Quest makes UK move

AUSTRALIA’S Quest Apartment Hotels has announced its first move in an international expansion, revealing plans to develop a property in the northern UK city of Liverpool.

The Quest Liverpool City Centre will involve the transformation of an existing commercial office building into a 100-room hotel at a cost of £10 million (A$17m).

Quest founder and chairman Paul Constantinou said the company planned to replicate its successful Australian roll-out to points across the UK.

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

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

The Liverpool property was approved by local authorities last week and work on the building is expected to begin in Dec.

Another two sites have been identified for additional Quest properties and plans for their development are currently “in advanced negotiations”.

“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 & could confidently & aggressively roll-out the brand,” Constantinou said.