Ritz-Carlton returns as Perth hotel prepares to open
After an absence of nearly two decades, venerable international hotel brand The Ritz-Carlton is poised to return to Australia with the opening of its 100th international hotel.
The luxury brand, controlled by listed American behemoth Marriott International, selected Perth for its spectacular return to Australia, with a 205-room property at Elizabeth Quay opening on November 15. A second 240-room Ritz-Carlton in Melbourne’s Swanston Street is under construction.
Marriott International’s vice-president of luxury brands and marketing, Asia Pacific, Bruce Ryde, says a disproportionate number of Australians favour The Ritz-Carlton hotels, particularly in New York.
Commercial Insights: Subscribe to receive the latest news and updates
“Marriott’s first luxury hotel in Australia was the W, which opened in Brisbane more than one year ago, and the second is the Ritz-Carlton in Perth, and we have an incredibly strong pipeline,” Hong Kong-based Ryde says.
“For a long time there has not been a lot of luxury development in Australia.
“(But) the story around luxury product in Australia is starting to play a bigger part.”
Ryde expects the Ritz-Carlton Perth guests to be a mix of corporate and leisure travellers, but he notes the leisure market is growing fast. He says the only rival to the property is the smaller boutique Como Hotel.
The Ritz-Carlton rates will be about $349 a night, with Ryde adding that he is aiming for the hotel to be the rate leader at the top of the Perth market.
He says the Westin in Perth, which is also controlled by Marriott, is doing very well, but with the Ritz-Carlton he is aiming to establish a new level of luxury. Owned by the Hong Kong-listed Far East Consortium, the Elizabeth Quay development not only includes the hotel but also residential apartment towers.
Since The Ritz-Carlton brand left the Sydney CBD and suburban Double Bay about 18 years ago, the hotels have been rebranded as the Sir Stamford at Circular Quay and the InterContinental Double Bay.
Meanwhile, hotelier and developer Paul Fischmann revealed his new plans for a 70 to 80-room boutique hotel in the Sydney suburb of Kensington, saying there is increasing demand from the University of NSW, the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and the Randwick Racecourse for accommodation.
Fischmann’s 8Hotels, in a joint venture with Jonathan Hasson, has bought a block of strata units at 229 Anzac Parade, Kensington on a 500sqm site paying about $7.5 million in an off-market deal.
Under the new planning proposal for the Kensington town centre, Mr Fischmann said the site could accommodate a 2000sq m, nine-level building. The property is on the doorstep of the new UNSW light rail into Circular Quay.
Fischmann says he had wanted a property in this location for more than a decade.
Designed by WMK Architects, the hotel is expected to open in 2022.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
