.

The Standard Hotels has a 127-room Melbourne property opening in the fourth quarter of this year, with its executive chairman Amar Lalvani saying Australia is ripe for more of this style of boutique property.

“We love the climate, the culture, the culinary scene, the fashion, design and from the market perspective we think there’s a hole in the market, you have sophisticated cities, but the hotel offering has not kept up with the cultural and design scene,” he said, adding that there is not a great boutique hotel scene in Australia.

“There is a mismatch between what is possible to do here and what is here.”

“We think these cities of Melbourne and Sydney are ready for our brand,” Mr Lalvani said, adding that as a visitor to Australia he is staying in Melbourne’s QT and in Sydney he will stay in the ACE Hotel, the closest thing to a Standard Hotel he could find.

Standard Hotels are not typically hotel owners, rather they are hotel managers and are likely to bring their Bunkhouse and Peri brands to Brisbane.

Mr Lalvani said his company typically acted as a ”co-developer”, getting involved early on. “We need to educate hotel investors on how we can make hotels profitable for them.”

The Standard Hotel Hua Hin. Picture: Supplied

Standard Hotels likes to operate hotels sized from 75 to 338 rooms, saying that 250 rooms is its sweet spot. “If you go bigger than 250 rooms, then you can lose our service and intimacy levels. Our hotels like to do food and beverage, if you do it right you can keep your customer there at the hotel.”

Opened in 2009 with 338 rooms, The Standard High Line NYC hotel remains one of New York City’s most sought-after hotel destinations for both locals visiting its venues and travellers wanting a taste of the Meatpacking District and Chelsea neighbourhoods, Mr Lalvani said.

While Standard Hotels are based in New York it also has an Asia Pacific base in Bangkok and from there is overseeing the development and opening of several hotels in this region including properties in Singapore and Melbourne.

Further afield, Standard Hotels has hotels under development and opening in Dublin and Lisbon, after recently opening in London, Ibiza, Bangkok and Maldives.

During a period in the hotel and hospitality industry which has seen high levels of consolidation among operators, Standard remains one of the few independently owned hotel brands and operators.

By contrast, a large number of independent operators have been acquired by the big box global operators, including Dream Hotels, which was recently bought by Hyatt.

Hotel consultant Andrew Taylor, managing director of Cre8tive Property, said that given its strong tourism and business fundamentals, Australia had become a focus for future expansion of boutique hotels.

“There is a strong view among the industry that big box hotel brands and operators deliver better occupancies and stronger average daily room rates,” said Mr Taylor.

“We know this to be a myth – the future, across all segments and service levels, is in lifestyle hotels which strive to deliver richer experiences for hotel guests. The modern traveller has proven to value amazing food and beverage experiences, exceptional design and a hotel that provides an authentic glimpse into the local neighbourhood and community.

“These travellers don’t have a budget per se and, in turn, there is enormous potential to deliver a huge premium against traditional hotels.”