Australia’s EVT raising its profile

SYDNEY – Companies moving into the third-party hotel management business in Asia Pacific is still relatively new and newsworthy. A branded company (QT, Rydges , Atura, LyLo, Independent Collection by EVT) moving into the third-party space is even more unique, which is what Sydney-based EVT has done with the launch of EVT Connect Hospitality, seeding the new venture by acquiring Pro-invest Group’s hotel management company that includes 15 long-term management deals (approximately 3,200 rooms) across Australia and New Zealand.

In fact, operations-driven EVT, which has about 100 hotels (23 owned and operated and including the 15 new management contracts), has been working harder the past year to raise its profile deeper across Asia Pacific and in June brought in Stella Blythe, formerly of CBRE, as senior vice president of Development, Asia. She will work out of a Singapore office to open more doors across the region.

Her appointment goes along with EVT’s desire to grow globally with EVT Hotels & Resorts Director Norman Arundel telling Hotel Investment Today that the group would like to move into more major global cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles and Bangkok, especially with its QT and LyLo brands.

EVT Hotels & Resorts Director Norman Arundel

While ambitious, Arundel said EVT will remain more opportunistic, starting with EVT Connect, being led by Director of Commercial Mathew Duff.

Already managing a majority of its portfolio, third-party was a seemingly natural move for EVT.

“White label management is a big thing, but not so much so over here in Australasia,” Arundel continued. “So, we think it is an amazing opportunity for us and something that we’ve been wanting to get into for a while. I guess our Independent Collection was a little toe dipper for that and the acquisition of Pro-invest gives us the opportunity to seed this company. Hopefully, it’ll just grow from here... We think it’s a large opportunity with some 20,000 independent hotels in Australia and 80,000 across Asia.”

In fact, EVT started managing for other owners three years ago, acquiring their first management contract offshore about a year ago when it relaunched the Telegraph hotel in Singapore as a QT property.

“We are also hearing from the big global chains that they want to get out of management,” Arundrel added. “Our strength has always been management.”

He added there is a lot of demand from developers for it Rydges and QT brand, as well as its growing soft brand Independent Collection. EVT also has seven franchised Rydges hotels and Arundel expects further growth in the licensing business.

EVT is also still interested in opportunistically acquiring hotels in the right locations and always in its home markets of Australia and New Zealand, having most recently acquired a property in Christchurch which it had already been managing for quite a while.

We are also hearing from the big global chains that they want to get out of management. Our strength has always been management.

Norman Arundel

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What EVT also has going for it is its 115-year-old, publicly listed parent company, EVT Ltd., a conglomerate with a big presence in the cinema business and 150-plus bars and restaurants.

EVT is also a seller of some of its properties with Arundel suggesting it is done to bring that money back to invest in the expanding national company or into refurbishing their own assets in the CBD locations.

When asked about recent performance, Arundel said it’s been a good year for Australia. They are running strong RevPAR, up 15% to 25% across the country, driven by rate as occupancies are off a couple of points below pre-COVID levels.

Sydney and Southeast Queensland have been particularly strong, according to Arundel. While Melbourne has had a stronger recovery than Sydney, Arundel said it’s also had a massive supply come in, making Melbourne business tougher right now. “But the underlying demand in Melbourne is actually better than Sydney,” he added.

Business in New Zealand is difficult, according to Arundel, with the country in recession and a lot of new supply coming on. However, he added, Queenstown is booming.

Weekend business appears to have peaked across the portfolio, but Arundel said inbound business is improving and midweeks are much stronger with no evidence of slowing corporate travel.

Bottom line, Arundel said EVT has a solution for owners across most every asset class. “Our niche is more high net worth individuals and family offices who are looking for more of a hands-on relationship,” he said. Because we only have 100 hotels, we get to know our owners better... We’re big enough to have a bit of financial grunt behind us, but small enough to have personal relationships.”