Even though Australia's hotel industry already has a high degree of sophistication, Trilogy Hotels Executive Chairman Tony Ryan said the country is significantly behind the U.S. in adopting the third-party operating model.
And that's where his company is looking to thrive.
Ryan joined the latest episode of the CoStar News Hotels podcast highlighting trends across the Asia Pacific region. He said his company looks to emulate the structure of American hotel management companies such as Aimbridge Hospitality and Pyramid Global Hospitality and bring more sophistication to managed and franchised hotels — without having to take on an ownership stake.
Hotel operators have "got so many dials that you can manipulate to drive a really fantastic financial outcome," Ryan said, adding he chose to get into operations after years as a lawyer focusing on hotel deals across the Asia-Pacific region. "The opportunity to get a lift in profit for a hotel, that opportunity is so much greater for us than in a shopping center or traditional property asset classes. ... So I think we want to be in the hard business, the bit that involves human beings. As everything else gets commoditized, it's the human element."
Ryan said his company is focusing on growing its hotel portfolio in Australia before looking to move into nearby countries, starting with New Zealand.
As a podcast guest in the same episode, STR's area director for Asia-Pacific Jesper Palmqvist said the region enjoyed a strong start to the year in January, with revenue per available room up 5% year over year.
He added performance has remained strong in Japan despite drops in flights from China, but the country could be challenged with strong comparisons starting in April.
"That's going to be very interesting and tough forecasting on that second quarter," he said.
For more from Trilogy's Tony Ryan and STR's Jesper Palmqvist, listen to the podcast episode embedded above.