IHG will introduce the Holiday Inn Express brand to Australia with a hotel in a prime Perth CBD location.
The new-build, $35 million, 224-room hotel is expected to open early 2015.
Perth has Australia’s highest CBD hotel occupancy rates, sitting at 85.1% in December 2012 and forecasted to rise to 88.2% in the financial year to June 2015.
The average price of a Perth hotel room is also expected to increase 30% by December 2015 from $199 to $259.
Ralph Nunis, head of the property’s investors, Sunfire, said the Holiday Inn Express model offered a great solution for the Perth market.
"There is real investment potential in Perth hotels at the moment, with the mining capital of Australia experiencing soaring room rates and a shortage of guest rooms.
"The Perth CBD hasn’t seen a new hotel build for more than a decade."
Phil Kasselis, head of development, Australasia for IHG, said a Holiday Inn Express hotel – designed to deliver lower building costs, lower overheads and operational efficiencies – "makes for a sound investment in a climate where adequate returns from new hotel construction are difficult to achieve".
Holiday Inn Express will also debut in India, Bahrain and Thailand this year.
