Australia's hotel scene is generating some buzz this week.
ABC News, an Australian site, is reporting that a 350-room, $1 billion Crown Hotel at the south end of Sydney's Barangaroo site is getting support.
Plans indicate that the hotel would include high roller gaming salons and a VIP gaming room.
Acting Premier Andrew Stoner says the hotel would be "a shot in the arm" for Sydney, but a number of hurdles would have to be cleared first, including the state's current one-casino policy.
The Financial Review is also reporting that the Crown Group will spend $568 million in Perth to build a “six-star” hotel near the Burswood casino and convention center, with that center also to undergo a $750 million revamp. In Brisbane, the $700 million One One One project in Eagle Street, now the city’s largest office tower, was opened on Wednesday, and construction of four big new office towers will begin this year.
But the article also points out that while Perth has been at the center "of a full-blown resources boom for years," only 223 high-end rooms have been added since 2006, with existing rooms seeing 95 percent occupancy. Room yields were slow to recover after a slump during the global financial crisis, and now that they have, developers are paying attention.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said on Wednesday that the lack of quality hotel rooms had "crowded out" tourism opportunities for the city.
