HK hotel group patiently awaits right site to build in Sydney, Melbourne
Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel Group is scouring Sydney and Melbourne for a site to build one of its six-star hotels - but the company says it could take as long as 30 years to find the right location.
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels group, owned by the billionaire Kadoorie family, said it had taken three decades to secure the right location in London before committing to buying a Knightsbridge site overlooking Buckingham Palace to develop its latest Peninsula Hotel - and first British property.
"Obviously Sydney is on the list; however, we are very patient and we wait for the perfect location in the heart of each of the cities we look at," Peninsula Hotels vice-president of marketing Rob Cheng said yesterday.
Rob Cheng, marketing manager of Hong Kong's Penisula Hotel Group, says the right location is paramount.
"I think Melbourne might also be a possibility - we typically go for large cities which have a fairly large leisure and business component. Brisbane might be too small. We typically go for one city per country, we build hotels in global gateway cities. Most countries have one. In Japan we have one Peninsula in Tokyo, in The Philippines we have one in Manila, in France we are opening one in Paris next year."
But is there sufficient local demand, given few international six-star hotel brands have been lured to Australian shores of late?
Mr Cheng, in Australia meeting top travel agents, said hotel occupancies had returned to pre-financial crisis levels. "We are seeing positive trends across all markets, markets such as Tokyo have come back, Shanghai and the US."
In Sydney, Mr Cheng confirmed the group was aware of the Barangaroo six-star hotel opportunity but he said the location was critical. "It has to be in the heart of the city; I am not sure if (Barangaroo) would be considered the heart of the city."
The hotel chain came close to developing a Peninsula Hotel at Sydney's East Circular Quay in the late 1990s but the plans fell through amid mounting public protests over the development.
"Projects don't work for a variety of reasons, the important consideration is the location of any potential project and the ownership structure. For us, it's very important we have a stake or own the building, and thirdly if the site can take a Peninsula Hotel.
"In London, were were fixated on being in Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge was the perfect intersection as being great for leisure and business. We wanted something iconic and bought a site on the Hyde Park corner overlooking . . . Buckingham Palace."
The group's four wholly owned Peninsula Hotels in cities including Hong Kong are valued at $HK19 billion ($2.6bn).
Source: The Australian, 20 November 2013
