Australian hotel group chooses North West for first UK development

Quest Apartment Hotels, the largest aparthotel brand in Australasia, has chosen Liverpool to open its first UK site in July/August this year.

The £10m Quest Liverpool City Centre will feature a 100-bedroom serviced aparthotel located next to the Liverpool One retail complex, at 72 Church Street, in a former office block.

It will be the group’s first property outside of Australasia and will also feature a conference room and gym.

By 2023, Quest aims to open between eight to 10 aparthotels in the UK and is looking at Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and commercial areas of London within the M25.

The group’s UK team is headed by director of UK development Andrew Weisz.

Quest founder and chairman, Paul Constantinou, said the deal marked the realisation of a long-held dream.

“For decades, we have honed the brand and the franchise business model to appeal to Australasian business travellers.

“Today marks the beginning of an expansion of the business across international markets outside Australasia.”

The company expanded its global reach in July by joining one of the world’s leading serviced residence networks, Singapore-based The Ascott Limited.

Mr Constantinou said Quest now plans to replicate the successful Australasian roll-out of the brand across the UK.

“This first property development in Liverpool sets a benchmark for Quest and for the apartment hotel industry in the UK.”

He added: “There are very few Australian hospitality companies that have successfully established their brand overseas.

“We spent many years in the UK before undertaking this development to ensure we understood the market and could confidently, and agressively, roll-out the brand.”

Quest obtained approval from Liverpool City Council on October 24, 2017.

Site establishment and strip-out of existing offices began in December 2017.

The UK will be a truly significant growth market for Quest over the coming years with a further two sites already in advanced negotiations.

While the brand is still being established, the intention is for Quest to operate the properties internally with the aim of franchising after stabilising the business.

Established in Australia by Paul Constantinou in 1988, Quest’s portfolio includes 170 properties across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in town and city centre locations targeting the extended stay business traveller.