It was the merger of Marriott and Starwood last year to create the world's biggest hotel company that created the blueprint for the ground-breaking Australian deal between Mantra Group and French giant Accor, according to Tony Ryan.

Mr Ryan, who heads up JLL Hotels & Hospitality's global mergers and acquisitions team, says he brought the idea of Accor making a play for Mantra to its chief development officer Gaurav Bhushan and Asia Pacific boss Michael Issenberg 12 months ago, around the time Marriott closed its $17 billion acquisition of Starwood.