Whitsunday Resort Hits the Block After Receivers Appointed

Prominent Whitsunday resort Peppers Airlie Beach is once again being offered for sale after a $20 million deal collapsed two years ago.

Management rights as well 59 of the 106 strata apartments in the complex and the resort's facilities including reception, restaurant, meeting and conferencing venue and a day spa have been put up for sale through agents CBRE.

The 4.5-star Great Barrier Reef holiday destination was built by Latitude Development Group in 2009 for $80 million.

It sits on a 1.8-hectare, north-facing site on Hermitage Drive with views across the Port of Airlie Marina and the Coral Sea Coast, and is managed by french hotel giant Accor, under its luxury brand, Peppers.

In September 2016 Latitude was placed in the hands of the receivers McGrathNicol and the resort was offered to market with an option to acquire it on vacant possession basis.

US hotel giant Wyndham exchanged contracts soon after to purchase the beachside resort for $20 million, well above market expectations of $15 million. However, the deal fell through.

CBRE Hotels’ agents Wayne Bunz, Paul Fraser and Hayley Manvell have once again been tasked with managing the sale on behalf of receivers Matthew Caddy and Jamie Harris of McGrathNicol.

“The Whitsundays’ region has been the subject of renewed investor interest thanks to a strong rebound in tourist arrivals post Cyclone Debbie, and the reopening of island resorts, including Intercontinental Hamilton Island and Daydream Island,” Manvell said.

Included in the sale are 56 one, two and three-bedroom apartments and three villas comprising four to five-bedrooms.

The sale offers the opportunity to sell down the individual apartment stock under a management rights model, whilst also allowing an incoming owner the flexibility to sell the apartments on either a short, medium or long-term basis.

Whitsundays leading Queensland coast hotel resurgence

International hotel booking rates at the Whitsundays Islands bounced back by 10 per cent over 2018 as the region continues its recovery from the devastation of Cyclone Debbie in 2017 and benefited from new hotel and resort refurbishments

The Whitsundays resurgence has been part of a wider improvement across the Queensland coast with was part of a wider improvement seen up the Queensland coast with Port Douglas in the Tropical North, the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay opposite Fraser Island enjoying stronger price growth.

The recent re-opening of Daydream Island and the imminent opening of Hayman Island (to be run by Intercontinental) have also been positive for the region.

The Whitsundays once again regained its mantel as the most expensive destination among HPI's Top 20 most popular Australian destinations for overseas travellers.

Private investor David Kingston is also again looking to sell his 172-room island resort in the Whitsundays, part of the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.

The resort is situated on the closest Whitsunday Island from the mainland, being only 7 kilometres off the Queensland coastline, situated between Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach.