Hotel mogul Harry Triguboff to enter Melbourne and Canberra markets
Property mogul Harry Triguboff isn’t slowing down any time soon.
The 90-year-old continues to oversee a major expansion of the Meriton Suites serviced apartment business, including the opening of new hotels in Canberra, Melbourne and Liverpool, west of Sydney.
This is all expected to be completed within five weeks, with the Canberra hotel already open from August 19.
Triguboff has invested $400 million in building the three new hotels, which will take Meriton Suites to 6204 apartment suites and 23 properties.
The growth makes Triguboff Australia’s biggest hotel owner-operator.
Thn 163-suite Liverpool hotel will open on September 23, followed by a 298-suite hotel on King Street in Melbourne’s CBD, on September 26.
Triguboff told The Australian Financial Review he was pleased to enter the Melbourne market.
“Many of our hotel guests have asked ‘when are you opening a Meriton Suites hotel in Melbourne?’ and it gives me great pleasure to deliver on their request,” he said.
Meriton reportedly paid about $29 million for the 781-square-metre site in Melbourne.
It came with a permit for a 57-storey building with 263 apartments.
Triguboff told the AFR he would continue to expand in Melbourne when the time was right.
“We will watch the market and our performance once we are operational, then we can start planning a second hotel and sourcing an ideal location,” he said.
Meriton Suites group general manager Matthew Thomas said a second hotel may not be too far away, with s possible location near Crown Casino.
“Harry and the Meriton parent group is well established in NSW and south-east Queensland, where it is a household name. But in Canberra and Melbourne there is generally less awareness,” Thomas told the AFR.
The Meriton hotel is close to the new Ritz Carlton and W Hotels.
“There’s more international brands coming here and less going to the ‘Paris [east] end’ of town,” Thomas said.
“We saw a similar transition in Sydney, where hotel development was focused on Martin Place and Circular Quay, but has slowly moved down to World Square and Chinatown, which are both busy at night-time.”
Thomas said Meriton is enjoying a post Covid recovery.
“We were lucky that our Gold Coast and Brisbane hotels performed really well during Covid. In NSW, we were lucky to leverage our properties into the short-term rental accommodation market,” he said.
“Our hotels run at close to 90 per cent occupancy as we are more dynamic with pricing and react to supply and demand. Our ultimate goal is to finish each week at close to 90 per cent and achieve the highest possible yield.
“We use discounts to drive business [when needed], including providing special offers to our loyalty members.”
Meriton Suites is entirely owner-operated, with all 23 hotels owned by Triguboff.
Jonathan Jackson, 7th September 2023
