Harry Triguboff Australia’s No.1 hotel owner, followed by Melbourne’s Salter Brothers

Multibillionaire Harry Triguboff has emerged as Australia’s number-one hotel owner followed by Melbourne’s Salter Brothers.

The Meriton Suites Ocean tower on the Esplanade at Surfers Paradise. Picture: Mohammad Alfares

Multibillionaire Harry Triguboff has emerged as Australia’s number-one hotel owner followed by Melbourne’s Salter Brothers, and more than half of the owners and operators in the top-10 list expanded their portfolios in the past year.

With more than 6200 hotel rooms spread across 23 properties, Mr Triguboff’s Meriton Apartments is the standout hotel owner followed by Salter Brothers with 35 properties encompassing 4921 rooms.

Dr Jerry Schwartz’s 15 properties, including resorts and city hotels on the eastern seaboard, have about 4300 rooms, according to CBRE’s first Australian and New Zealand 40 top owners and operators report, obtained by The Australian.

Dr Schwartz’s holding expanded 2.2 per cent over the past year with the acquisition of the 92-room Leura Gardens in the NSW Blue Mountains, given it synergies with his existing resorts in that area including the Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains and the Leura Golf Club.

Jockeying for position in the mid-range ownership of hotels resulted in EVT recording a strong expansion rate of 10 per cent and a jump from fifth to fourth position on the list with 26 hotels and 3577 rooms.

Meriton founder Harry Triguboff.

However CapitaLand Ascott Trust was this year’s major mover, recording the highest expansion rate of 12 per cent and rising from seventh to fifth position on the hotel owner list with 18 hotels and 3443 rooms.

CapitaLand Ascott Trust’s expansion included the completion of the Citadines North Sydney. Further expansion is planned for later this year with the co-living brand Lyf, with nearly 200 rooms planned for the Sydney suburb of Bondi Junction.

Another major mover was Pro-invest which jumped from eighth to sixth position on the top-10 list with 15 hotels and 3,196 rooms.

Meanwhile, as its competitors expanded, Crown dropped from fifth to seventh position, while Millennium and Copthorne moved from sixth to eighth position on the top-10 hotels owners list.

Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise is now under the ownership of by Dr Jerry Schwartz. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

French giant Accor is still a major hotel operator in the region with more than 63,000 rooms under its control spread across 401 properties. It has maintained that position for more than 20 years, managing just over 16 per cent of total room supply across Australia and New Zealand.

The second highest operator is the British-owned IHG with 63 properties and 13,305 rooms.

American group Marriott is the fifth largest hotel operator in the region with 34 hotels and 9042 rooms. It recorded strong growth over the past year, according to CBRE, with a 9 per cent year on year expansion increasing total rooms under management by 766 rooms in two hotels.

The Thai-controlled Minor hotels is in seventh position with 63 rooms and 7385 rooms.

Hilton came in as tenth largest hotel operator with 25 properties and 5546 rooms.

Originally published as Harry Triguboff Australia’s No.1 hotel owner, followed by Melbourne’s Salter Brothers