Accor takes over management of four Elanor hotels
Australia’s largest hospitality player Accor is taking over four hotels in New South Wales and South Australia controlled by struggling ASX-listed real estate fund manager Elanor Investors Group.
It’s the latest example of how the management of smaller hotels is being absorbed into the major hotel chains, providing exposure to their wide-reaching loyalty programs. The real estate of the four venues remains in an Elanor-run fund.
The arrangement also comes after a torrid year for the beleaguered fund manager, whose stock remains suspended from the ASX as it looks to bed down a $125 million rescue plan. Elanor has also been fending off a $285 million takeover offer for one of its commercial property vehicles from billionaire Paul Lederer.
All four of the hotels – one in Byron Bay, two in regional South Australia and one in Adelaide – are held within the Elanor Hotel Accommodation Fund. Their operator, 1834 Hotels, will continue to manage each hotel, but each will be rebranded under one of Accor’s various brands. Accor’s loyalty program, ALL Accor, has more than 100 million members globally.
For Accor, the deal marks its return to Byron Bay – Elanor’s Byron Bay Hotel and Apartments is to be rebranded as The Sebel Byron Bay – after Elements of Byron left its network in 2020.
“We are currently working with both Elanor and 1834 Hotels on the programs, with exciting enhancements likely to deliver upgraded rooms, refreshed food and beverage offerings, and improved amenities,” said Adrian Williams, Accor’s chief operating officer for the Pacific region.
He added that each of the four properties had been matched with the brand that best fitted their location, product style and guest profile.
“The Sebel is synonymous with premium apartment-style accommodation and lifestyle destinations, making it a natural fit for Byron Bay,” Williams told The Australian Financial Review.
“Peppers has a strong reputation in regional wine and food destinations, perfectly suited to Clare Valley. Mantra is an established, trusted brand in Adelaide, and Mercure has exceptional recognition in leisure-driven regional markets such as the Barossa Valley.”
The refurbishment and rebranding of Peppers Clare Valley and Mantra Wakefield Adelaide is expected to be completed over the next 12 months.
Tony Fehon, managing director at Elanor Investors Group, said he hoped the arrangement with Accor would help differentiate the Elanor-held hotels and enhance their performance. “The support and operational execution by 1834 Hotels has been instrumental in bringing this strategy to life,” he said.
Deans Dransfield, a long-time transactions and development adviser to hoteliers, said such regional, retreat-style hotels would benefit from Accor’s loyalty program.
“Most of the retreat areas and the leisure areas in Australia are actually used by domestic rather than international visitors, and what Accor has is a very large domestic loyalty program,” Dransfield said.
“They have the largest local loyalty program, which is the exact target customer for those types of places.”
He added that third-party managers who ran small hotels efficiently still wanted a familiar brand and distribution, a trend he predicted would continue.
The Elanor transaction follows on from Accor’s deal with Malaysian platform Oriental Holdings Berhad in May, after signing management agreements to take over two hotels in Australia and one in New Zealand.
