Brisbane CBD to boast five new luxury hotels in time for G20 summit

BRISBANE will have five new luxury hotels on the city skyline by the time world leaders and their entourages touch down for the G20 summit in November.

They will be among 12 new four and five-star hotels that have been built in the past two-and-a-half years.

No-vacancy signs have been a common sight across the city, going up every time major conferences and sporting events came to town, but those days should soon be a thing of the past with more than 1000 new hotel rooms ready to come online in the coming months.

The new luxury hotels under construction that will be up in time for the G20 include Four Points by Sheraton in the CBD, Alpha Mosaic Brisbane and TRYP Hotel in the Valley, as well as the Gambaro Hotel in Petrie Terrace.

Chifley at Lennons, rebranded by SilverNeedle group as NEXT Hotel in the Queen Street Mall, will also have finished its $50 million revamp which will double its hotel rooms to 300 and be reclassed as 4.5-star hotel.

Hotel porter Andre Lopez welcomes guest to Brisbane’s new Four Points by Sheraton

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said even though supply would still be stretched when 7000 world government delegates and media arrived, for the first time growth in hotel rooms was no longer being outstripped by growth in visitors to the city.

“Good supply also means we’ll have prices at a realistic level,” he said.

“We’re expecting to see continuous growth in the Brisbane meetings and conventions market, so the take-up will be strong.”

Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said the new hotels were a much-needed injection.

“We’ve been crying out for new investment for a few years now – it’s excellent to see this start to come to fruition,” he said.

“This is the kind of growth and stimulation we need if we are to continue to attract big-name events and big-name visitors.”

Source:  Herald Sun - 22 February 2014