The Hotel Cairns sells for almost $9 million to Chinese investors after a receivers sale

CHINESE interests snap up one Cairns’s longest established hotels.

Chinese interests paid almost $9 million for The Hotel Cairns.

CHINESE interests have snapped up one Cairns’s longest established hotels.

The 4-star Hotel Cairns was bought for between $8 million and $9 million after a six-week international campaign by CBRE Hotels’ Danny Betros and Wayne Bunz on Glenn Miller and John Goggin of BRI Ferrier.

The campaign sparked 68 inquiries, 18 inspections and 13 offers.

Mr Betros said it received great interest locally as well as from China and South East Asia.

“The quality of the inquiry was very high, demonstrating the strong demand for Cairns CBD hotel properties,” he said.

“The Hotel Cairns has been trading very strongly with good profitability and occupancies and is now in a position to launch a new operator into the local market.

“Feedback after inspections was consistently positive towards the relaxed tropical feel of the surrounds.”

Situated in the Cairns CBD the hotel was believed to have sold well below replacement value.

It is less than 200m from the Cairns Esplanade and has 92 well-appointed guest rooms as well as extensive recreational and business facilities.

The purchase continues a wave of recent Chinese investment into the Australian property market, with much of the recent activity centred on investment and development opportunities in major capital cities.

BRI Ferrier, took over the hotel in June. The hotel was bought by John and Marian Baker in 2003.

Mr Bunz said: “This sale reiterates the current strength of the Cairns hotel market with overwhelming interest from hoteliers and investors seeking to secure a foothold in the city.”

“The highly sought after and tightly held Cairns hotel market has seen a strong rebound of late with record occupancy levels underpinning the demand for hotels in the area.”

The hotel will change hands in late January 2015 and a decision on branding and management will be announced in the coming months.