Exclusive by James Wilkinson
Quest Serviced Apartments CEO, Zed Sanjana, has announced five new properties in Western Australia in a huge expansion for the chain.
Speaking exclusively to HM, Sanjana said the new properties are “on top of Quest’s previously announced projects” and would see the brand more than double its room offering in Western Australia.
“Western Australia has been a really strong market and this is an exciting opportunity,” he told HM.
“To get these five new projects out of the ground is a great achievement and this will give us more of the critical mass we are looking for [in the State],” he said.
Quest currently has nine hotels in Western Australia that feature 380 rooms in total and Sanjana said the five new properties would take that tally to over 870 rooms.
Construction has begun on three of the new properties – Mounts Bay Road, Perth (71 keys), Flinders Lane, Rockingham (96 keys) and Kings Park Road, Perth (72 keys) – while works will start in July on a property in Fremantle (120 keys) and on Adelaide Terrace in Perth (130 keys).
Sanjana said it wasn’t just mining and energy that was supporting demand for the new properties, with business expected to also come from a range of segments including Government, defense, shipping and business tourism.
“Demand for extended stay accommodation is currently exceeding supply in Australia, nowhere more so than in Western Australia,” he said. “Perth has leading occupancy rates with high room yield growth which is set to continue thanks to the State Government’s commitment to growing the economy.
“The demand in the West is being primarily driven by the corporate market and we feel the time is right to capitalise on these strong economic indicators and push our growth, with five new developments underway to more than double our current room numbers.
“We have great confidence in these five new locations, based on the current undersupply of accommodation and a number of key economic drivers, in addition to the numerous infrastructure developments currently planned in the surrounding areas,” he said.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has welcomed the significant expansion of Quest in the state.
“The State Government is very pleased that Quest has identified Western Australia as a State for future growth, which will deliver significant benefits to Perth and the State through job creation and by providing more accommodation choices for the booming corporate market,” he said.
“The regional headquarters of some of the most highly regarded global companies in the resources and energy space are located in Perth, including Rio Tinto, Chevron, AngloGold Ashanti, ATCO and BHP Billiton.
“The city also hosts a number of major events including the world’s largest oil and gas conference scheduled for 2016.
“It is good to know that companies such as Quest are investing in WA to ensure we can continue to provide high quality accommodation options to the increasing number of corporate travellers visiting the State,” Barnett said.
Sanjana said prior to the new West Australian deal, it has already been a big year for the company in terms of signings and opening and there was more to come.
“It’s a pretty busy year for the remainder of 2014,” he told HM. “We’ll add seven more Australian properties before the end of the year.”
He also flagged to HM further deals being announced in 2014.
Pictured above: Darren Alexander (Pindan), James Chan (Developer for Kings Park Road), Lee Chalmers (Pindan), Andrew Lian (Alda Consultants), Zed Sanjana (CEO Quest Serviced Apartments), Frank Di Latte (Diploma), Luke Saraceni (Westbridge), Jason Potalivo (Westbridge), Domenico Di Latte (Diploma), Eleni Evangel (MLA, Member for Perth), Andrew Weisz (Quest Serviced Apartments), Sunny Sardana (Franchise Manager, Quest South Perth), Carol Sardana (Franchise Manager, Quest South Perth), MeShell Linda (Area Sales Manager WA), Tony Gauci (Quest Serviced Apartments)