Airlie Beach Hotel sells for $22m

The Airlie Beach Hotel in the Whitsundays has sold for $22 million, almost two years after the O'Neill family first put it on the market.

Cyclone Debbie put halt to the first offering in 2017, but a $10 million refurbishment and an increase in the local tourism market saw the 80-room hotel better placed for a sale.

The new owners and operators of the hotel are ABH Hotel Pty Ltd and ABH Operations Queensland Pty Ltd, trading as Airlie Beach Hotel.

Airlie Beach Hotel shareholders include Bonnie McFie, the wife of Queensland publican Mick McFie, Gold Coast solicitor Shanan Ramsden and Chris Giufre, managing director of Gold Coast investment firm, Wraith Capital.

CBRE Hotels’ Wayne Bunz said the new owners of the Airlie Beach hotel "immediately elevated returns by optimising venue operations and reducing overheads".

"Their subsequent purchase of the property freehold provides further evidence of a resurgence in the Airlie Beach and broader Whitsundays region, with investor sentiment on the rise,” he said.