Harry Triguboff expands Meriton serviced apartment portfolio into Victoria and ACT

Meriton is about to open its 23rd serviced apartment tower, bringing the total worth of its portfolio to $7.2bn.

Harry Triguboff is the largest private developer of residential units in Australia and the biggest owner of serviced apartments, given he is due to open his 23rd hotel later this month, bringing the total worth of his serviced apartment portfolio to $7.2bn.

The multibillionaire founder and managing director of Meriton Apartments has just forked out more than $400m in building three new Meriton Suites serviced apartment towers, one of which in Canberra was designed by Fender Katsalidis. Another soon to open tower is in the outer western Sydney suburb of Liverpool, while the third tower fronts Melbourne’s central King St. It opens on September 26 and sports 298 rooms.

While Mr Triguboff has no plans to develop anywhere else in Australia, he said that if his new Melbourne serviced apartment block performs well he will build a second serviced apartment tower in Victoria.

By late September Meriton Suites will sport 8358 bedrooms across Victoria, NSW, the ACT, and Queensland with the developer, investor and hotelier expecting Melbourne to be a particularly strong market for its brand of properties, claiming the opening of a Meriton Serviced Apartment is long overdue with the city in need of a high-end full suite apartment brand. All Meriton Suites feature one, two and three-bedroom suites, with the new properties featuring indoor heated swimming pools, spas and saunas.

Meriton Suites is targeting at least $320 a night at its new Melbourne tower.

With regards to return on investment, Meriton Suites executives say seasonality plays a big part, however Canberra appears to be a high-yielding market driven by government-related travel and the weekend drive market out of NSW. The average daily rate that Meriton Suites is targeting in the ACT is $285 per room per night, compared with at least $360 per night in Sydney CBD hotels, which it says is still the key player in international arrivals and demand-driven yields.

In Melbourne, Meriton Suites is targeting at least $320 per room per night at its tower, which will feature all the bells and whistles of five-star resort properties such as GHD styling tools and 24-hour guest services teams.

Mr Triguboff said his investment in these new markets is a demonstration of the privately owned company’s confidence in both the domestic and international inbound markets and the ongoing demand for luxury apartment-style hotels.

So what’s his secret?

“My serviced apartments are larger and because they are bigger, they are very successful, they are not like other serviced apartments,” Mr Triguboff said.

He said he was initially advised by a North American consultant on his first serviced apartment block at Bondi Junction but he threw them out, followed his gut and chose large serviced apartment rooms – somewhere families would be happy.

The designs have paid off and on the odd occasion where it hasn’t worked he has converted the serviced apartments into a residential unit block and sold or rented them out to the residential sector.

Mr Triguboff said he has traditionally not managed serviced apartments for other hotel owners but he would look into it.

“Of course I am good at it,” he said.