The unlikely location of Sydney’s newest five-star hotel

If booking a place to stay in Parramatta on a trip to Sydney doesn’t seem luxurious, give it a few years. Top international hotel groups are flooding the city ahead of the opening of the new Western Sydney Airport, hoping to cash in on lucrative cabin-crew contracts and a new batch of global travellers.

On Thursday, Marriott Hotels will announce plans to open a 279-bed five-star hotel in Parramatta’s CBD by 2027, joining the InterContinental and QT hotels in developing high-end accommodation in the area.

An artist’s impression of the new Marriott hotel and residential tower being constructed at Church Street, Parramatta.Credit: Marriott Hotels

The Sydney Marriott Hotel Parramatta will occupy an under-construction building on Church Street, erected by developer JQZ, that was initially planned as a fully residential block.

However, the experience of other hotel operators in the region provides a stark warning for entrants in the market: Hilton announced in 2018 it would open in Parramatta, but no development applications were ever lodged (Hilton did not respond to questions by deadline). And the Intercontinental, announced in 2021, is in construction limbo amid ongoing talks with Sydney Metro about building works on top of one of its Metro West tunnels.

“Parramatta has been a strategic priority for us for many years and we’ve been waiting for the right opportunity,” said Richard Crawford, the vice president of hotel development for Marriott International in Australia and New Zealand. “Parramatta is the second CBD of Sydney, if you like, and it’s underrepresented [for hotels]. There’s not a lot of great supply.”

Despite that, current western Sydney hotels are only about 75 per cent full – worse than before COVID, said Glen Boultwood, a boutique hotel investor. He told the Parramatta Lord Mayor Business Forum this week that the new airport, due to open to passenger flights by late 2026, would help drive tourists and business travellers to the area, but that alone wouldn’t be enough.

“Everyone’s heard the saying, ‘Build it and they will come’. Unfortunately for hotels, that’s just not the case. Most people don’t realise that hotels are demand takers, not demand makers.”

But the airport will bring planes, which will bring hundreds of cabin crew in need of a place to stay. Hoteliers will soon begin jostling to win their contracts.

“That remains to be seen in terms of carriers, how they schedule their crew and where they’re based. But airline crew business can be really good business. So yes, we welcome that as an opportunity for the hotel,” Crawford said.

Singapore Airlines is the only international carrier so far to confirm it will fly to the airport.

Business Western Sydney’s David Borger said the large market of tourists who follow international hotel brands to new locations would help support the sector in Parramatta.

“Traditionally in western Sydney, certainly around Parramatta, the traditional hotel market was based around corporate travel … so Monday to Friday hotels had it good, and weekends they were a bit empty,” he said. “That may be changing now in Parramatta.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened its bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [e-mail] with news tips.

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