Marriott hotel plans to open a luxury hotel in Hobart

Marriott International has planned to open a 128-room hotel in Hobart in 2018. The unnamed hotel will be operated under the company's five-star The Luxury Collection brand and under the agreement with owner Trawalla Group. Carol Schwartz, daughter of retail and property magnate Marc Besen , and husband Alan Schwartz own the Trawalla Group. Citta Property Group will be the developer of the project.

The project that cost $150 million included 15,000 square metres of office, retail and public space. The original period style of the property will remain the same including the Gregorian-styled St. Mary's Hospital. The five-star luxury hotel would be the city's first after the Henry Art hotel. The hotel would also promote the whiskey industry of Tasmania with its own whiskey bar along with the local artworks.

"It has always been our intention to partner with a brand that appreciates and embraces Tasmania's natural beauty, history and heritage, which is why we chose to work with Marriott International to bring The Luxury Collection to Tasmania as part of this exciting new development." Alan Schwartz said.

Vice-president for Australia and New Zealand at Marriott International Sean Hunt said that direct international flights would help the company to become more successful. “Next thing is an international airlift because we have this 100 million loyalty members program which we would love to bring to the city of Hobart," Hunt said.

Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey said that the airport was critical requiring better access to Hobart and greater Tasmania.“We are in an economic renaissance that we haven’t seen for 25 years; we have things going on everywhere,” Hickey said. Hobart is currently Australia's third-best performing CBD hotel market replacing Perth based on STR and Deloitte data. Sydney ranks the first while Melbourne took the second spot.

Hunt said that the company has 100 million loyalty members that would provide a flow on positive effect for other local businesses. He said that loyalty members would be the hotel's jet engine.

Premier Will Hodgman said that the project would create 150 jobs during construction. He added that the state was delighted that the company wanted to be a part of the historic development at Parliament Square. Tasmania has been earning its international status as a holiday destination. It recorded 224,000 international visitors in the last financial year. It is a 13 percent increase from its previous record.

Mariott operates 23 hotels in Australia and the Pacific and aiming to have 50 hotels by 2020. The company owns 6,000 hotels worldwide.