Minor unveils new big hotel plans as tourism surges

NH Hotels are a European-based hotel company Minor Hotels acquired in 2018.

Bangkok-based Minor Hotels will continue to expand its Australian presence with the opening of new hotel brands in Sydney, as well as the Queensland tourist hubs of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast aimed at luring cashed-up European leisure and business tourists.

“Our next ports of call are Melbourne, Perth; in fact all the gateway cities,” Minor Hotels chief executive Dillip Rajakarier said.

“We are desperately looking for something in Perth, and NZ as well.”

Mr Rajakarier said the company would launch two new upscale NH Collection Hotels in Sydney’s Surry Hills and near Sydney Airport, while on Queensland’s Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, the company was about to announce two major new properties.

The NH Hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills will open in 2025, with Minor taking a 20-year lease over the brand new property.

“We have a developer who is building the $150m property,” Mr Rajakarier said.

Through a combination of ownership, joint venture and management letting-rights contracts, Minor Hotels already controls 56 Oaks Hotels in Australia and five Avani properties in cities including Adelaide, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, equating to 6400 keys.

Mr Rajakarier said Minor would open an Avani Plus hotel in Mooloolaba in 2025.

It was close to announcing the opening of an Avani Plus hotel on the Gold Coast that would have almost 300 rooms, with the company to take over the management rights of an existing property.

Dillip Rajakarier.

Since acquiring the Oaks brand in Australia in 2011, Minor has expanded the chain into NZ as well as India, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi with Mr Rajakarier commenting that there is a strong pipeline of Oaks properties forthcoming in Asia and Egypt.

“We plan to continue to expand our Oaks and NH Collection in Australia and outside Australia,” said Mr Rajakarier, adding that the company had fully recovered from Covid-19 by the third quarter of 2022.

“The third and fourth quarters of 2022 were very strong – 2022 was one of our best years ever, since we acquired our portfolio in 2011.

“Our $31m profit was an increase of almost 500 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. Our performance last year in Australia and NZ was very, very strong.”

Minor Hotels are widely spread throughout, Australia with a fair balance of properties in Queensland, NSW, and South Australia particularly in some mining areas such as Gladstone, Moranbah and Townsville.

“With the launch of NH collection in Sydney, that will put us even stronger on the map,” Mr Rajakarier said, adding that NH Hotels are a European-based hotel company Minor Hotels acquired in 2018.

“It was a publicly listed company in 2018, with 285 hotels mainly in Europe, where it was the fourth largest brand in Europe. It is very strong in Europe in the gateway cities, mainly in urban locations.

“It was a complete brand fit (for us). Apart from Portugal, we had no brands in Europe. By acquiring the company, it has put Minor Hotels as a global brand with 530 hotels in about 57 countries.

“The brand is very strong and the reason we feel bringing NH to Australia is because it is a good fit. Europeans will know the brand.”