Allegro Funds has bought Great Southern Rail, the loss-making owner and operator of The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Overland trains and products, for just £2.5m from Serco, a troubled UK company selling non-core assets. Allegro, an active investor that looks for turnaround opportunities, has said it will keep the present management team. Serco said it sold […]
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Lenoir takes the plunge, passes the CEO baton at Rezdy
Founder Simon Lenoir has made the big decision to step away from his day to day management responsibilities at Rezdy, handing the CEO reins to Chris Atkin, previously Chief Operating Officer. Lenoir, originally a software developer who has been working massive hours since starting the business in 2011, says he first thought of stepping back around […]
Chinese company wins approval for Club Med purchase
French travel icon, Club Med, will be likely Chinese-owned by February 9 after regulators approved the takeover bid by Fosun International, which has offered €24.60 per share for the resort operator, valuing it at around €939 million. Fosun has been in a bidding war with Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi for Club Med since May, 2013, the […]
Welcome To Accor’s New Business Model
AccorHotels has announced it’s embarking on a new strategy that will see the global hotelier sell the rooms of independent hotels (for a commission of course) and also provide them with technology services, much like a modern Online Travel Agent. The big difference of course is that Accor also owns or operates 3700 properties in […]
Former Rydges on Swanston to rebrand as Crowne Plaza
The former Rydges on Swanston, the incubator for 90% of Victoria’s deadly second COVID wave, will be refurbished and rebranded as Crowne Plaza Melbourne Carlton. New owner Ross Pelligra bought the property for $35 million in September, and says: “We plan to lift the game and give this property a full refurb and a fresh […]
Australian short term rental booking growth leads the world
Leading short term property management platform Guesty reports that sector bookings in Australia grew faster than any other country during September. “In September, we saw a 5% increase in reservation volume worldwide compared to August,” the company said. “Australia had the biggest increase in reservation volume worldwide – up 25% month on month.” Guesty also revealed that […]
Veriu takes 16 years to become overnight success story
Opportunistic and casually ambitious – that’s one way to describe the team driving Veriu, a hotel brand that’s seemingly come from nowhere in the Australian marketplace, most recently winning the race to acquire the Punt Hill brand and leases on its 13 properties. But Veriu is anything but an upstart with roots stretching back to 2002 when […]
Tumbarumba proves NSW needs more rail trails
Tumbarumba – a sleepy timber, grape growing and grazing town in the bucolic Snowy Valleys of NSW – is undergoing a quiet tourism revolution. It’s all down to a new ‘rail trail’ that’s attracted more than 12,000 riders since a low-key opening during peak-COVID last April. Now other towns in the region want to join […]
David Hammon, CEO and Director, Hammons Holdings
David is currently CEO and a Director of Hammons Holdings, the company which owns Australia’s most visited privately owned tourism attraction, Scenic World. Under David’s leadership, Hammons Holdings was recently appointed to operate tourism activities on the Sydney Harbour Bridge following a rigorous tender process driven by the NSW StateGovernment. The appointment marks one of the greatest […]
125 Helloworld franchisees close shop, business raises $50m
Helloworld has revealed that 125 of its franchise travel agencies have closed their shops due to the impact of COVID over the past few months. The Australia and New Zealand retail chain – ASX code HLO – made the revelation when announcing a $50m equity raise of new fully paid shares, which was successfully completed […]