Hayman Island set for $100m revamp

The London-based InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) chief executive officer Kenneth Macpherson, who is charged with the group’s European, Middle Eastern, Asian and African operations, said he would be interested in managing more Australian hotel and resorts and was presently bidding for management contracts in major cities and satellite hubs.

“We are very optimistic about the Australian market; prior to the Mulpha deal we have 30 opened hotels and a further 12 hotels in the pipeline,” Macpherson says.

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“We are seeing a market in Australia with stable revenue growth; it’s a market to really take a long-term view … it’s a positive market.”

On Queensland’s Hayman Island, Mulpha plans to reinvent the 400ha island as one of the most luxurious lifestyle resorts in Australia introducing an exclusive private beach house, a range of new penthouse suites and four exclusive townhouse style private residences for sale or rent.

The 166-room Hayman Island was put up for sale following the loss of its operator One&Only and damage from Cyclone Debbie last year but after failing to sell it is now set to reopen by the second quarter of 2019 after the major overhaul and the signing of the agreement with IHG.

Hayman Island by Intercontinental will sport a new bar as well as Asian, Italian and contemporary Australian restaurants.

In Sydney, Mulpha plans to reposition its flagship InterContinental Sydney hotel in Bridge St from next year with a major renovation. Further north, it will oversee a major overhaul of its InterContinental Sanctuary Cove resort on the Gold Coast. It would not divulge construction costs on behalf of Mulpha.

Hayman Island will be given a $100 million makeover. Picture: Hayman.com.au

The IHG Group is no stranger to resort management listing properties in Da Nang and Phu Quoc in Vietnam, Thailand’s Koh Samui and Indonesia’s Bali among its major ultra luxury leisure resorts.

Macpherson says the IHG is the world’s largest luxury brand and will use its 100 million-plus IHG rewards club members to feed guests into Hayman Island.

“I think the positioning will be (for) the luxury Asian feeder markets, we know the inbound tourism is a strategy for Australia,” he says.

“You have the Chinese market, we have an incredibly strong position in China, InterContinental Hotels is the most recognised luxury brand in China. We have 42 InterContinental Hotels in China. Equally we are very strong in Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia, we can distribute and promote through our channels and in those markets you have very high incomes of people who particularly like coming to Australia. And that’s before you get into distributing in the European markets.”

“That’s the strategy we are working with Mulpha on.”

Hayman Island’s luxury houses were designed by award-winning, Singapore-based architect Kerry Hill and fitted out by ­interior designer to the stars ­Blainey North.

Mulpha has the capacity to ­develop 21 houses on Hayman ­Island, and has just completed four replete with butler’s pantries, private pools, four bedrooms and four ensuite bathrooms priced at about $10 million each.

The four houses, which will be completed by March, are about two minutes’ drive by golf buggy from the resort, which is expected to be managed by Britain-based IHG from next year.

Mulpha developed two houses on the island in 2009 that sold for $20 million each to Australian buyers.

Hayman Island suffered extensive damage during Cyclone Debbie last year, during Cyclone Anthony in 2015 and during ­Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.