DoubleTree by Hilton joins Deicorp’s new Western Sydney precinct, with Trilogy Hotels appointed as hotel operator.

• Hilton has signed DoubleTree by Hilton Parramatta, a 100-room hotel slated to open in late 2028 at 34 Hassall Street in Parramatta.
• The hotel will form part of a mixed-use development by Deicorp Group and will be operated by Trilogy Hotels.
• The signing introduces Hilton to Parramatta and strengthens the company’s Greater Sydney pipeline in one of Western Sydney’s fastest-growing commercial and infrastructure hubs.

Parramatta is set to welcome DoubleTree by Hilton, with Hilton bringing the brand to one of Western Sydney’s fastest-growing commercial and infrastructure hubs.

The 100-room hotel, set to open in late 2028, forms part of Deicorp Group’s Cosmopolitan mixed-use project, which will deliver 597 apartments, retail, commercial, and dining to the area.

The announcement comes as Western Sydney’s visitor economy enters a period of significant expansion, driven by population growth, major infrastructure projects and the opening of Western Sydney International Airport. Industry analysis has identified a growing need for accommodation supply in the area, with major events highlighted as a key driver.

Trilogy Hotels has been appointed to operate the new hotel under a management agreement with Deicorp. It is the third hotel precinct the companies have undertaken together, building on their successful track record of delivering and operating hotels across Sydney.

Tushar Raniga, Director of Development Hilton Australasia, said Parramatta’s growing economic base and connectivity made it a strong fit for the DoubleTree by Hilton brand.

“The signing of DoubleTree by Hilton Parramatta reflects Hilton’s continued growth momentum in Australasia and our strategy to expand in high-demand urban markets where we see long-term opportunity,” said Mr Raniga.

“With Parramatta emerging as Sydney’s second central business district, supported by major infrastructure investment and a diverse demand base, this is a strong fit for DoubleTree by Hilton. We are pleased to build a new relationship with Deicorp Group and continue our partnership with Trilogy Hotels as we strengthen Hilton’s presence in Greater Sydney.”

The hotel will offer 100 guest rooms ranging from 20 to 45 square metres, an all-day dining restaurant and lounge, 667 square metres of event space including meeting rooms, a boardroom and pre-function spaces, as well as fitness and wellness facilities.

Public transport will be a major drawcard, with the Parramatta Light Rail stop directly beside the precinct, and Parramatta Railway Station and Wharf nearby. The upcoming Sydney Metro will add another major connection, while Parramatta Square, Westmead Health Precinct, and Western Sydney University are also within easy reach.

Deicorp Founder Fouad Deiri OAM said the hotel reflected the changing nature of Parramatta and the growing demand for quality hospitality in Western Sydney.

“Parramatta has become one of Australia’s most important economic and residential growth regions,” Mr Deiri said.

“Bringing DoubleTree by Hilton into Deicorp’s Cosmopolitan project is a natural fit for a location with this depth of corporate and leisure demand. Trilogy Hotels has been an invaluable partner on our other mixed-use hotel projects bringing unmatched regional expertise to this Western Sydney project.”

Designed by Turner Studio, Cosmopolitan will deliver a new urban village on the park-side edge of Parramatta’s CBD with 597 apartments across two 46-storey towers, and a three-storey podium incorporating retail, commercial, dining, and hotel. Construction is underway, with DoubleTree by Hilton Parramatta scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2028.

Trilogy Hotels CEO Scott Boyes said returning to work alongside Deicorp, this time with Hilton as franchise partner, reflected the kind of long-term partnerships Trilogy is built on.

“Partnership sits at the centre of how we operate and DoubleTree by Hilton Parramatta is a project where every party is genuinely invested in the outcome. Deicorp’s vision for the precinct, Hilton’s brand and distribution strength, and Trilogy’s local operating model each play a distinct role, and the whole is stronger for it,” Mr Boyes said.

“Parramatta’s transport links, its established commercial core, and the scale of new residential development make this one of the most credible hotel opportunities in Western Sydney. Our commitment to Deicorp and Hilton is to deliver a hotel that performs for owners, resonates with guests, and gives our team a workplace they’re proud of.

The rise of the third-party operator in Australia

Australia’s hotel industry is at an inflection point. The sector is attracting more sophisticated capital, welcoming an increasingly diverse mix of brands and responding to guests whose expectations are higher and more individual than ever. In that environment, one development in our industry deserves far more attention than others: the rise of the third-party hotel operator.

Third-party operators are not a rejection of brands, nor are they simply an alternative management structure. At their best, they are the connective tissue between owners, brands, hotel teams, guests and communities. They bring specialist operating capability to an asset while giving owners the freedom to select the brand, positioning and commercial strategy best suited to that hotel’s market.

The model has deep roots internationally. The experience in the US and Europe shows what can happen when brands increasingly focus on distribution, loyalty and intellectual property, while independent specialist operators take responsibility for day-to-day execution. Australia need not replicate the US and Europe’s path. Our market has its own geography, labour environment, ownership base and demand patterns. But the lessons are relevant: separating the roles of owner, brand and operator can create a more dynamic, accountable and value-focused hotel sector.

