Frasers Hospitality is eyeing Australia’s serviced residence market, given its latest acquisition of a serviced apartment complex in Melbourne, according to The Business Times.
Frasers has acquired 115 studio units in the former Cube Serviced Apartments and plans to rebrand it as Fraser Place Melbourne.
The report said the latest acquisition is part of the company’s plan to establish its brand in Melbourne, Syndey and Perth.
“We have a clear-cut strategy in Australia,” said Choe Peng Sum, Chief Executive of Frasers Hospitality. “We go after 95-99 percent of corporate business. We go after the prime central business district centres — or in Australia, what they call the local government areas.”
Choe noted that Frasers is trying to “dig its heels” into the three cities and Frasers’ latest acquisition along Exploration Lane in Melbourne is part of their latest efforts.
Currently, the company operates 316 apartments in Australia, 201 in Sydney’s Fraser Suites and 115 in Melbourne’s Fraser Place. It also plans to launch 236 serviced residences in Perth next year.
Choe said increasing business activity, both commodities and non-commodities related, is fuelling the demand for Frasers offerings.
“Sydney and Melbourne are regional hubs, so whether it’s commodities or business based, the travel for business is sustainable,” he said.
“(Activity in) Perth has been churned tremendously, commodities-wise…Savills recently reported a 9.6 percent increase in hotel rates in Perth in the first six months of 2011.”
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