Editor's Desk
The Informer's editor, on what to read closely this month and why.
Editor's letter — Issue 112.
The Informer's editor on what to read closely in this month's issue, and why the Park Report inside is the most important piece we have run all year.
On A Quest To Help
What started as a modest gathering in a backyard has grown into a meaningful and important Melbourne-based charity, without ever losing sight of why it began.
Southern Comfort
Sarah serves ResortBrokers’ clients in one of Australia’s most stunningly gorgeous regions. Based in the Mollymook–Ulladulla area, Sarah’s territory stretches south as far as Batemans Bay, north to Shellharbour and inland to the Southern Highlands and Goulburn.
Star POWER
Of Australia’s more than 9,000 accommodation businesses, around 1,300 participate in the official Star Ratings program.
- 17 Apr 2026Read →
MAKE ROOM FOR GEN TIKTOK
For the past couple of years, couple Alex Mengual, 29, and Mark Matula, 30, have been documenting their experiences as young moteliers on social media. First on Instagram, then on TikTok.
- 16 Apr 2026Read →
Heavy Hitters & Rising Stars
From proven performers to innovators and disruptors, Informer’s power list celebrates the top 40 people tearing up the charts of Australia’s accommodation industry or who’ve made a lasting impact on our sector as pioneers. (Order is entirely random!).
- 15 Apr 2026Read →
Saddle Up for a Breakout Year!
I’ve said it of each passing year, but eternal optimist that I am, I think 2026 is going to be a belter for our industry.
- 15 Apr 2026Read →
Jack Be Nimble, Vendors Be Quicker
The market right now is like a hypersonic rocket — fast and hot (much like this crazy world we’re living in!).
- 17 Mar 2026Read →
The Value of a Dollar
Within five years, Deltine High Yield Motel Fund aims to be Australia’s largest owned and operated motel chain.
- 30 Jan 2026Read →
Mad as Hell
As ARAMA CEO for the last 15 years, Trevor Rawnsley has the benefit of perspective. Over the time he has headed the management rights industry’s peak body, he has noticed a disturbing decline in how apartment owners engage with committees, caretakers, strata managers — and each other. Some of that behaviour crosses the line into bullying and harassment, an issue Rawnsley is trying to do something about.
- 29 Jan 2026Read →
Quest for a Cause Golf Day
ResortBrokers is always happy to get behind a worthy cause, and there’s none more deserving than the annual Quest for a Cause Golf Day.
- 29 Jan 2026Read →
Management rights the past, present and future!
This year marks the 40th anniversary of ResortBrokers. As we celebrate this anniversary, it’s an ideal opportunity to reflect on how far the management rights industry has come, the challenges and opportunities it faces today and the promising road ahead.
- 29 Jan 2026Read →
The Need to Register Leases
With the increased use of electronic settlements of sales of leasehold motels and caravan parks where a new lease is lodged for registration on settlement, it is important to consider these issues prior to settlement.
- 29 Jan 2026Read →
Legacy on the Line: Responding to Disputes
A highly visible, and often feared, type of dispute between an operator and a body corporate is when a body corporate issues one or more Remedial Action Notices to the operator.
- 28 Jan 2026Read →
A True Great Northern
I know all my ResortBrokers’ colleagues join me in this fond farewell to Des, who’s sadly hanging up his boots for retirement after more than a decade with us as our Townsville-based broker.
- 28 Jan 2026Read →
Buy with Confidence, Operate with Ease: Hotel Solutions for Investors
Hotel investment opportunities are abundant across Australia.
- 28 Jan 2026Read →
Mentor. Mensch. Maestro.
I don’t suppose any agent has the easiest of starts. But that was me, back in 2011 when I first joined ResortBrokers.
- 23 Jan 2026Read →
Building on Success
Vivi Zhu and Leo Wang share both a life together and a marriage of talents. The couple moved to Australia from Suzhou, west of Shanghai, in 2009 to study: Vivi at the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School; Leo at Deakin University for a Master of Professional Accounting.
- 23 Jan 2026Read →
Travelling North
Our Far North Queensland broker Leah has had an exceptional first year. She’s listed over $40 million worth of accommodation assets across Far North Queensland and settled some major deals.
- 23 Jan 2026Read →
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Readers of a certain vintage may remember the TV gameshow The Price is Right.
- 22 Jan 2026Read →
Onward, Upward, Forward.
Looking back on the 40 years since I started ResortBrokers, with little more than a smile on my face and a positive attitude, it’s very hard to argue against that tried and tested mantra …time flies! Where have the decades gone!
- 22 Jan 2026Read →
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!
As regular readers of Informer will know, ResortBrokers turned 40 this year. The accommodation property market is hotter than ever, as hot as we’ve seen it in four decades of doing business. But I have no doubt we’re in a changing market and if you want to be a richer man or woman, then you’ve got to turn to face the strange, as the man sings.
- 22 Jan 2026Read →
All Good Things …
It is with trepidation that after 20 years with ResortBrokers, and 55 years in the workforce, I call time on a great career. It’s time to “go smell the roses” and spend more time with my wife, son and his partner and the grandkids.
- 25 Sept 2025Read →
A Short Legal History of Management Rights in Queensland
As we celebrate ResortBrokers’ significant milestone I thought it might be an interesting exercise to look at the legislative journey management rights has undertaken over that time.
