Brisbane hotels to get full refurbishment and reopen as voco Brisbane City Centre and Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre

The huge momentum behind the popular Hotel Indigo and voco brands continues, as IHG Hotels & Resorts and Pro-invest Group build on their partnership with the signing of two high-profile conversion hotels in the Brisbane CBD.

voco Brisbane City Centre and Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre will become the latest additions to the River City's hotel scene, as Mercure Brisbane and ibis Brisbane rebadge under IHG's world-class upscale brands following a repositioning and extensive refurbishment.

voco Brisbane City Centre, which will overlook the Brisbane River and some of the city's best cultural institutions, promises to bring the brand's vibrant, reliably fun vision to life. Each of the hotel's 194 guestrooms will enjoy a full refurbishment to elevate them to premium voco standards, while the hotel's bar will get a complete makeover that will deliver a new era of hospitality and help it show off its sweeping river views when it opens later in 2021.

Then, opening in 2022, the riverside location of Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre will play into the essence of the hotel's neighbourhood story, as the hidden gems that surround the property will be weaved into the guestrooms, restaurants, meeting facilities, design and service offering. Designer Joseph Pang will be charged with revitalising the interiors of the 212-room hotel while the hotel's restaurant, bar and café will be completely reimagined.

The opening of these fantastic hotels signals strong growth in the Brisbane market for both Pro-invest and IHG Hotels & Resorts, sitting alongside Pro-invest's Holiday Inn Express Brisbane Central, which opened in 2017, and Hotel X, which IHG and Pointcorp are opening in the Fortitude Valley precinct in February 2021.

Abhijay Sandilya, IHG's Vice President, Development – Australasia, Japan & Pacific, said: “We are absolutely delighted to build our presence in Brisbane with the signing of two of our most colourful, dynamic and boutique brands. The personality that will be injected into the properties is going to be quite unlike anything the city has seen and we're incredibly excited to bring the community on the journey with us. With a prime CBD location that puts both hotels within walking distance to everything the city has to offer, voco and Hotel Indigo Brisbane are undoubtedly going to be the hotels of choice for both leisure and business travellers”.

Jan Smits, Co-CEO of Pro-invest, said: “It's very exciting for Pro-invest to sign our second voco hotel with IHG Hotels & Resorts, alongside voco Auckland City Centre, and to bring the Hotel Indigo brand into our portfolio. It builds on the great partnership we have with IHG, which currently includes 11 open or pipeline Holiday Inn Express properties.”

“The location of these two hotels couldn't be better for business and leisure travellers. With the power of the IHG distribution and loyalty systems, coupled with rich and exciting brands, we are confident that guests will enjoy all that these hotels have to offer,” said Jan.

The Hotel Indigo brand has gone from strength to strength over the years, with 126 open globally and another 99 in the pipeline. In Australasia, Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets will open in March 2021, the first to open in this market, with more to come in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland.

Currently, there are two voco hotels in Australia – voco Gold Coast and voco Kirkton Park Hunter Valley - with a third, voco Melbourne Central slated to open later in 2021, along with  future openings in Sydney and Auckland.  

IHG currently has 56 hotels operating under five brands in Australasia, including: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, voco and Holiday Inn Express, with another 34 in the pipeline. [1]

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Media Enquiries: 

Chris Waite 

Director of Communications, Australasia & Japan 

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 

Tel: +61 438 943 562 

Email: chris.waite@ihg.com  

Karena Noble

Public Relations Lead

Pro-invest

Tel: +61 418 912 162

Email: karena.noble@proinvestgroup.com

Notes to Editors: 

About IHG® 

IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo®, EVEN® Hotels, HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, voco™, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts , Holiday Inn Express®, Holiday Inn Club Vacations®, avid™ hotels, Staybridge Suites®, Atwell Suites™, and Candlewood Suites®.  

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns nearly 6,000 hotels and 890,000 guest rooms in more than 100 countries, with approximately 1,900 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG® Rewards Club, our global loyalty programme, which has more than 100 million enrolled members. 

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 400,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally. 

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: https://www.ihgplc.com/en/news-and-media and follow us on social media at: https://twitter.com/ihgcorporate, www.facebook.com/ihgcorporate and www.linkedin.com/company/intercontinental-hotels-group. 

About Pro-invest Group

Pro-invest Group is an asset manager and investment firm specialising in private equity real estate and real estate asset management. Established in 2010 by private equity real estate industry veterans, Pro-invest has grown to become one of the largest hotel investment platforms in Australasia in addition to executing on some successful commercial real estate transactions. 

With more than 30 sector-specific specialists in its core team, Pro-invest operates as an internationally connected and fully integrated business combining active asset management, development and operational capabilities, providing investors with above industry risk-adjusted returns in the hospitality, commercial and retail space. The Group is also committed to optimising social and financial returns of its hotel portfolio for investors, facilitated through industry leading ESG practices.

Pro-invest's unique structure ensures full control of the entire value chain, allowing for effective sustainability management, risk mitigation and return optimisation – underpinned by its commitment to protecting and generating value for all our stakeholders. With on-the-ground presence in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Pro-invest provides unique investment opportunities to institutional investors and established international family offices.

Since its establishment in Sydney in late 2013, Pro-invest has accomplished the following:

• Pro-invest Australian Hospitality Fund I (Fund I): Pro-invest raised its debut fund of AUD $300 million and developed 8 award-winning Holiday Inn Express hotels in major cities in Australia and New Zealand after securing a Master Development & Agreement Franchise with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to grow the Holiday Inn Express portfolio in Australia and New Zealand. Holiday Inn Express is one of the world's biggest and fastest-growing brand in the midscale, select-service segment.
• Pro-invest Australian Hospitality Fund II (Fund II): The successor to Fund I, Fund II followed the same strategy and approach and was successfully closed after raising AUD $300 million equity for investments into IHG-branded hotels, including Holiday Inn Express as well as IHG's newest lifestyle brand, vocoTM
• Melbourne Co-investment Fund: Pro-invest established a co-investment vehicle and raised AUD $80 million to acquire 50% of two flagship Holiday Inn Express assets in strategic locations in Melbourne.
• Managed accounts: Pro-invest holds a number of managed accounts where Pro-invest is responsible for identifying strategic hospitality and real estate opportunities with repositioning potential.

[1] Numbers correct as at 30 September 2020