Upmarket Movenpick hotel for Hobart as travel industry picks up
Swiss hospitality brand Movenpick and Singaporean hospitality group Global Premium Hotels have signed a hotel management agreement to open Australia’s first Movenpick hotel from mid-January.
The 221-room hotel on Hobart’s Elizabeth Street, one of the capital’s key heritage streetscapes and close to the Hobart waterfront, is aimed at attracting both corporate and leisure travellers.
Accor Pacific chief executive Simon McGrath believes the leisure travel sector will be the first group to start travelling again after COVID-19.
Mr McGrath said the 10 million Australians who travelled overseas annually, coupled with more than 600,000 returning residents, meant there was a big need for luxury, upscale hotels in Australia.
Accor expects that this presents a strong opportunity for growth for the domestic travel industry, particularly for luxury and premium hotel brands.
Accor is planning more locations for Movenpick, which was established in the 1940s, across the Pacific. It believes the Movenpick premium, classic brand will quickly gain recognition for its culinary and service excellence in the Australian hotel market.
Research released on Monday from STR reveals that the Australian hotel sector started improving in October, which was its best month since the start of the pandemic. STR said the occupancy levels were the highest for any month in Australia since February, while the average daily room rate and revenue per available room levels were the highest for any month since March.
Hotel occupancies climbed to nearly 50 per cent on average with the average daily room rate hitting $157.21, down 17.8 per cent in October, 2019. Revenues per available room were $73.02 down 51 per cent.
In a statement, Global Premium Hotels chairman James Koh said the company was captivated by the Movenpick brand for the Hobart hotel as it fitted the company’s 70-year culinary legacy.
All guestrooms are situated on floors 4 to 18, providing panoramic views of Hobart’s natural setting, while the hotel’s common areas, which were designed by agency Greymatters, are located on the first three floors. Movenpick is the only hotel brand with its own branded range of food and beverages, so Movenpick Hotel Hobart guests will be able to experience Movenpick’s culinary heritage first hand with Movenpick ice cream.
Australia is predicted to be a top destination for cashed-up travellers and in 2019 had the world’s biggest net inflow of high-net-worth individuals with 12,000 arriving.
In response to these trends, Accor is growing its luxury portfolio in the Pacific and bringing some of the most prestigious hotel brands in the world to Australia.
In 2023 Accor will be opening Fairmont Port Douglas and Mondrian Gold Coast.
Accor is also actively seeking opportunities to open its ultra-luxury hotel brands, Raffles and Orient-Express, in Australia.
Movenpick city and resort hotels are located in more than 82 locations across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
