Queensland hotel developer sounds alarm over 2032 Olympic accommodation shortfall
A Queensland hotelier behind the state's newest luxury property has cautioned that ambitious targets to deliver thousands of new hotel rooms ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics are unlikely to be met without significant government intervention.
Kenneth Wagner, founder of KPAT Hotels and a Toowoomba-born developer, made the remarks following the grand opening of the Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel on the Sunshine Coast — a 180-room full-service property and Avani's first of its kind in Australia. The hotel, which Wagner's company both built and will operate, sits metres from the beach and features a gym, pool, day spa, conference facilities, two ground-floor bars and the crown jewel of the building: Sully's Rooftop Restaurant and Bar, led by executive chef Marky Godbeer and offering panoramic views across the Sunshine Coast hinterland and coastline.
"(Sully's) is just a spectacular product — 360-degree views of the Sunshine Coast out to the Glasshouse Mountains, to the west, down the canals to the east, and out onto the ocean in the north," Wagner told The Chronicle.
The project, which Wagner began developing around 2020, was borne out of a clear market gap. "The council really had a very strong desire to see branded hotel accommodation in Mooloolaba — it's the top 10 beach in the world and there's no international standard accommodation," he said.
But it is Wagner's broader outlook on Queensland's hotel pipeline that is drawing attention. With bodies including the Property Council of Australia calling for 30,000 additional rooms statewide by 2032, Wagner — who took five years to deliver 180 rooms — says the industry's own projections don't stack up.
"Queensland is absolutely under-serviced for hotel stock, regardless of the Olympics — it's under-serviced at the moment. The hotel industry is throwing around a number of 18,000 more rooms pre-2032, (that are expected) and I think that number, if you're a realist, is a bit of a pipe dream. We've been at this for five years and we've delivered 180, so this idea that we're going to get 18,000 hotel rooms prior to the Olympics is a big ask," he said.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Natassia Wheeler echoed the urgency, calling for coordinated government action at both state and local level. "Queensland's tourism industry needs a co-ordinated, whole-of-government approach to fast-track hotel development ahead of 2032 because the timeline is now incredibly tight," she told The Chronicle, adding that benefits extend well beyond the Games. "This isn't just about the Olympic and Paralympic Games — additional hotel capacity is essential for Queensland's long-term visitor economy growth, regional dispersal, business events, and our ability to host major events well beyond 2032."
Wagner pointed to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council's approach as a model for others to follow. By pre-zoning land exclusively for hotel use before sale — and pricing it accordingly — the council ensured the Mooloolaba site attracted hospitality developers rather than residential competitors.
"We paid $7.2m for the site and I would suggest that if the site went out to market in a normal circumstance the council would have achieved significantly more than that for it.
That is the only reason that there's a hotel being constructed here, not another set of holiday units," he said.
Wagner argued that minor planning concessions are not enough to bridge the economics of hotel development, urging councils to consider more substantial incentives. "If they're serious about it, they need to be looking at things like giving people land, zero infrastructure charges on the development, potentially rate breaks when they're delivered — serious sorts of subsidies that actually have a material impact rather than a nice little planning brush," he said.
The comments carry particular relevance for Toowoomba, where the Regional Council recently acquired a parcel of CBD land opposite Wagner's own Oaks Hotel. Wagner urged the council to establish a clear land-use framework before any sale, warning that without it, "it is very uneconomical for someone to just buy land out of the market and build more hotel rooms in the Toowoomba CBD."
Jonathan Jackson, 12th May 2026
