One of Melbourne’s most historic hotels, ibis Styles Melbourne The Victoria Hotel, is reporting good fortunes this Chinese New Year as a result of investment in rooms product and joining an internationally-recognised hotel brand.
Following the transition from an unbranded hotel joining AccorHotels ibis Styles brand in 2013 and the completion of an extensive rooms, lobby, mezzanine bar and lounge area 2015, ibis Styles Melbourne The Victoria Hotel has solidified its reputation as a popular choice for domestic travellers and is attracting a new wave of inbound travellers from China.
Occupancy for the 370 room hotel has held strong at 82.6% on average since becoming part of the ibis Styles network. In 2015, the number of rooms sold increased by more than 7,000 up 7.1% on 2014, while the average room rate and revpar has also increased by around 5% year on year.
Ibis Styles Melbourne The Victoria Hotel General Manager, Peter Barker, said “There’s no doubting the importance of investing in hotel product and the positive impact it can have on attracting new markets.
“We’ve seen ibis Styles Melbourne The Victoria Hotel now become a leading destination for the FIT inbound tourist from Asia – so much so, that we’ve transformed the hotel during Chinese New Year to reflect the considerable number of travellers coming from Asia that stay with us throughout February,” said Barker.
With Chinese New Year in full swing, ibis Styles Melbourne The Victoria Hotel has decorated all the public areas and restaurant with red lanterns and floral displays. On arrival, Chinese guests are greeted with red envelopes and chocolate gold coins and can chose a fortune cookies at reception when checking in.
After the hotel joined the AccorHotels network and became an ibis Styles, the hotel won the AccorHotels Franchise accolade for ‘ibis Styles hotel of the year’ for two years running (2013,2014), as well as ‘Best Customer Service Hotel’ that first year. In 2014 and 2015 ibis Styles Melbourne The Victoria Hotel won the ‘Midrange Hotel’ of the year for the TAA Victoria awards.
Barker added: “Our success is no doubt underpinned by our fantastic team of people and the awards are great recognition. In all the awards finals, we have beat off some tough competition from reputable 4-star hotels, which is something we are very proud of naturally.
“We have a powerful combination in the global distribution and branding in partnership with AccorHotels and continued product improvements by the hotel’s owner The Schwartz Family Company. This recipe is working and has clearly had a massive impact on the hotels’ fortunes over the last 24 months and we look forward to a prosperous New Year ahead.”