IHG is set to debut its Holiday Inn Express brand in Australia, on a heritage site in Perth.
The property will be located at 257 Adelaide Terrace, where a Victorian house dating back to 1888 stands. It is the former family residence of colonial merchant Ernest Chowner Shenton and his family.
According to the building's website www.257perth.com, there have been plans to develop the site as a hotel since 2011 – including one that would make the building a boutique hotel, but it was not until now that the deverloper has confirmed it to be a Holiday Inn Express, at a development cost of A$35 million.
The hotel will have 20 storeys and 224 rooms, and construction of it is set to commence in mid-2013 and to be completed in early 2015. It will feature the limited-service hotel brand's signature “Grab & Go” breakfast, intimate meeting spaces, self-service facilities including laundry and complimentary wifi.
According Sunfire Asset, the developer, the heritage part of the property will be used for food and beverage purposes as well as "the entry statement" to the hotel.
When the property opens, it may also be one of the most affordable heritage hotels in the world.
Phil Kasselis, head of development of Australasia for IHG, said the limited-service hotel brand's "no frills approach represents a more rapid build proposition than an upscale or luxury hotel, and meets the need for an affordable alternative to full service hotels" and the "lower cost and higher yield model.... presents a faster road to profitability for owners.”
The project responds to the growing demand for additional hotel rooms in Perth, which boasts Australia’s highest CBD hotel occupancy rates.
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Nino Lin
