Accor to run Bowen Basin gateway hotel

FRENCH hotel giant Accor will manage a 152-room hotel to be built in Mackay, the gateway to the Bowen Basin and the Whitsunday Islands, as part of a redevelopment of the local airport by the North Queensland Airports corporation.

The $30 million Mackay hotel, to be branded an Ibis, will open mid-2015.

The news follows the recent announcement that Accor will manage two new hotels at Brisbane Airport as well as a 95-room Mercure being developed at Newcastle Airport, north of Sydney.

“In the past decade, airport hotels have been among the strongest performers in the accommodation sector,” said Accor Pacific chief operating officer Simon McGrath.

The Ibis Mackay is the first hotel to be developed at the airport.

The privately owned North Queensland Airports group was established in 2008,

It owns and operates both the Cairns and Mackay airports in Queensland.

The group is owned by a consortium including Hastings, Perron Investments, JPMorgan Asset Management and Auckland International Airport. North Queensland Airports chief executive Kevin Brown was unavailable for comment.

Source:  The Australian - 12 September 2014