Aussie apartment hotel chain to open first UK property in Northern Powerhouse
Australian firm Quest Apartment Hotels has secured its first UK site in Liverpool’s city centre with a £10m investment.
Quest Liverpool City Centre will open in 2019 and is located on Church Street along one of the city’s biggest retail strips and adjacent to the landmark Liverpool ONE complex.
The apartment hotel operator, which launched in Melbourne almost 30 years ago aims to have a total of eight to 10 apartment hotels in the UK by 2023.
It already has 160 properties in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, where it has a further 27 properties in the pipeline and 12 under construction.
In Liverpool, Quest will convert an existing 1980s commercial office building into 100 serviced apartments, reception, conference room, gym and back-of-house facilities.
Andrew Weisz, director of UK development at Quest, said: ‘Hospitality brands have a huge role to play in opening up city centre locations for business again, but against a backdrop of economic uncertainty – it is clear that businesses want to spend travel budgets wisely.
"We’ve immersed ourselves in the UK market in recent months and can see the potential for the aggressive expansion of both our brand and the apartment hotel industry here."
It said it had chosen Liverpool as its first property outside Australasia due to the Government’s Northern Powerhouse strategy to boost business in the region.
Michael Ward, British consul-general and director general, UK Department for International Trade, Australia and New Zealand said: "We’re delighted to have been working with Quest on their UK expansion plans.~ In the past 12 months alone, DIT has assisted over 100 Australian businesses expand to the UK – more than ever before – an indication of both the ongoing strength of the UK economy and the high level of interest in the UK market from innovative Australasian companies.”
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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