7 minute read
South Terrace Synergy
from Hotel SA May 2024
by Boylen
BY DION HAYMAN
For the last few decades, South Terrace hasn’t been the first name on people’s lips when it came to CBD accommodation options.
Yet that wasn’t always the case. In 1977, global supergroup ABBA chose to stay at the Parkroyal Motor Inn when it played in Adelaide during the band’s only Australian tour.
Today, that same property is known as Hotel Alba, one of a trio of adjacent hotel options that make up the South Terrace Precinct, all owned by a private Adelaide family.
The three properties are:
Hotel Alba – full transformed into a 99 room urban oasis
The Terrace Hotel – 136 rooms, each with views over the Adelaide Hills or south of the city
HotelMOTEL – 61 rooms and a 2023 AHA|SA Awards For Excellence winner.
Hotel Alba
The family purchased the Alba 15 years ago in its previous guise as the Chifley, before tripling its portfolio and undertaking a “sizeable” investment with the renovation of its newest acquisitions.
The hotels are managed by EVT (Entertainment Ventures and Travel) which also operates Rydges Hotels, QT Hotels, Atura Hotels and Event Cinemas.
Samantha Farrington has been General Manager of the South Terrace properties since EVT began managing them in 2021.
Part of her mission is to lure custom back to the south side of the city.
“We’re definitely attracting new people to South Terrace, which is really exciting because so much has happened on the north side for so long,” she said.
People are migrating to experience Alba’s ela Restaurant, rapidly gaining traction as one of Adelaide’s must-visit eateries. In one review, The Advertiser raved about its “insanely good dessert”.
“It was really important to us to have a strong food and beverage component,” Samantha said.
“The quality is such that we could have that as a standalone, without needing the guest rooms to accompany it. It’s somewhere where people would want to come as a destination even if they weren’t staying at one of the three properties.”
Completed in September 2023, ela means “to come or gather” in Greek.
Executive chef Nigel Rich and head chef Ashleigh Lindner have curated a menu that values both authenticity and approachability.
Diners could be forgiven for dreaming they are on a Greek island as they indulge in ela's sumptuous Mediterranean offerings against the backdrop of Adelaide’s largest outdoor hotel swimming pool.
“We’ve put a strong focus on the pool because it’s such a unique selling point,” said Samantha.
“It’s a 20 x 5 m pool and has a vast outdoor landscape to work with. Not surprisingly, we utilise that outdoor area for a lot of different events.”
Those events have already included Tasting Australia and the Adelaide Fashion Festival.
The beautifully refurbished 99-room hotel is also winning rave reviews.
“People say it has a bit of a Palm SpringsMediterranean-art deco sort of vibe to the guest rooms and foyer, which is really nice to be able to hit those key accents through the design.
“We’ve completely revitalised the property, which was built in the 1960s and has had many iterations in its time.
“We wanted to strip everything back and essentially start again - but still retain the wonderful elements that come with having an older property.
“The facade has essentially remained unchanged, aside from a 2024 facelift.
“Given it is an older building, the guest rooms were all relatively large for a four-and-a-half star standard hotel room.
“They’re all around 28 square metres and all with beautiful full-length windows and individual balconies as well.”
Hotelmotel
Adelaide’s Studio Nine Architects were commissioned not just to restore Alba but also its next door neighbour, HotelMOTEL.
The property re-opened for business in October, 2021, timed perfectly to capitalise on the then booming driving holiday market after the pandemic.
“It is essentially a fresh take on the classic motel,” Samantha said.
“You roll up, you can park out the front of your guest room, it’s very nostalgic for a lot of people who want to utilise that style of accommodation.”
It is also something of a rarity in an Australian CBD.
“It still retains that motel setting but as soon as you walk into the guest room, you’re greeted with all the modern features you would expect in a four-star hotel room.
“We’re offering guests the best parts of a hotel, coupled with the nostalgia that comes with the motel-like setting.”
Samantha said the concept and nondescript name was the brainchild of the owners.
“They wanted to have that motel aesthetic and motels are really making a comeback.
“It’s a hotel room in a motel setting, hence HotelMOTEL was born, as one word.
“Some people will focus on the word ‘hotel’, others ‘motel’.
“We get a lot of corporate travellers who utilise that property because they recognise they get the benefit of a hotel room in a motel setting.
“If they come from a trade or sales background and they have a vehicle with them, they love the fact they can park out the front of their guest room.”
But HotelMOTEL’s real value may be the amenities it doesn’t offer!
“Guests have the benefit of all the facilities of Hotel Alba next door so they can still access the gym, the pool, the dining options as well.”
The Terrace Hotel
The Terrace Hotel has largely been left untouched. Readers might remember it as The Sage Hotel Adelaide.
It has a prime location across from the parklands and offers casual dining at the Terrace Bar & Kitchen.
While there are no plans to renovate at the moment, Samantha said it may become an option moving forward.
“There’s nothing to say we might not add something down the track in the sizeable space at the back of The Terrace, which is now utilised as a car park.”
South Terrace Synergy
Despite initial fears the three hotels could cannibalise each other, those fears have remained largely unwarranted.
“Each hotel taps into a different market and clientele and it is driven not just by price point but also the facilities that each offers,” she said.
"When we first opened Alba, there was a concern we would take too much away from The Terrace.
“But we held that price point from when we first opened because we wanted to note that there was a difference between the two properties.
“We’ve actually been able to generate new business to South Terrace.”
“At Hotel Alba, the corporate guests are enjoying all the facilities they get at one of the more centralised CBD properties but they’re getting the parklands and an urban oasis feel – they’re here for work but they don’t feel like they’re here for work.
“Our Terrace Hotel is the biggest hotel and still the busiest, even though it hasn’t had the renovation the other two have seen.
“But there is still the need for that economy, mid-scale offering at a very attractive price point where you can still accommodate large groups at the venue in the one space.
“So it’s not the same market.”
The South Terrace triad looms as a major player in the Adelaide hotel space, situated ideally at the city’s entrance for the bulk of motorists who arrive from the southeast.
Samantha is determined to continue to chip away at the stranglehold North Terrace hotels have long enjoyed.
“I think we get caught up in thinking everyone wants to be as close to the action as possible,” she said.
“But many travellers want to explore further out and see the Adelaide Hills, Barossa and McLaren Vale.
“For them, it makes sense to be somewhere which is more accessible and has easy parking.”
The South Terrace Precinct will continue to leverage the hotels’ locations as their chief assets, far removed from the high rises and inner-city noise, yet just a short walk to the free tram that services the CBD.
“By being smart about our rates, positioning and targets, we saw all three of our properties exceed their goals for the AFL’s Gather Round and LIV golf,” said Samantha.
“If we keep playing to our strengths, we will continue to achieve those results.”
