Canadian global asset manager Brookfield has put Pullman Melbourne on the Park Hotel up for sale for approximately $200 million.
The Pullman originally operated as Hilton on the Park before AccorHotels Group agreed to manage it. The updated property, which Accor began operating in January 2015, now has 419 guestrooms and suites along with a new lobby bar and restaurant, business center and 18 conference rooms.
The hotel next to the MCG district is near the central business district's Paris End and many of its office buildings. Peter Harper of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, who is marketing the hotel, told The Urban Developer, "The sale of this property follows several high-profile transactions, including the Novotel Melbourne on Collins, Hilton Melbourne South Wharf and Sheraton Melbourne, and as such, presents an opportunity to acquire a landmark hotel in one of Asia Pacific's most sought after investment markets."
Harper further told AFR: "Melbourne has been a major focus of global hotel investors over the past two years. The sale of this property follows several high-profile transactions including the Novotel Melbourne on Collins, Hilton Melbourne South Wharf and Sheraton Melbourne, and as such, presents an opportunity to acquire a landmark hotel in one of Asia Pacific's most sought after investment markets."
According to STR, Melbourne hotels had a strikingly high occupancy rate in 2017 (83 percent), with an average daily rate of $186. It is the country's second strongest-performing market behind Sydney.
The hotel listing follows a U.S. National Labor Relations Board complaint filed on Jan. 19, 2018, against Brookfield for alleged labor violations at the asset manager's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The board claims the hotel-casino has maintained overly-broad and discriminatory rules in its employee handbook meant to block employees’ free speech within the hotel and their private social media use. The Culinary Workers Union, a Unite Here affiliate, originally filed the charges in September 2017. The Hard Rock Las Vegas is scheduled to meet with an NLRB administrative law judge for a hearing on April 17, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Brookfield also settled charges filed by the Culinary Workers Union in December, which alleged Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas broke federal law by releasing anti-union literature attempting to dissuade employees from choosing a union to represent them. The Las Vegas Hard Rock ultimately agreed in the settlement not to block workers’ rights to organize. If it violates this agreement, the hotel-casino will face government prosecution.