A market ready for choice

For many years, Australia’s hotel operating landscape was defined by a relatively simple proposition. An owner selected a brand and, in many cases, appointed that same brand to manage the hotel. It was a logical arrangement. The brand brought a recognised name, a reservation system, global sales capability, operating standards and an established management platform.

That model remains highly relevant. International brands continue to be important partners for Australian hotels, particularly where loyalty, distribution and global recognition can support a property’s performance. The point is not that one model is superior in every circumstance. It is that owners today have more options and increasingly understand the value of exercising them.

Hotels are complex real-estate assets and intensely human businesses. They require capital discipline, commercial expertise, thoughtful design, careful workforce planning and a relentless focus on the guest. The right outcome is not achieved by applying a standard template to every property. A resort in a leisure destination, an airport hotel, a regional conference asset, a CBD lifestyle hotel and an extended-stay property may all sit under the same recognised brands, yet each requires a distinctly different operating playbook.

That is where the third-party operator has emerged as a powerful partner. It enables the owner to select a brand for its strengths while appointing a dedicated operating company to focus on performance at property level. It also gives owners an alternative via operational capability where an independent, soft-branded or white-label positioning is the better commercial answer for that owner and that hotel.

Alignment is the opportunity

The most compelling feature of the third-party model is alignment. A quality operator succeeds when the hotel succeeds not only in top-line revenue, but in profitability, team engagement, guest satisfaction, reputation, community relevance and long-term asset value.

This changes the conversation. Rather than treating the management agreement as a fixed operating arrangement, the owner and operator can build a partnership around a shared business plan. They can ask: What is the hotel’s purpose in its market? Where are the opportunities? Which guests should it serve? What revenue mix is most valuable? Where should capital be deployed? Which costs genuinely support the guest experience, and which simply reflect old outdated habits?

The answers will differ from asset to asset. That is precisely the point. Third-party management creates room for a hotel to be managed as the individual business it is.

In practical terms, this can mean a more direct relationship between owner and operator, clearer reporting and a stronger focus on agreed performance measures. It can also mean a more entrepreneurial response when conditions change. Australia has seen just how quickly trading environments can shift: demand cycles move, inbound travel returns, group patterns evolve, costs rise and new supply enters the market. The ability to adjust pricing, sales priorities, staffing structures, food-and-beverage concepts and local partnerships is increasingly valuable.

None of this should be confused with indiscriminate cost cutting. Great hotel operations are not built by taking service out of the experience. They are built by putting resources where they matter most: in capable people, memorable guest moments, disciplined commercial decisions and assets that remain relevant to their market.

Brands and operators: better together

There is a misconception that third-party operators and global brands must be competitors. In reality, the most mature markets demonstrate the opposite. The two can be highly complementary.

Brands are exceptionally strong at what they are designed to do: creating customer recognition, delivering loyalty platforms, supporting distribution, setting standards and providing access to global commercial networks. Third-party operators bring a different but equally important skill set: local operating leadership, owner advocacy, team development, agile decision-making and an asset-specific focus on profit and performance.

When these roles are well defined, the hotel benefits. The brand can concentrate on the strength of its platform; the operator can concentrate on translating that platform into a high-performing hotel in a particular Australian market; and the owner can maintain clear oversight of the investment.

For a developer, this partnership can begin long before a guest checks in. A credible third-party operator can contribute to feasibility, design and technical services, back-of-house planning, pre-opening budgets, staffing models, procurement and brand negotiations. Those early decisions matter enormously. A hotel’s operational efficiency is often determined years before opening, in the way its spaces are designed, systems are selected and service model is conceived.

For existing assets, the contribution may involve repositioning, rebranding, operational turnaround or a fresh commercial strategy. It may be a review of the hotel’s revenue mix, a reset of its food-and-beverage offer, better integration with the local community or a more disciplined approach to capital expenditure. The objective is not change for its own sake. It is to unlock the full potential of the asset.

The Australian advantage

Australia is particularly well suited to a stronger third-party operating sector. We are not one uniform market. Our capital cities have distinctive demand profiles; regional tourism destinations operate to different seasonal rhythms; and our hotels often sit within broader precincts, mixed-use developments, resorts or community destinations.

This diversity rewards local knowledge. An operator with a genuinely Australian perspective can understand the difference between a Sydney weekday corporate pattern and a weekend leisure opportunity; between a Queensland resort’s experiential promise and a Melbourne hotel’s food, events and culture proposition; between a regional hotel’s role as an employer and gathering place, and a city asset’s role within a global travel network.

The model also has a broader industry benefit. Strong third-party operators create career pathways for hospitality people. Scale enables investment in leadership development, training, mobility and specialist support across revenue, sales, finance, people and culture, technology and procurement. Yet an independent operating company can retain the closeness, pace and entrepreneurial energy that make hospitality an exciting career.

That matters. Hotels do not succeed because of logos, systems or spreadsheets alone. They succeed because people care; about their owner. the guest, their colleagues, their community and the standard of the experience they create. The best operators use structure and technology to support that human work, not replace it.

