Big parties check in for Intercontinental Hotel Double Bay bid

Several major groups are jockeying to buy the lavishly restored ­Intercontinental Hotel Double Bay in Sydney.

Singapore’s Royal Group has spent about $100m on The Intercontinental Hotel Double Bay in Sydney’s east.

Several major groups are jockeying to buy the lavishly restored ­Intercontinental Hotel Double Bay in the heart of Sydney’s wealthy eastern suburbs, in the first big hotel deal since the Westin Sydney sold for $445 million to Singapore and Hong Kong interests in 2015.

Singapore’s Royal Group has ploughed about $100m worth of acquisition and renovation costs into their 140-room Intercontinental Hotel in Cross Street that opened for business in 2014.

“Several parties are in due ­diligence,” said hotel sources ­yesterday.

Companies known to have inspected the hotel, which is for sale through Craig Collins of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, include the Eleanor Investors Group that is associated with former Macquarie banker Bill Moss and millionaire mogul hotel investors Greg Karedis and Arthur Laundy, who control the Sheraton Noosa and Crowne Plaza Terrigal. Aligned Funds Management has also inspected the hotel.

Mr Collins could not be reached for comment last night.

It is not the first time the Royal Group has sought to sell the luxury Double Bay hotel. It was ­quietly shopping it around the market in late 2015.

Preliminary figures out this week from industry researcher STR show Sydney is still strongly in favour with guest demand for hotels up more than 7 per cent year on year, and average occupancy growing nearly 3 per cent to more than 91 per cent.

Room rates jumped almost 6 per cent in the March quarter to $243 a night, while revenue per available room increased nearly 8 per cent to $221.55 a night.

STR said Sydney’s occupancy levels were the highest for a March quarter since 1996. Hotel bookings were boosted by the Adele concerts, with occupancies jumping to 95.2 per cent and 98.1 per cent on the two nights of the superstar’s tour.

Jones Lang LaSalle executive vice-president Peter Harper said demand for Sydney hotel investment assets remained the strongest it had ever been.

“Sydney is now viewed as a global city, the trading outlook is overwhelmingly positive over the medium term,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Mantra Group said yesterday its hotel at Sydney airport, which is owned by Sydney Airports Corporation, was on target for completion in late June.

The 136-room hotel would meet demand from business travellers according to Mantra chief executive Bob East. But sources said it was unlikely Sydney Airport would offer the property for sale.

Other hotels on the market include the Sheraton Melbourne, while the Hilton South Wharf and Novotel on Collins have recently sold.

Further north, the four-star 361-room Novotel Twin Waters on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast is also on the market following the recent collapse of a $130m deal involving HNA, the parent company of Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines. The hotel, which is owned by Abacus Property Group, is being marketed by Sam McVay.