CONSTRUCTION of a 291-room Holiday Inn is scheduled to commence in August after Burswood finalised an agreement with InterContinental Hotels Group.
CONSTRUCTION of a 291-room Holiday Inn is scheduled to commence in August after Burswood finalised an agreement with InterContinental Hotels Group.
IHG plans to construct the three-star hotel on land adjacent to the Burswood Convention Centre.
The new hotel, scheduled for completion in early 2005, and a new underground carpark, to be built by Burswood, will cost about $50 million.
The agreement between Burswood and IHG, which has been under negotiation for more than a year, also involves the rebranding of the existing five-star hotel to InterContinental Burswood Resort Perth.
IHG will operate the rooms at both hotels while Burswood will operate the food and beverage divisions of both hotels.
The Holiday Inn will be the first new purpose-built hotel in Perth for many years, although two apartment hotel projects are currently underway.
Mirvac Fini’s South Cove project in East Perth includes the Sebel Residence hotel, with 57 serviced apartments. Another project currently underway is a 138-apartment hotel next to the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The hotel, to be operated by the Medina Group, is expected to open at the same time as the PCEC, in July 2004.
Other hotels that have opened in Perth over the past decade, such as the Duxton Hotel at 1 St Georges Terrace and the Chifley on the Terrace at 185 St Georges Terrace have been conversions of former office buildings.
Burswood managing director John Schaap said the ability to service both mid-level and deluxe accommodation markets would make Burswood more competitive.
“The partnership will maximise our competitive advantage, particularly in the convention market, by providing the resort with a more appealing mix of accommodation for conference delegates,” Mr Schaap said.
“One of the key advantages is that Burswood will develop a much stronger market position nationally and globally through the worldwide network and selling power of the InterContinental Hotels Group.”
IHG already owns two hotels in central Perth, being the Crowne Plaza and the Holiday Inn City Centre. Its managing director Asia Pacific Patrick Imbardelli said the group had not been deterred by the current depressed conditions in global tourism.
p See tourism report page 14