The next phase

The future of third-party management in Australia will be determined by credibility. Owners should demand more than a management company with a good presentation and big pro forma numbers. They should look for an operator with proven leadership, transparent reporting, robust governance, commercial depth, a clear people strategy and the ability to work constructively with brands, lenders and investors.

Increasingly, the operator differentiator will be the ability to combine operational excellence with asset thinking: to protect today’s cash flow while building tomorrow’s value.

Technology will accelerate this shift. Better data can sharpen decisions around pricing, labour, energy, guest preference and distribution. But data only becomes valuable when it leads to action. The future belongs to operators who can convert insight into better service, smarter investment and stronger returns.

The rise of the third-party operator is therefore not merely a contractual trend. It is an evolution in how Australia thinks about hotel ownership and operations. It gives owners more choice, gives brands a capable pathway to grow, gives hotel teams broader opportunities and gives individual properties the freedom to perform on their own merits.

For an industry built on welcoming people, that is a compelling proposition. The third-party model brings together the strengths of ownership, brand and operational expertise around a common objective: creating hotels that are more responsive, more resilient and more valuable for guests, teams, communities and investors alike.

As shared exclusively with HM Magazine: The Rise of the Third-Party Operator in Australia – Hotel Management

The Operator Is the Product: Does a Third-Party Operator Model Actually Improve Hotel Performance?

By Scott Boyes, Chief Executive Officer, Trilogy Hotels · 9 August 2026

A response to “Exclusive: weighing the value and risk of TPO and Franchise models” by Daisy Melwani, Hotel Management, 31 July 2026, reporting the APAC third-party operator and franchise survey conducted by Watson Farley & Williams LLP (Lada Shelkovnikova and Robert Williams) at the request of AHICE, from circa 50 responses.

In one line

The survey’s central finding — that performance is determined by operator quality, not by the model — is the right conclusion, and it sets the standard Trilogy Hotels is willing to be measured against.
Owners should demand a common performance test: adjusted GOP after actual FF&E and capital expenditure, versus budget.
If operator fees are variable and performance-linked, franchise fees should be too.

What did the Watson Farley & Williams survey actually find?

Lada Shelkovnikova and Robert Williams have done the industry a genuine service. This is the first time anyone has put real data behind a conversation Australian and Asian owners have been having privately for three or four years, and the findings deserve engagement rather than applause.
I will take the findings in turn, because some of them confirm what we see every week, and a few of them deserve a harder push.

Does a third-party operator model actually improve hotel performance?

The survey concludes that performance will be determined not by the model itself, but by the quality of the operator. That is the most important line in the document, and I would go further.
The model is not the product. Separating brand from operations does not, on its own, create a dollar of GOP. It creates the conditions for it — a leaner cost base, faster local decisions, and an operator whose only measure of success is the owner’s return. What converts those conditions into performance is people on the ground who know the market, and a head office small enough to answer the phone.
That is why the almost 50% scepticism about performance uplift does not offend me. It is a fair verdict on a young segment that has grown quickly and unevenly. Owners are right to demand evidence rather than narrative. Our answer is simple: judge us on adjusted GOP after actual FF&E and capital expenditure against budget, and give us a portfolio track record to point at.

Trilogy Hotels’ evidence base

 How much operational control do owners keep under a TPO model?

Seventy-four per cent of respondents to the Watson Farley & Williams survey want either a high degree of operational control or structured HMA-style controls, which is not a caution flag for our model. It is the reason our model exists. The traditional branded HMA asked owners to hand over the asset and receive a report. The TPO structure inverts that: the owner sets the strategy, approves the budget, signs off the big-ticket spend and the key appointments, and we execute.
The nuance the survey surfaces is worth naming. Control without capability is expensive. The owners who get the most from a third-party operator are the ones who use control to set direction, not to run the hotel by committee. Our best owner relationships are the ones where governance is tight and operating latitude is real.

Should hotel owners unbundle brand, operations, marketing and distribution?

Most of the debate is framed as brand versus no brand. That is the wrong axis. There are four separable layers in a hotel, and the market has historically bundled all four into one contract and one fee stack — with owners paying for the bundle whether or not each layer earned its keep.

The four-layer test

Unbundling means an owner can take a global brand where the brand genuinely drives rate and occupancy, run distribution through the platforms best suited to that asset, and buy operations from whoever will actually deliver the EBITDA. In a CBD hotel with a strong corporate base, or an airport asset, the brand often earns every basis point. In regional and coastal midscale, an independent or soft-branded position with disciplined operations will frequently out-earn the franchise fee it replaces. The right answer is asset-specific, and owners deserve an operator willing to tell them when the brand is not worth the money.

Do brand standards justify the capital expenditure they require?

A Performance-Linked Brand Agreement is a staged franchise fee structure, developed by Trilogy Hotels for conversion assets, in which the franchise fee rises only when two independent performance gates are met, falls when performance falls, is capped at an agreed ceiling, and gives the owner a termination right if direct business drops below an agreed floor.

