Growing demand for homegrown hospitality

Over the past six months Kollosche Commercial has been privileged to market a selection of accommodation and hospitality assets.

Selling multiple properties in the same sector has provided us with valuable insights and an in-depth understanding on what’s driving the demand.

Properties we have sold, and are currently marketing, in this category include:

• The Greenmount Hotel, Coolangatta
• The Beach Hotel East Coast, East Ballina
• The Marlin Motel, Biggera Waters
• The Escarpment Retreat, Mount Tamborine

We believe there are two main reasons why interest in this asset class is growing.

Firstly, many of these assets were built 20-plus years ago and have been subject to Town Planning amendments, meaning their land has a higher intrinsic value as a development site.

Properties along the Gold Coast Highway are a good example of this. These assets provide a strong holding income during the design, approval and pre-sale stage of a development. Unlike most commercial properties, however, they are not subject to long leases which often include demolition clauses. Those clauses may include relocation costs or pay out to the current tenant.

Secondly, there is an increased demand for accommodation venues which can host functions and events onsite, such as:

• Weddings
• Conferences
• Health or wellness retreats

Restrictions preventing normal overseas travel have exposed a huge gap in the market for venues and accommodation facilities in South East Queensland.

We are speaking to buyers who believe that:

• There is a shortage of wedding venues. Weddings which were postponed due to COVID or put on hold until restrictions eased has created a backlog. Many prestige and upmarket weddings which would take place overseas are also now being held locally.
• Demand for wellness retreats is rising. This sector is not only growing organically but those who would normally travel to locations such as Thailand or Bali are looking for options on home soil.
• Corporate conferences have always been a big market, however there is a bigger demand for boutique and smaller conferences, many of which would commonly have been held overseas.

South East Queensland has a very good opportunity to capitalise on the broad based increase in local travel. 

Over the next few months large and boutique operators will be looking to establish venues in time for the 2021 peak summer season.

We encourage those who have properties within this sector to make the most of the opportunities ahead. Reach out to Adam Grbcic or Tony Grbcic from our Commercial team to discuss the best way to leverage those assets.