Albury, NSW

Mercure Albury, previously known as Hotel on Olive was purchased in 2016 for $6 million with an EBITDA of $300k and cost of sales 60%. The property had low street appeal, dated facilities and substandard branding.

Mandala’s Approach

We knew that ‘Hotel on Olive’ required significant efforts to revitalise the hotels reputation, and encourage guests visiting this spectacular ‘border town’ to try the product. A key element of our success was deciding to switch the hotels branding to well known midscale hotel brand, Mercure.

Picture: Reception before renovations

Investing in the right areas

Mercure Albury underwent an 18 month recalibration of the business. Mandala integrated the National sales, systems and shared services that supported the property to grow.

Strict cost control processes were put in place, whilst investing in staff and training to ensure service was elevated across all hotel departments. With a month the restaurant had reduced their losses and started making sales.

New brand, new look

A $1.2 million of capex investment was made to turnaround this property.

Along with a total rebrand, it was important to give this dated property a fresh new exterior look. The building was rendered and clad with LED, making it stand out and look brand new.

The dated reception area was renovated to improve first impressions whilst the restaurant was fully refurbished. A light touch guest room renovation was done.

Picture: Reception after renovations

Our Results

After significant efforts across multiple areas of the business, Mercure Albury acheived an EBITDA of $900,000 which is a remarkable $600k increase. Wages were reduced by 8% to a reasonable 30% whilst still managing to significantly increase customer satisfaction.

Overall we acheived a fantastic result, reversing the revenue decline and tripling profit. As of May 2022, the valuation increased by $5.5 million from the original time of purchase to $11.5 million.