Salter Brothers starts management company

Australian-owned global fund manager Salter Brothers has launched a hotel management platform, Salter Brothers Hospitality (SBH) dedicated to boutique lifestyle luxury management.

While Salter Brothers had an established team that focused on core hotel management functions (separate to its growing investment management division) following the acquisition of the Spicers Retreats, Milton Park & Escarpment Group acquisitions, it decided to amalgamate several functions into a single platform.

With group assets under management over $3 billion, Salter Brothers’ hotel platform was formed in December 2015. It has acquired, developed and managed hotel assets across Australia and the United States and today has a portfolio of 5,084 rooms across 36 hotels, making it one of the largest hotel owners in Australia. Among its assets:

- 17 operating retreat hotels and estates

- more than 20 restaurant and bars

- 8 Spa Anise spas and other wellness facilities

- Spicers Scenic Rim Trail, one of the largest ecotourism ventures ever to open in Queensland with 38 rooms over five camp sites

Combined, these operating assets generate more than $110 million annually, employing more than 500 staff. In addition, SBH directly employs over 40 staff operating from offices in Brisbane (head office), Sydney, Melbourne and Vietnam.

The group said it expects this platform will double in the next 24 months and will be announcing a number of senior appointments in the coming weeks.

SBH will seek to grow the number of properties operated under the Ardour Hotels & Estates, Spicers Retreats & Lodges and Spa Anise brands as well as the number of restaurant and bars.

Salter Brothers recently announced the launch of its latest hotel brand Ardour Hotels & Estates, after many months of research and development. Coming to market in 2024, Ardour is a brand specifically developed for large groups, events and corporates to experience a retreat-style escape at a range of boutique lifestyle luxury hotels and estates in unique settings. Facilities will include special event spaces, day spas and outdoor wellness, and multiple restaurants offering a curated food and beverage program for groups – ‘celebrated luxury.’ Announcements about the first Ardour properties is expected in the coming months with the first Ardour properties slated to open in Q2 2024.

Salter Brothers also recently acquired luxury lifestyle retreat and lodges brand Spicers Retreats & Lodges, which already has 14 branded properties across NSW and Queensland, as well as Spa Anise, which today operates from Spicers Retreats & Lodges. SBH intends to roll out the Spa Anise brand across the Ardour and Spicers properties over the coming year, with further growth opportunities to be pursued across Salter Brothers CBD located hotels.

“While we will continue to grow our branded portfolio of assets, we will also seek to provide our unique skills and capability to the broader hospitality sector in Asia Pacific,” said SBH Managing Director Paul Salter. “In Europe and the USA, third-party management is the predominant operational model over hotel management agreements, which exist in this part of the world. We expect this model to change over time and there to be a growing demand for this type of service in the Asia Pacific region.”