In less than six months the award-winning Sheraton Perth Hotel will no longer exist following the property owner’s rebranding of the iconic lodging as Pan Pacific Perth.
In less than six months the award-winning Sheraton Perth Hotel will no longer exist following the property owner’s rebranding of the iconic lodging as Pan Pacific Perth.
By January, Pan Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG), a listed global hotel owner-operator based in Singapore, will rebrand and re-launch the Sheraton in tandem with two other hotels in Sydney.
The group plans to enhance its worldwide footprint while building its presence in Australia, with a particular focus on Perth.
And in order to capture a greater slice of the growing corporate market in Western Australia, specifically Asian travelers, Pan Pacific Perth will begin $4 million worth of reinvestment in the coming months starting with the refurbishment of the hotel’s banquet areas.
The Crowne Plaza Hotels in Parramatta and Darling Harbour will be rebranded ParkRoyal Parramatta and ParkRoyal Darling Harbour respectively.
PPHG, a subsidiary of Singapore-listed UOL Group – a global hotel and property development and investment company – that grew from a company called Hotel Plaza in which UOL was a major shareholder, acquired the Sheraton property in 1995.
It has been branded Sheraton since it was built in 1973.
Hotel Plaza purchased ParkRoyal Hotels eight years ago and in 2007 acquired Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts from Japan’s Tokyu Corporation before rebranding itself as Pan Pacific Hotels Group in April last year.
PPHG president and chief executive Patrick Imbardelli told WA Business News the completion of the Sheraton property manager Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ existing contract at the end of 2010 marked a perfect opportunity to bring the Pan Pacific brand to Perth.
“We saw the opportunity with the expiry of the Starwood contract at the end of this year to use that as one of our anchor entries into Australia, particularly into the Perth market,” he said.
“I’m sure Starwood would have liked to have managed the hotel for another term but we wanted to manage it and rebrand it and create the new legacy in Perth for Pan Pacific.
“The hotel is iconic, and we’re really proud of the hotel and we believe that in future under the Pan Pacific name it will continue to flourish.”
A spokesperson for Starwood said the company would continue to look for opportunities to reintroduce the Sheraton brand or one of their other brands into the Perth market.
Mr Imbardelli said there were no plans to amend the Sheraton’s staffing structure suggesting continuity under a different brand was important.
And following 18 months of market research conducted by branding consultants, Interbrand, Mr Imbardelli said Pan Pacific’s “unique positioning, bringing Asian and Western culture together” left him buoyant about the future.
“I’m optimistic about business in Perth,” he said.
“I really want Perth to continue to embrace it and see it as their own hotel.”
