Bangkok group buys up Port Douglas resort
The Bangkok-based Minor Hotels Group has bought into Far North Queensland in a deal worth about $19 million, acquiring the former QT Port Douglas from Event Hospitality.
The 170-room resort was bought by Minor’s fully-owned Australian operation Oaks Hotels & Resorts to strengthen its position in North Queensland.
Minor has bought the freehold interest in the boutique resort and adjoining land near Port Douglas’s Five Mile Beach.
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Minor Hotels Australia and New Zealand chief operating officer Craig Hooley says in a statement the acquisition forms part of a “strategic direction to own and operate hotels that deliver a strong value proposition to both our guests and our investors”.
“Port Douglas is a key domestic market for us and, while we already have a strong presence in the region with sister property Oaks Lagoons, we see the two properties as having their own unique offer and providing guests with diverse accommodation options from which to explore the region,” Hooley says.
Oaks Resort Port Douglas has both hotel rooms and one and two-bedroom apartments, and is five minutes from Macrossan St – Port Douglas’ shopping and restaurant hub.
The property is set around a tropical lagoon pool and features a marketplace-style restaurant, cocktail bar, and events and conference facilities.
The former QT Port Douglas resort.
Meanwhile, Crystalbrook Collection boss, Syrian billionaire Ghassan Aboud, has committed to invest more than $800 million in Australian hospitality ventures, including six opulent five and six-star hotels that are either operating or in development.
Cyrstalbrook Collection has also just won the tender to acquire Newcastle’s Roundhouse Council Administrative Centre, which was originally designed in the Brutalist style.
Crystalbrook has flagged plans to build a new luxury five-star hotel opening in late 2020. The new property will be called the Kingsley, following the company’s naming convention for giving each of its hotels a “gender neutral name and its own unique personality”.
It will be the first five-star hotel to open in Newcastle, with initial studies showing that the hotel could accommodate up to 100 rooms, along with a rooftop restaurant and recreational area featuring a swimming pool.
Crystalbrook Collection chief executive officer Mark Davie says the building has a strong local identity and connection to the city of Newcastle and has “a lot of potential”.
“We think the location, with the City Hall, the Civic Theatre, the Art Gallery and the War Memorial Cultural Centre right on the doorstep, makes it a perfect location for a five-star hotel,” Davies says.
Crystalbrook Collection recently opened Riley, a Crystalbrook Collection Resort in Cairns, and bought the Little Albion, a Crystalbrook Collection Boutique Hotel in Sydney.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