Franchise fees should be a variable cost tied to demonstrated contribution, not a fixed tax on revenue. That is where the next phase of this conversation is heading.

How should third-party operator fees be structured?

The finding that owners are not yet ready to share exit upside is entirely reasonable — and the authors are right that the answer changes if the operator has capital in the deal. Operators should not expect equity-style returns from a management-fee risk position.
What we should expect is a fee structure weighted toward incentive and measured on adjusted GOP after actual capital expenditure. That single mechanism does more for alignment than any amount of contractual drafting. It rewards preventative maintenance over deferred maintenance, it removes the incentive to harvest short-term margin, and it places operator and owner on the same side of the below-GOP line — which is precisely where most value is quietly destroyed in this industry.

Can an owner terminate a third-party operator agreement without cause?

The 37% of respondents to the Watson Farley & Williams survey want termination without cause on short notice are asking for something entirely rational from their side of the table, and I do not begrudge it. But the warning in the survey is right: an operator on a 90-day leash manages for the next 90 days.

Trilogy Hotels’ contracting position

• We will accept a genuinely demanding performance test — adjusted GOP versus budget, with defined cure rights and a clear exit if we fail it twice.
• We will accept shorter tenure than a traditional branded HMA.
• We will accept lender step-in and termination on foreclosure. In a white-label structure there is no brand equity argument against it.
• We will not take on a turnaround, invest in the team, rebuild the commercial engine and carry the ramp-up cost on terms that let the relationship end before the work pays off.

Owners who want an operator to think in three-year horizons need to contract in three-year horizons.

Are third-party operators more resilient in a downturn?

More than 60% of respondents to the Watson Farley & Williams survey believe the model is more agile in a downturn, which matches our experience precisely. In 2020 and 2021, the operators who struggled most were those making portfolio-wide decisions from offshore for assets they had not visited. Local operators made faster, better and more humane calls — on cost, on staffing, and on which segments to chase back first.
We are heading into another period where that will be tested, and I would add a dimension the survey does not cover. In Australia, the constraint on hotel performance over the next five years is not brand distribution. It is finding, training and keeping people, under a Fair Work framework that rewards employers who genuinely invest in careers. An operator with a small head office and real relationships in every hotel retains teams better than a distant corporate structure. That is an operating advantage, and it goes straight to the GOP line.

What should change in third-party operator contracts?

Trilogy Hotels supports all three, and is willing to go first on the third.

What three questions should every hotel owner ask a third-party operator?

Every operating decision at Trilogy Hotels runs through three stakeholders. Applied to this survey, that gives owners a usable test for any third-party operator conversation.

Closing

The authors close by saying this is just the beginning. I agree. The TPO plus franchise model is not a trend, it is a correction — the market rediscovering that operating a hotel and marketing a hotel are two different businesses, requiring two different contracts and two different measures of success.
The operators who last will be the ones happy to be measured on the harder one.

Scott Boyes
Chief Executive Officer, Trilogy Hotels

Frequently asked questions about third-party hotel operators

1. What is a third-party hotel operator?
A third-party hotel operator runs a hotel on behalf of its owner without owning the brand. The owner sets the strategy, approves the budget, signs off big-ticket spending and key appointments, and the operator executes. It separates the operating contract from the brand contract, so the two can be bought — and judged — independently.
—
2. Is a franchise or a third-party operator better for a hotel owner?
It depends on the asset, and an owner should expect a straight answer rather than a default. In a CBD hotel with a strong corporate base, or an airport asset, the brand often earns every basis point of its fee. In regional and coastal midscale, an independent or soft-branded position with disciplined operations will frequently out-earn the franchise fee it replaces.
—
3. What are the four layers of a hotel operating model?
Operations, brand, marketing and distribution. The market has historically bundled all four into one contract and one fee stack, with owners paying for the bundle whether or not each layer earned its keep. Separating them lets an owner buy each layer from whoever delivers it best: operations judged on GOP margin above market, brand on whether it returns more than the fee it charges, marketing on spend traceable to booked revenue, and distribution on fit for that asset rather than for the group.
—
4. What is a Performance-Linked Brand Agreement?
A Performance-Linked Brand Agreement is a staged franchise fee structure, developed by Trilogy Hotels for conversion assets, in which the franchise fee rises only when two independent performance gates are met, falls when performance falls, is capped at an agreed ceiling, and gives the owner a termination right if direct business drops below an agreed floor. The principle is that franchise fees should be a variable cost tied to demonstrated contribution, not a fixed tax on revenue.
—
5. What is adjusted GOP, and why do operators measure against it?
Adjusted gross operating profit after actual FF&E and capital expenditure, versus budget. More than 75% of owners and investors surveyed* favoured it as the fair test of operator performance. It matters because it places operator and owner on the same side of the below-GOP line — it rewards preventative maintenance over deferred maintenance and removes the incentive to harvest short-term margin.
*Watson Farley & Williams survey as reported by Hotel Management, 31 July 2026.
—
6. How should third-party operator fees be structured?
Weighted toward incentive and measured on adjusted GOP after actual capital expenditure. That single mechanism does more for alignment than any amount of contractual drafting. Operators should not expect equity-style returns from a management-fee risk position — owners in the survey were not yet prepared to share exit upside, and that is a reasonable position unless the operator has capital in the deal.
—
7. Can an owner terminate a third-party operator agreement without cause?
Some can and do — 37% of owners surveyed* wanted termination without cause on short notice. But an operator on a 90-day leash manages for the next 90 days. The more durable arrangement is a genuinely demanding performance test with defined cure rights and a clear exit on repeated failure, rather than termination at will.
*As reported by Hotel Management.
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8. Are third-party operators more resilient during a downturn?
More than 60% of owners and investors surveyed* believe the third-party operator plus franchise model is more agile in a downturn, particularly on cost control. In 2020 and 2021, the operators who struggled most were those making portfolio-wide decisions from offshore for assets they had not visited; local operators made faster, better and more humane calls on cost, staffing and which segments to chase back first.
*As reported by Hotel Management.
—
9. Do owners lose control by appointing a third-party operator?
No — control is the point. Seventy-four per cent of respondents* wanted either a high degree of operational control or structured HMA-style controls. The traditional branded HMA asked owners to hand over the asset and receive a report; the third-party operator structure inverts that. The caveat is that control without capability is expensive: the owners who get the most from the model use control to set direction, not to run the hotel by committee.
*derived from the survey’s 37% + 37%, as reported by Hotel Management.
—
10. What three questions should an owner ask a third-party operator?
Is the fee structure weighted to outcomes I actually care about, and measured below the GOP line? Does the operating model improve the guest experience, or only the cost line? Will this operator attract and keep good people in my hotel? Good answers look like incentive-weighted fees tested on adjusted GOP after actual capital expenditure, margin earned through commercial discipline rather than withdrawn service, and demonstrable retention with local leadership.

