Hoteliers report a strong upsurge in the popularity of regional boutique hotels and retreats, but the same strong performance can’t be said of city properties in the ongoing global pandemic.
Hotelier Jude Turner says her portfolio of Spicers Retreats on the eastern seaboard are profitable for the first time since she began amassing the collection more than 15 years ago.
Spicers Retreats’ chic smaller regional properties are operating at an unprecedented 95% occupancy, she said.
Spicers Peak Lodge at Maryvale just south of Queensland’s Gold Coast and Spicers Sangoma near NSW’s Blue Mountains are doing particularly well as leisure travellers opt for fresh air and big spaces.
Cashed up guests are happy to fork out more than $1400 per night per couple including gourmet meals, alcohol and leisure activities.
Spicers Hidden Vale in Queensland’s Grandchester region out past Ipswich is also reporting good business.
In the NSW Hunter Valley wine region the smallish Spicers Vineyards Estate in Pokolbin is attracting more guests than its much larger sister Hunter Valley property Spicers Guesthouse which has 49 rooms.
All up, Turner, the wife of Flight Centre co-founder Graham Turner, has amassed nine luxury, bespoke resorts as well as several glamorous bush camps in NSW and Queensland.
“I think it’s the offering, I said from the very beginning we have the perfect places that fit all the criteria for having a lock down,” Turner told The Weekend Australian.
“At Spicers Hidden Vale, the rooms are often a whole cottage in size to themselves, people are looking for places with no corridors, no lifts, and smaller sizes. They want to go out into the country, they want fresh air, they want small numbers of people and big spaces.
“These are the best occupancies we have had since we launched 15 years ago.”
But it’s not just luxury properties doing well with scenic walking tours also faring well with guests tired of being cooped up.
Spicers Scenic Rim trail in Queensland is doing big business with its five-day walking experiences in groups of 10 to 12 performing at five times greater than the expected level.
“I quite like the idea that Spicers can financially stand on their own now, that’s a personal thing for me,” Turner said.
Despite the success of her regional properties, Turner said her Spicers Potts Point property on the edge of the Sydney CBD is not doing as well since the nearby COVID-19 outbreak.
Hotelier Jerry Schwartz, says his regional properties, the Fairmont resort in the NSW Blue Moutains and his Crowne Plaza in the NSW Hunter Valley are doing very well producing 80 per cent occupancies during the school holidays and over the weekends.
Dr Schwartz, the largest private owner of hotels in Australia, says his properties are quiet during the week as there is no corporate or convention business.
“At least these regional properties are busy on the weekends because people want to get out, they are tired of being cooped up.”
Dr Schwartz said his city properties were not doing well, except for his Sofitel at Sydney’s Darling Harbour as guests see it as a destination hotel given its position in Darling Harbour. The hotelier’s Surfers Paradise hotels are also doing well with locals.
However, Dr Scwhartz’s only Melbourne hotel remains closed.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
