- Both have been listed for sale by a private Australian family
- The 109-room Styles Tamworth is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere
- The 75-room Styles Cairns is in the CBD near the aquarium
Two Ibis Styles hotels in Tamworth and Cairns have been listed for sale by an undisclosed private Australian family hoping to capture the strong interest from investors for hotels in regional Australia.
The 109-room Ibis Styles hotel in Tamworth, Northern New South Wales, is unique; it is the Southern Hemisphere’s longest motel. The hotel is on a three-hectare site at the corner of Bridge and Ebsworth Street. In particular, demand soars during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, which would usually see over 50,000 visitors flock to the town – due to Covid, this year’s festival unsurprisingly was cancelled.
The Ibis Styles Cairns is a 65-room hotel located in the centre of Cairns’ CBD opposite the Cairns Aquarium. Previously, the CBRE Hotels team sold the 101-room Reef Plaza Hotel in Cairns, a sale which the company says reflects on the improvement of investors confidence in the Cairns tourism industry.
Wayne Bunz and Hayley Manvell from CBRE Hotels have been assigned to the Expression of interest campaign for the properties. The hotels can be purchased together or individually.
Mr Bunz remarked that regional hotels traditionally benefit from high levels of domestic demand, especially ‘drive-to locations’, making the two hotels in particular highly attractive for owners.
“The Ibis Styles properties have the added benefit of being situated in strong regional towns which have diverse economic bases and are the regional centres for their respective areas in NSW and Queensland”,” says Mr Bunz.
Currently, both hotels operate under a franchise agreement with Accor Hotels, however, a potential buyer can take advantage of vacant possession. This means owner-operators or investors can rebrand and reposition the hotels.
Ms Manvell adds that as hotel stock is scarce she believes the interest in the two properties will be high.
“The hotels will be sold well below replacement cost and will be viewed as strong counter cyclical opportunities ahead of a rebound in tourism and regional corporate travel,” she says.
“There is a scarcity of hotel stock on the market currently and this, coupled with historically low interest rates will ensure these assets are highly sought after.”