Source

Melwani, D. “Exclusive: weighing the value and risk of TPO and Franchise models”, Hotel Management, 31 July 2026. https://www.hotelmanagement.com.au/2026/07/31/exclusive-insights-third-party-operator-franchise-value-risk-reality/ — reporting the APAC third-party operator and franchise survey conducted by Watson Farley & Williams LLP (Lada Shelkovnikova and Robert Williams) at the request of AHICE, with circa 50 responses from hotel owners, developers and investors.

Back in February, Trilogy Hotels CEO Scott Boyes shared his insights with HM Magazine on the hotel landscape and the outlook for the year ahead.

Trilogy Hotels Operator Outlook

The past year has confirmed just how amazing and exciting the Australian hotel market has become, and Trilogy Hotels is excited to play our role in promoting change in our wonderful industry. As international travel returns in full force and domestic demand remains strong, owners, teams, and guests are all leaning into a new era of growth, opportunity, and possibility.​

Looking back at 2025

Across Australia, hotel performance strengthened again in 2025, with major cities recording solid gains in occupancy, rate and RevPAR on the back of significant events and a full calendar of leisure and corporate travel. For Trilogy Hotels, that backdrop supported a rapid ramp-up of our platform, with a growing portfolio of managed hotels now spanning over 15 hotels and more than 3,000 rooms across multiple global brands.

This scale has enabled us to demonstrate the value of an independent management model that is laser-focused on EBITDA, owner alignment, and on-the-ground agility. Owners are increasingly looking for partners who can move quickly, make local decisions, and still tap into the power of big brands via franchise – that is precisely the gap Trilogy Hotels was created to fill.​

Development hotspots and opportunities

On the back of a strong level of growing demand through broader Sydney,  Western Sydney has become one of the most compelling hotel investment stories in the country, and it is a core focus for Trilogy Hotels. With Western Sydney International Airport set to open in 2026 and major cultural and sporting infrastructure coming online, the region is poised to welcome millions of additional visitors, requiring thousands of new rooms over the coming years.​

Beyond Greater Sydney, markets such as Brisbane, Perth, and key leisure destinations continue to post strong trading, creating opportunities for conversions, repositioning plays, and new-build select-service hotels. The common theme is that owners seek flexible structures that protect returns in a higher-cost environment while still delivering an elevated and appropriate guest experience and value, as room rates continue to rise.​

Travel trends reshaping demand

Three trends are standing out across our portfolio.​

• Experience‑led travel is no longer niche; guests want local stories, thoughtful F&B and an authentic connection with place.​
• Bleisure is firmly established, driving longer lengths of stay and stronger demand for shoulder nights, particularly in gateway and event cities.​ Longevity v traditional wellness is also a theme playing out for leisure stays.
• Sustainability and value are at the forefront of travellers’ minds, with travellers rewarding hotels that are transparent about their environmental impact, service promise, and overall value proposition.​

These shifts play directly to the strengths of an agile manager who can tailor concepts and outcomes on an asset-by-asset basis. At Trilogy Hotels, we believe in and deliver individual focus, attention, and strategy, while leveraging global brand and distribution platforms to provide the best possible outcomes for owners, teams, and guests.

2026 challenges and how we’ll respond

Looking into 2026, there are some headwinds alongside the incredible optimism. Wage and compliance pressures remain elevated, new supply will be added into some markets faster than demand, and global economic uncertainty is likely to test both rate growth and financing conditions.

