Exclusive by James Wilkinson
On the back of today’s (Aug 1) announcement of the Holiday Inn Cairns takeover, Hilton Worldwide’s Vice President of Operations – Australasia, Ashley Spencer, has told HM there are more DoubleTree by Hilton signings to come before the end of 2014.
“We will be opening another three [DoubleTree by Hilton hotels] by the end of this year… and that’s on the back of the three at the end of last year,” he told HM.
In Spencer’s eight-year reign as the head of Hilton’s operations in Australasia, the company has grown immensely “while some other leading chains have contracted,” he said.
“In those eight years we will have gone from 10 hotels to 21 now and more will be opened between now and the end of December,” he said.
While Spencer could not reveal where the next three properties would be located he said Australia’s largest three cities of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney were on the radar.
“DoubleTree is a great conversion brand and it’s also our fastest opening full-service brand in the world,” he told HM.
Hilton will rebrand Holiday Inn Cairns as DoubleTree by Hilton Cairns on October 1, 2014.