Melbourne has always been capable of dealing with its prolific hotel supply: Paul Salter

The new Club InterContinental at InterContinental Melbourne.

Fund manager and hotel owner Paul Salter says Melbourne has always been capable of dealing with its prolific hotel supply.

“It’s probably the sporting capital of Australia, and it generates a lot of tourists,” said Mr Salter, managing director of hotel owner Salter Bros, who runs the $3bn-plus global fund management business Salter Brothers, which specialises in the acquisition of hotels and resorts locally and internationally.

Mr Salter is not phased by the Victorian government’s recent shock cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

“At the end of the day, losing that opportunity is never a great look for the state or the country, it would be disappointing, but Melbourne (still has) a material number of sporting events such as the football, tennis and the Grand Prix,” he said.

Property fund manager Paul Salter. Picture: Supplied

Salter Brothers controls three hotels in Melbourne that are cleverly aimed at different classes of tourists. These include the Mercure Southbank, the Crowne Plaza and the InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto. The latter has just undergone a $600,000-plus renovation to make it even more appealing to its three core guest types: international leisure, domestic corporates and domestic leisure tourists.

“We have not gone into five segments in luxe categories,” said Mr Salter, adding that the InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto is a top performer and pre-Covid it traded at about 85 per cent occupancy.

Salter Brothers have invested in the hotel, developing a new Club InterContinental in the prestige property to reaffirm its status as one of Melbourne’s leading hotels.

It now offers guests in that category a private check-in and check-out service as well as a seasonal daily breakfast selection, afternoon tea, premium evening beverages and canapes.

Located on the ground floor, adjacent to the hotel’s main reception, it is exclusive to guests who book a Club InterContinental room or suite.

Housed behind a circa 1890s neo-gothic facade and located in Melbourne’s Rialto Towers precinct, the hotel at 495 Collins St opened its doors in 2008.

Mr Salter said the investment will elevate the amenity and service on offer at InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto and its front row access to the city’s culinary and cultural scene.

Despite recently purchasing the Adelaide Sofitel for about $154m, Mr Salter said he continued to look at bunches of portfolios, particularly in the leisure accommodation sector.

“We keep looking at the retreat space,” he said.

Indeed, the Salter Brothers have picked up the Spicers portfolio and more recently the five-property Escarpment holdings portfolio encompassing centred around the Blue Mountains in NSW, which are becoming increasingly popular with big-spending North American tourists.

The Escarpment acquisition price, which included the dowager 84-room Hydro Majestic Hotel, a centrepiece attraction in the NSW Blue Mountains, was not disclosed.

“At the end of the day, we try to find value,” Mr Salter said.