IHG signs new Holiday Inn for Melbourne

Developer Martyn Barnes has signed his third IHG-branded hotel, bringing Holiday Inn & Suites to Dandenong, the so-called "capital" of Melbourne’s southeast region. 

Part of a mixed-use development that includes two levels of office space, the 160-room Holiday Inn & Suites Dandenong will occupy 11 levels when it opens in 2021. The property will have a restaurant and bar, a gym, conference and meeting facilities and retail shopping via separate access. It also will have a long-stay suites component.

The hotel will be close to the Dandenong train station and the business district, which is poised to receive a boost from the state government’s $290-million area revitalization project.

"Holiday Inn Melbourne Dandenong will be an important component of the government’s Revitalizing Central Dandenong project, and we’re so proud to support it," said Barnes, managing director at Barnes Capital. "I expect it to be the new home-away-from-home for the thriving business, industrial and public-sector community.”

Additionally, Barnes in May 2018 said he would bring Holiday Inn to Melbourne’s growing hipster suburb of Coburg, and then in August confirmed he would bring IHG’s new upscale Voco brand to the Yarra Valley in 2021. 

IHG has put a focus on regional Australian growth, with several Holiday Inn signings across the country, including in Wagga Wagga, Geelong, Ringwood and Melbourne Werribee, as well as opening the Holiday Inn Sydney St Marys in 2018.

IHG currently has 47 hotels operating under four brands in Australasia, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, voco and Holiday Inn Express, with another 29 in the pipeline, including Hotel Indigo and Even Hotels.