Japan’s Prince Hotels, a subsidiary of Japanese Seibu Holdings acquired the Australian-based operator Staywell Hospitality Group on October 4, 2017 for $55 million.

StayWell Hospitality Group currently operates two hotel brands, Park Regis and Leisure Inn, and a combined network of 71 properties across 14 countries. In Australia, their 12 hotels have managed a turnover close to $300 million.

In addition to Prince Hotels’ existing brands Park Regis, Leisure Inn and Prince Hotels, which the business will look at expanding into Australia, they also plan to launch two new brands called ‘Policy’ and ‘Leisure Inn Plus’, differentiating the brands as:

Policy is a lifestyle brand built on the principle of personalised experiences for the maturing millennial. Socially connected and strong brand advocates, guests will discover fresh experiences reflecting the local area, become socially connected with front of house spaces and adapt to an unexpected culture Policy delivers.

Leisure Inn Plus is a uniquely designed brand offering a bang for buck non-traditional hotel experience for the energetic millennial traveller. Abstract room styling is highlighted by feature furnishings, pops of colour and integrated technology millennials desire.

At a glance:

• Japan’s Prince Hotels bought Staywell Hospitality Group for $55 million
• Prince Hotels’ existing brands include Park Regis, Leisure Inn and Prince Hotels
• They plan to launch two new brands called ‘Policy’ and ‘Leisure Inn Plus’
• Prince also plans to extend their global presence to 100 properties in 10 years

Australia is considered a growth sector, and merger of the two hotel owners and operators was a "good synergy", according to Stan Brown, formerly executive vice-president of Prince Hotels Inc, who will move across to StayWell Hospitality Group as the chairman.

"We look at the merger as the opportunity to extend our global presence with the aim of having 100 properties in 10 years, spread across Southeast Asia, Oceania, Australia, the Middle East and parts of Europe," Mr Brown said. "We didn't want to grow for the sake of growing, but we saw StayWell as a great complement to the Seibu and Prince business. We can use our two large loyalty programs and also have good synergies at the back office, sales, marketing and integrated reservation systems areas. There is demand for a range of accommodation options and we have a lot of hotel owners ... looking for a unique offering in an operator to cater for the wide tastes of guests,"

Prince feels there is room for more hotel rooms with the expected increase of inbound tourist to Australia and outbound adventure seekers. Prince will work with operators in a joint venture capacity, or provide some development capital for their expansion. "We want skin in the game so we will work with the hotel owners in a variety of ways, through management expertise or as a new investor," Mr Brown said. Even though Sydney and Melbourne are experiencing a boom in hotel expansion, hoteliers feel there is still an undersupply of beds.

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