Trilogy Hotels’ answer is to double down on three things:

1) Smarter use of data to make practical and effective real-time decisions to optimise mix, price and value;

2) Disciplined cost management that protects guest experience; and

3) Deep investment in our people so that service levels remain a genuine point of difference.

By keeping decision-making close to the asset and empowering hotel leaders, we can respond more quickly than traditional models when market conditions shift.​

The changing management landscape

Australia is embracing third-party and white-label management, similar to that of North America and Europe, which have been doing so for years. Brands are increasingly comfortable separating franchise operations from day-to-day activities, and owners are seeing the benefits of having an independent advocate at the table who is wholly aligned with the owner’s outcomes.

This evolution is beneficial for the entire ecosystem: brands can expand their footprint, owners gain transparency and control, and talented hotel teams have clearer career pathways within high-performance operating platforms. Trilogy Hotels’ goal is to be the partner of choice in that space – measured not by how many flags we fly, but by the returns, culture and guest advocacy we help create.​

Outlook and what’s next

With international visitation forecasted to surpass pre-pandemic levels over the next two years, and with major infrastructure such as Western Sydney International coming online, the medium-term outlook for Australian hotels is exceptionally positive.

Trilogy Hotels will continue to build its footprint in Australia and other maturing markets. We will focus on the markets we have a desire to be in and explore appropriate international expansion. In all cases, we want to be where our model can genuinely scale with quality and add value to our stakeholders.​

Above all, our priority is to continue delivering for the three groups that matter most to us: our owners, our teams, and our guests. If 2025 was about proving the strength of our platform, 2026 will be about scaling that impact – hotel by hotel, market by market, with a relentless focus on partnership and performance.​

HM February 2026 Issue

The Australasian Development Outlook

Scott Boyes, Chief Executive Officer, June 2026

Australasia’s hotel development landscape is being reshaped by an industry-wide shift in how hotels are branded, managed and powered by technology platforms. That shift is creating a very specific window for specialist third party operators like Trilogy Hotels. Across the region, we see three converging forces.

Firstly, the traditional full management model is giving way to brand franchising and flexible structures, as major brands drive their franchising platforms and owners seek stronger alignment between operating performance and investment returns. STR data indicates that for Australian hotels with more than 50 rooms, only a minority operate under traditional brand management agreements, with a rapidly growing share now franchised and the vast majority independent. This is a structural gap that white-label operators are beginning to fill.

Secondly, the maturity of cloud-based distribution, revenue, and property management platforms means owners can now separate “brand” from “operations”, combining global brand engines with local, focused, independent, data-driven management to unlock EBITDA.

Thirdly, capital is increasingly focused on execution: in a market where new supply, construction costs and financing conditions remain challenging, investors are seeking partners who can deliver growth and outperformance at the asset level.

For Trilogy Hotels, this is the moment for which we were built. As a pureplay independent management platform, we work with our brand partners and owners to curate an environment with the right brand, tech stack, and on-property leadership team for each asset, while remaining entirely focused on owner returns, growing careers, and guest experience.

We are seeing strong interest from city, urban, and regional owners who want big-brand demand engines without sacrificing local agility, whether that’s a major conversion like Courtyard by Marriott Darwin or bespoke strategies for investment-grade independents.

Over 2026 and 2027, we expect Australia’s under-penetrated third-party management segment to expand rapidly. This will be driven by more complex brand and deal structures, deeper adoption of integrated management platforms, and a clear premium for operators who can translate this complexity into sustainable EBITDA growth for owners, care for teams, and experiences for guests.

From the June 2026 issue of HM Magazine

Hotel Management Magazine:

Hotel industry speakers said Australia’s next generation of leaders would need commercial discipline, adaptability and strong people skills as AI, constrained supply, mixed-use development and shifting guest expectations reshaped the sector.

The 2026 AHICE Future Leaders Forum was hosted by the respected Professor Simon Pawson, Associate Dean of the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School. Professor Pawson is a key figure in hospitality education and industry and is heavily involved with AHICE, frequently moderating panels, speaking on industry trends, and welcoming the next generation of leaders.

The Future Leaders Forum 2026 examined career pathways, leadership resilience, hotel development, operations, technology and the importance of building industry networks. The discussion was framed by the hotel school’s role in developing talent, with Pawson noting that industry input remained essential to producing graduates of value. The school’s evolution from its 1991 origins to campuses in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide was used to underline the sector’s growing need for executive education, applied management training and research-led industry partnership.

The first panel, hosted by Tristan Cooper of Marriott International, explored careers in hotel property and development. Speakers from Colliers, CBRE, JLL, Accor and Trilogy Hotels said many had entered hotels indirectly, often through broader property, valuations, law or operations roles. Sam Abel from Colliers described hotels as “a sub-sector almost in its own little area of property”, while Taylor Morris rom CBRE said she knew quickly that hotels were where she wanted to stay because it was “such a dynamic sector” and “such a beautiful asset class”. Chris Boyd from JLL brought an operations-led background, saying every job he had held had been “somewhat related to hotels.”

