IHG Plots Holiday Inn for Sunshine Coast’s Caloundra

A global hospitality brand with more than 6300 hotels under its control has revealed plans to open Australasia’s next Holiday Inn & Suites—on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

IHG Hotels & Resorts, which operates in more than 100 countries and has a development pipeline of more than 2000 properties, says it has signed the Holiday Inn for a site at Caloundra and will open the hotel in early 2028.

The brand has partnered with Felix Capital for the hotel on a site “overlooking the pristine beaches and picturesque coastal town of Caloundra”.

The property will form part of a mixed-use development at Caloundra and will comprise a 160-key hotel that will include 33 suites and feature Holiday Inn brand hallmarks such as an open lobby, all-day dining restaurant and lobby cafe, meeting spaces, fitness centre, outdoor pool and Kids Club.

“Guests will enjoy magnificent views of Caloundra while enjoying lunch, dinner and drinks at the hotel’s signature rooftop restaurant and sky bar,” IHG said.

IHG said the site on Bulcock Street was 90 minutes by road from Brisbane, and 35 minutes from the Maroochydore Airport.

The Holiday Inn & Suites Caloundra, Sunshine Coast, is the latest signing in IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Essentials portfolio and will be IHG’s 10th hotel in Queensland.

▲ The 57-key Sebel Brisbane Margate Beach has come to market.

Hotel hits market at Moreton Bay

Further south in the Sunshine State, The Sebel Brisbane Margate Beach has come to market.

Forty minutes north of Brisbane, the 57-key hotel is being offered for sale by JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group’s Gareth Closter by expressions of interest. 

Closter said the property, which operates under a franchise agreement with Accor, was a “rare luxury branded beachfront hotel on the Redcliffe Peninsula”.

It features 24-hour check-in, a rooftop pool and bar overlooking Moreton Bay, a waterfront restaurant, gym, and multi-purpose conference facilities.

“The Sebel Brisbane Margate Beach is operating at an occupancy consistently in mid 70 per cent, which shows that this brand and hotel are an outstanding match,” Closter said.

The expressions-of-interest campaign ends May 21.

▲ The Pacific Hotel Brisbane was snapped up by the Gold-Coast-based Singh Enterprises.

Brisbane hotel changes hands for $44m

In the Queensland capital, the freehold interest in the Pacific Hotel Brisbane has been acquired for $44.8 million by the Gold Coast-based Singh Enterprises.

CBRE Hotels’ Wayne Bunz and Hayley Manvell negotiated the sale on behalf of the Perth-based Pacific Hotels Group following an expression-of-interest campaign.

Singh Enterprises, led by father-and-son team Teja and Sammy Singh, is a family company with a mix of assets including self-storage, service stations and significant investments in the poultry sector.

The deal follows a string of recent hotel sales in Brisbane, including Incholm by Ovolo, Quest Chermside and the Sofitel Brisbane last year, all negotiated by CBRE Hotels.

Situated on a 2899sq m inner-city site above Wickham Terrace and close to Roma Street station, the 12-storey, 4-star Pacific Hotel Brisbane comprises 179 guest rooms and suites of various configurations.

Guest facilities include a restaurant and bar, conference and events spaces, outdoor swimming pool, gymnasium, guest laundry and 78 carspaces over four levels.

CBRE Hotels national director Wayne Bunz said that Brisbane continued to be “Australia’s most sought-after hotel investment market, with record interest and enquiry from interstate and international capital sources looking to acquire accommodation assets, however, there continues to be limited hotel investment opportunities”.