Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will open a new $100-million Westin hotel at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast by 2021, part of a $1-billion mixed-use development planned by Japanese real estate company Sekisui House.
Starwood has been busy in Australia. Just last week it announced the development of a Four Points, in Sydney, also in partnership with Sekisui.
Starwood's development pipeline in Australia now stands at nine hotels, including two new Westins due to open in Perth and Brisbane in 2018.
The new 220-room Westin Coolum Resort & Spa will be the centrepiece of a mixed-use development comprising apartments, shops and restaurants on a site overlooking Yaroomba Beach.
The new hotel is a five-minute drive from the Sunshine Coast Airport. AFR cited STR numbers that show hotel occupancies on the Sunshine Coast rose 12 percentage points to 66 percent last year with room rates up 3.5 percent to $195 night.