A recurring theme was the variety of hotel work. Josie Hungerford from Trilogy Hotels said her first major multi-hotel deal showed her that “no deal has been structured the same and every deal has been different”. The panel agreed that hotels demanded both technical knowledge and human skills. Valuations were identified as a strong foundation for understanding KPIs, value drivers and investor expectations. Hungerford said her legal background had been useful, not only for knowledge, but for “conflict resolution, negotiation, communication”, and relationship building.

Looking ahead, the panel identified AI, constrained supply, mixed-use development and branded residences as defining issues. Chris Boyd said AI would affect “every realm within our industry, from ops to brokerage”, while Taylor Morris from CBRE argued that rising construction and labour costs would restrict new supply and support occupancy, rates and existing asset values. Mixed-use projects were seen as a practical response, with hotels increasingly positioned within broader “living” and destination precincts.

A leadership discussion with 1834 Hotels Executive Chairman, Andrew Bullock, interviewed by Serene Capital Strategy and Investor Relations Manager Amelia Perez and CBRE Asia Pacific Senior Negotiator – Capital Markets, Hotels, Nick Hill, focused on managing uncertainty. Andrew compared the GFC and COVID, noting that each presented distinct challenges but that both reinforced the importance of resilience and balance sheet strength. His key advice was that “there is always a way through”, and he told younger leaders to “keep going, keep the line, keep your head up and just try and make good decisions every single day”. On AI, Andrew compared its impact to the adoption of the internet, saying its efficiency gains were already evident in tasks such as food and beverage displacement analysis. He said AI literacy would become “one of those absolute key skills” for future leaders.

The final panel, led by Scott Barton of EVT, looked at operations and career pathways. Nick Lockyer from Accor said hotels had allowed him to turn “pulling beers into a career,” and later move from operations to development. Jessica James, GM of QT Canberra, contrasted this with a more deliberate path, saying she had known from age 15 that she wanted a hotel career and had become a GM at 24 after taking regional and international opportunities. James Clark of Ovolo Hotels stressed empowerment, describing an internal “Shark Tank” concept where staff at all levels contributed ideas, including a rooftop beehive that produced 45 kilograms of honey.

The closing YHL (Young Hotel Leaders) update reinforced networking as a career accelerator. Speakers from Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide described YHL as a practical network for young hotel leaders across operations, valuation, legal, construction and investment disciplines. Its expansion to Adelaide was presented as further evidence of a sector investing in its next generation.

All panelists and hosts agreed that future leaders needed resilience, curiosity and confidence with technology, while the industry had to keep investing in talent, mentoring and networks that helped emerging professionals build meaningful, long-term careers.

Source: Hotel Management Magazine 

Media Release – Government of South Australia – Tuesday 5 May 2026

Adelaide’s accommodation sector is experiencing record investment, with a new Hilton Hotel in the city’s East End the latest project in an unprecedented pipeline of hotel developments.

The new Hilton Adelaide East End will be built at 299 Pirie Street, marking the next chapter in the brand’s long-standing presence in the city. Spanning 27 stories, Hilton Adelaide East End will be a 251-room new-build hotel. Developed under a franchise agreement with Auriga Investments and to be operated by Trilogy Hotels, the hotel will form part of Arcadia, a contemporary mixed-use project set to revitalise the eastern end of the CBD.

Across the Adelaide area, 15 hotels are currently in various stages of development − 11 in the CBD including the 35-storey Treehouse Hotel next to the Adelaide Central Market, which is scheduled for completion at the end of this year. Four hotels are underway in the outer metro area including the five-storey Panaroma Hotel on Goodwood Road, which is near completion. Two hotels opened last year the seven-storey George Hotel at Glenelg and Urban Rest Hackney Hotel.

In total, the hotel pipeline will see an additional 2,161 rooms added to Adelaide’s accommodation offering. The Hilton in Victoria Square was last year bought by Thai hotel group Amora Hotels and Resorts which plans to spend $40 million upgrading the site into a five-star luxury offering. Hilton’s announcement comes as more than 1,500 hotel investors from across the globe gather in Adelaide this week for the Asia Pacific Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition.

“Our state is experiencing undeniable economic momentum. People are looking to South Australia to invest in. This unprecedented growth in the accommodation sector is a direct result of our investment in major events, including MotoGP. Investments like these create jobs during construction, long-term employment within the hospitality sector and support our tourism and hospitality industry more broadly. The momentum is set to continue with the largest hotel conference in the Asia Pacific region here in Adelaide this week. This is where the industry comes together, partnerships are formed and hotel deals are done.”

– Peter Malinauskas

“These sorts of investments further support South Australia’s growing reputation as a world-class destination state. Our unique tourism offerings and calendar of events continue attract visitors from interstate and abroad and it’s important our accommodation sector grows with our status. Hilton has a long history in Adelaide and it’s fantastic that their story will continue with a new chapter in our city’s vibrant East End.”

