Strong sense of optimism felt at 10th ANZPHIC

The 10th Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Hotel Industry Conference (ANZPHIC) was held between July 7-8 at the Hilton Sydney.

The ANZPHIC opened on Wednesday with a pre-conference event – Fractional Real Estate Essentials, which discussed the benefits and weaknesses of fractional real estate ownership.

Ragatz Associates and Private Residence Resorts experts outlined the criteria for successful fractional real estate projects, which includes broader market reach, high consumer profile, higher occupancy and resulting ancillary income, and asset appreciation.

They also stressed the differences between fractional real estate ownership and timeshare.

About two-thirds of travellers have shared a holiday home, according to research conducted by Bergent Research.

The respondents rated the most important benefits of shared real estate ownership as the appreciation of property values, minimal maintenance hassles and, with beach access.  

Queensland, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast rated among the most appealing holiday destinations for fractional real estate.   

When the ANZPHIC officially kicked off on Wednesday a strong sense of optimism was felt amongst the attending 400 hotel owners, investors, developers, operators, lenders, advisers and other stakeholders.

All major Australian cities experienced a growth in Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) May 2010 year-to-date, which was largely driven by a major hotel occupancy boost.

During ANZPHIC, hotel leaders also identified future tourism hot spots, including Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Perth; with key consumer source markets to Australia as China, Southeast Asia and New Zealand.

Bill Evans, Chief Economist of Westpac Bank, expects that over the next few years the government will be tightening fiscal policies and economic growth will range between 3 and 3.5% in the near future.

It is believed that Australia’s links with Asia will provide strong medium term prospects, particularly given continued strong demand for steel.

Industry leaders also took the opportunity to discuss several key areas which will demand attention in the new competitive hotel landscape.

These areas include the inevitable participation in social media, collaboration with online travel agents (OTAs), lessons from the global financial crisis, changes in consumer behaviour, importance in capturing key source markets, and the continuing significance of innovation within the industry.

Among the major highlights of the ANZPHIC was the award ceremony for the 2010 Hotel Deal of the Year award and the inaugural Legend Hall of Fame.

LM Investment Management was awarded the title of 2010 Hotel Deal of the Year for its AUD 185 million acquisition of the Four Points by Sheraton, Darling Harbour Sydney last year.

The inaugural Legend Hall of Fame award was given to Mr. Koos Klein who retired in late 2008.