Salter Brothers Hotel Group acquisition of Watermark Hotel & Spa Gold Coast complete with settlement announced today

Managing Director of Melbourne-based property investment firm Salter Brothers, Mr. Paul Salter has today confirmed that settlement of the Watermark Hotel & Spa Gold Coast has occurred. The Group announced it would be acquiring the property from Japanese travel company, H.I.S. Co., Ltd. in March of this year. It is the first Queensland property to join the Salter Brothers Hotel Group portfolio which, prior to this latest acquisition, consisted of five hotels across Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

The settlement follows last week’s announcement that the hotel will be managed by long-standing Salter Brothers partner, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) under a new, upscale hotel brand, voco. The Gold Coast property is the first signing of the new hotel brand globally and is expected to open under the vocoä flag in late 2018.

Mr. Salter said, “Today’s settlement moves Salter Brothers closer to our target of $1billion of assets and represents strong opportunities for our continued growth and diversification. With the acquisition now complete, we are looking forward to working with IHG to launch the voco brand in Australia.”

The 388-room hotel offers significant conferencing and food and beverage facilities, allowing the Group to tap into the local corporate market, as well as the growing leisure and tourism market that is attracted to the Gold Coast.

There will be no changes of employment for Watermark Hotel & Spa Gold Coast staff.

Salter Brothers Hotel Group also this week completed the on-sale of the 94-room Watermark Brisbane property to Prime Hotels, with all hotel staff transferring to the new owner.