-Emily Bourke

260505_MALINAUSKAS_BOURKE_Record_investment_in_Adelaide_hotels.01

Two years ago today, Trilogy Hotels was born out of a big dream—to build a hotel management company with people at the centre of everything we do.

Our purpose is simple: to serve our owners, guests, and teams. Trilogy Day is more than an anniversary; it’s a moment to celebrate the extraordinary community that makes us who we are.

Trilogy Hotels’ real magic isn’t only in our independent, agile business model—though that’s delivering fantastic results for our owners. The difference is our people. It’s our community that brings genuine hospitality to life every single day.

We have endless gratitude to those who make Trilogy Hotels’ vision real:

• Our Hotel Owners – whose trust made this journey possible from day one.
• Our GMs and hotel teams – creating thousands of magic moments for guests and each other.
• Our Industry Partners – proving daily that ours is an industry of wonderful people doing extraordinary things.
• Our Families – who support and encourage us to chase our dreams and reach new heights.
• Our Brand Partners – who’ve embraced Trilogy and built incredible partnerships with us.
• Our Guests – without whom we would have no business, and no “why”.

THANK YOU

The Australian hotel industry is evolving rapidly. At Trilogy Hotels, we embrace the freedom to dream big, move fast, rise to the challenge of change, act boldly, and actively shape our future together. Our belief matches our passion for hospitality; we live by the ethos of being good and doing good for everyone on this journey with us.

Thank you, Tony Ryan and Grant Alchin; you are remarkable business partners, this simply would not have happened without you. To the Trilogy Hotels tribe, you are the absolute best in the business; I am proud to work with you. To every single person in our orbit, your support makes this incredible journey possible.

Looking forward, we see a bright future: a strong portfolio, an exciting pipeline of things to come, and the privilege of working alongside extraordinary people, doing what we were meant to do. It does not get any better than that!

Two years on, we are grateful and energised. Although we celebrate two fantastic years today, we’re only just getting started.

Happy Trilogy Hotels Day Everybody – Exciting Times Ahead.

In HM’s 2025 Australasian Development Outlook, Trilogy Hotels Chief Executive Officer, Scott Boyes, shares key opportunities and insights into Australasia’s evolving hotel development landscape.

Source: Ruth Hogan, HM Magazine 

There are exciting times ahead as we navigate through 2025. Australia’s hotel sector, whilst choppy, continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience with national occupancy rates at 71% and RevPAR up 3.8% to $171. Despite ongoing challenges, this growth creates a landscape ripe with both hurdles and opportunities.

Sydney leads the recovery charge with occupancy at 78% and RevPAR growing to an impressive $215, making this market our standout performer. Conversely, Melbourne and Hobart continue to face headwinds from supply increases and slightly softening domestic leisure demand.

In New Zealand, we see a similar dichotomy—Queenstown, Christchurch, and Rotorua benefit from returning international visitors. Auckland is grappling with increased room inventory, and Wellington is adjusting to reduced government spending.

Third-party management, stakeholder experiences, and technology integration are key trends reshaping our industry. Eco-certified properties are no longer niche but necessary, with major operators prioritising this. The premium/luxury segments continue to expand, particularly with branded residences attracting both domestic and international guests.

The premium and experiential hotel segments present compelling opportunities. Properties offering immersive experiences command premium rates as travellers increasingly value authenticity over standardisation. We’re also seeing strong performance in market mix diversity, where segments combine to offset the ups and downs of current economic and global conditions.

After subdued transaction activity in 2024 ($1.25 billion in transactions to October), we anticipate increased momentum in 2025 as interest rates plateau. While construction costs have tempered new developments, this has heightened the value of existing assets, particularly in supply-constrained markets.  In addition, developers are also sourcing creative ways to deliver economically viable hotel projects.

Introducing 60 new international flight routes enhances Australia’s connectivity to key Asian markets, North America, and Europe, further strengthening investment fundamentals for strategically positioned assets.

For Trilogy Hotels, we are excited and optimistic about the future. We remain focused on markets demonstrating strong performance outcomes for owners while selectively exploring opportunities in emerging destinations where we can leverage these evolving consumer preferences and travel patterns.

Trilogy Hotels was proud to sponsor the Airport City Summit 2025, hosted by the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue. The event took place at the William Inglis Hotel in Sydney on 13 March 2025.

The summit gathered federal, state, and local government leaders, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, along with key industry stakeholders, to discuss transformative advancements in Western Sydney alongside the opening of the Western Sydney International Airport in late 2026.

Trilogy Hotels CEO, Scott Boyes, was a featured speaker on the visitor economy panel entitled, “How to Welcome the World to the West.”

Scott emphasised the importance of collaborative governance and public and private partnerships to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a world-class tourism precinct. He underlined the necessity of developing sustainable demand drivers and coordinated attractions that benefit individual communities as well as the entire region.

Thank you to Christopher Brown AM, Adam Leto, Brett Towers, Marushka Noronha, Annabelle L., Julie Renton, and the entire Dialogue team for making this incredible event happen.

Trilogy Hotels is committed to supporting the growth of Western Sydney, and we look forward to bringing people together to shape its future as a premier tourism and economic hub.