Over 220 leading investors, hoteliers, advisers and suppliers were in the audience for the first annual Sydney Hotel Summit by AHICE, held recently at Crown Sydney, which provided the most comprehensive deep dive into hotel industry performance and growth that New South Wales has seen for years.

The Sydney Hotel Summit by AHICE, hosted by HM and Wayfarer magazines, was the third global event to launch under the new AHICE ‘summit’ brand – alongside London and Los Angeles – and looked at the Sydney and greater New South Wales market from investment, operations, development and tourism standpoints.

Leading off the event at Crown Sydney was an investment outlook panel moderated by Watson Farley and Williams’ Head of Hotels and Hospitality Asia Pacific, Robert Williams, who had several of Asia-Pacific’s leading investors – from Mulpha International, CapitaLand, Hotel Capital Partners and Ark Capital Partners – giving a comprehensive outlook of how they saw the Sydney market at present and with little supply coming, the expectations for the city and the state remain quite bullish.

Former Australian Wallaby, Stan sports host and commentator and property industry executive Cameron Shepherd then spoke about leadership in sports and how that is taken off the field and used in the business world.

The Q&A session came a few days after the Lions beat the Wallabies in Melbourne and ‘Shep’ was on the money when he said the team had to find a way to lift for the Sydney game and that’s exactly what the team did.

That was followed by a Tourism Outlook session, headlined by Luxury Escapes Chair, Andrew McEvoy, the former Tourism Australia Managing Director, who said Sydney needed to find more major events to help fill the city’s calendar.

On what was a positive outlook panel, United Airlines’ Regional Manager for Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, Tim Wallis, talked about the phenomenal exposure the carrier was giving Sydney to its frequent flyer network and the significant luxury travel demand the carrier was seeing for New South Wales from right across the USA.

United operates more services between Australia and the United States and Wallis said the inbound market continued to perform well with Sydney high on American travellers’ lists.

Crown Resorts was the Principal Partner for the event and Crown Sydney Chief Executive Officer, Stanford Le, was up next to talk about the property’s increased food and beverage push and the positive demand from domestic and international luxury travellers.

He said the recent addition of Sydney icon Golden Century to the culinary line-up was having a significant impact on restaurant bookings and to the delight of attendees, the canapes for the event were catered by the one and only Golden Century.

The event’s emcee, De Beaurepaire Wines Director, William De Beaurepaire, said he had “never had better event food anywhere in Australia” and that was a general consensus from many attendees, including Robert Williams who booked a table at Golden Century while enjoying the canapes.

An innovation session followed the Q&A with Le and that looked at how tech companies are continuing to innovate in the market, including AHICE partner Encore Event Technologies, who was represented on stage by Commercial Director APAC, Michael Magafa, who said the timing was right for hotels to think outside the square when it came to delivering world-class AV at events.

A Q&A with the New South Wales 24-Hour Economy Commissioner, Michael Rodrigues, followed and the ‘night-time mayor’ spoke about ways the State Government is trying to re-energise the state from both hospitality and retail perspectives.

The re-growth of live music in hotels, bars, restaurants and clubs across the state was a positive step, Rodrigues said, who is doing his upmost to ensure that trend firmly continues.

STR’s Jacqueline Choo then provided a comprehensive outlook on the Sydney market and the news was what everyone wanted to hear – the city’s performance is absolutely thriving.

Given the lack of new supply and major events such as the Lions Tour, hotels have seen all major metrics improve, with occupancy and ADR getting to levels they should be at.

The data was firmly the talking point on the next panel when leading Sydney-based Hoteliers then took to the stage for an outlook on all things operations hosted by JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group Managing Director, Gus Moors.

While it was noted that July performance was sensational – many hotels reported over 95% occupancy for the month – Trilogy Hotels Chief Executive Officer, Scott Boyes said the August numbers “were also looking fantastic”.

Accor Vice President – Operations, Nathan Cox, agreed and said the Sydney performance numbers for July and August were also very good, a sentiment shared by Capella Sydney General Manager, Marc Von Arnim.

Several of Australia’s leading development directors then gave their outlook for Sydney and New South Wales, with the consensus being thanks to solid performance and the lack of new supply, demand was firmly there for new projects alongside brand upgrades at existing projects like Crowne Plaza Coogee transforming into an InterContinental hotel by owners Salter Brothers soon.

Australian television legend, Gold Logie Winner, game show host and now whiskey brand owner, Larry Emdur, then had the crowd in laughter with stories about awards nights, fun in the TV industry and how he has recently launched a new venture, the Ben Buckler Whiskey and the thrilling journey that has been.

Following Emdur’s session, Ben Buckler Whiskey cocktails were served alongside award-winning De Beaurepaire wines and fantastic food from Golden Century.

The Summit by AHICE brand was created in the spirit of hosting fun and fast-paced half-day events and the first one in Sydney turned out to be both entertaining and educational, with sponsors already signing on for the 2026 event next July.