- 25 Sept 2025Read →
SELLER BEWARE
On 25 October 2023, the Queensland Parliament passed the Property Law Act 2023 (“the Act”), which replaced the outdated 1974 Act. However, its key provisions — including a new mandatory seller disclosure regime — only came into force on 1 August 2025.
- 25 Sept 2025Read →
Don't Let It Slide
If your letting schedule draws inspiration from ARAMA’s letting schedule, or has had one or more experienced eyes cast over it, then you more than likely have a clause along these lines:
- 24 Sept 2025Read →
GO WEST
ResortBrokers had its best financial year on record in Western Australia, thanks to our local broker Blair Macdonald who has more than capably represented us in the west for six years.
- 24 Sept 2025Read →
Vale, Gary Rice
I’m saddened to share the news that Gary Rice , a respected and prominent management rights operator, has passed away after a short illness.
- 23 Sept 2025Read →
AUSTRALIA’S TOP 40 REGIONAL HERITAGE HOTELS
Here’s our pick of the best regional heritage hotels around the country. 40 in all. Why 40? ResortBrokers turned 40 this year — we’re partial to the number!
- 23 Sept 2025Read →
World History
Here are three of our favourite regional heritage stays from around the globe.
- 22 Sept 2025Read →
THEN. NOW. NEXT. ResortBrokers turns 40.
In July, we hosted a major ResortBrokers’ celebration: the occasion of our 40th anniversary, held in the sunny climes of Vietnam.
- 16 Apr 2025Read →
Glamp It Up
About 40 minutes’ drive south of St Helens on Tasmania’s eastern shoreline lies an area of rugged beauty in almost perfect isolation. It was here at the Chain of Lagoons in 2016, on a weed-infested former sheep farm facing the brooding Tasman Sea, that Melbourne couple Lynne Wilton and Paul Bunn decided to build their holiday home.
- 16 Apr 2025Read →
Go West, Young Man
After a decade in the food industry, Abhinav ‘Abhi’ Taneja sought broader horizons. The family had migrated to Sydney from New Delhi in 2008 when he was 10 years old. They worked basic jobs until 2014 when their permanent residency put them on a more stable footing.
- 16 Apr 2025Read →
Pole Position
01
- 16 Apr 2025Read →
Group Think
From a single caravan park purchased by Ian Edwards in the early 2000s, Edwards Group has become South Australia’s second largest private owner and operator of holiday parks and land lease communities, nipping at the heels of market leader Discovery Parks.
- 16 Apr 2025Read →
New Year, New Lineup
Leah Bursztynowicz
- 16 Apr 2025Read →
East Side | West Side
These properties include award-winning corporate hotels, luxury rent rolls, backpackers, historic inns, classic beachside motels and Quest apartment hotels. Most are already sold and settled, under contract or under offer. Here’s their take on why Victoria remains the place to be for accommodation owners.
- 9 Apr 2025Read →
ResortBrokers: Connecting the Industry for 40 years.
ResortBrokers connects. No other agency offers our comprehensive suite of services that connects buyers and sellers in the accommodation property marketplace and the knowledge pool that enables them to make informed choices.
- 3 Mar 2025Read →
The Cost of Inaction
It seems interest rates and cost of living have ruled our lives for the last couple of years. They’ve been top of mind for households right across the country, and accommodation operators have been wondering like everyone else when they would start to feel some pain relief.
- 1 Feb 2025Read →
About Time
Circa Hotels gave Corowa and Albury a style infusion and helped pioneer the boutique art hotel concept in regional Australia
- 2 Dec 2024Read →
Best in the Business
In July, Jessie received the management rights industry’s highest individual honour: ARAMA TOP Awards —Sales Broker of the Year.
- 15 Oct 2024Read →
Prep for sales success, not failure
If your agent isn’t asking you the right questions, perhaps you should ask whether they’re the right agent for you, writes ResortBrokers Managing Director Trudy Crooks.
- 15 Oct 2024Read →
Women’s Rights
Female practitioners in the management rights space share their perspectives on an evolving industry
- 2 Oct 2024Read →
Management Rights Top-Ups Saved
In a win for the management rights and strata industry, Mahoneys, supported by the Australian Resident Accommodation Manager’s Association (ARAMA) and EBM Insurance, has successfully defeated a challenge to the validity of extending caretaking agreements.
- 1 Oct 2024Read →
The Sunshine Tate
Informer invited Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate to reflect on the most significant achievements of his first three terms and give a glimpse of what lies ahead for his fourth.
- 25 Sept 2024Read →
Tasmania? She’s Apples.
Interstate buyers are hungry to take a bite of the Apple Isle, writes our Tasmanian specialist broker Marissa von Stieglitz. I last took readers through a spin of my home state in Q1 FY22 (Informer 104). We were just emerging from Covid then, and a lot has happened in the last three years, so a revisit is due. Interstate buyers have always wanted a slice of the Apple Isle, but this has intensified in the past three years. Some 87% of buyer enquiries on my Tasmanian listings are from interstate.…
- 18 June 2024Read →
Winds of Change
Winston Hall left a secure corporate career at Accor to venture out on his own with Seabreeze Resorts, a private equity group with an appetite to grow its management rights portfolio beyond the Sunshine Coast.
- 18 June 2024Read →
Keep Your Eye on ROI
Focusing on multipliers when selling management rights is missing what’s most important.
- 14 June 2024Read →
The Unlikely Billionaire
If wealth is the measure of a man, then Chris Morris has more than $1 billion in his ledger to gauge it.
- 14 June 2024Read →
A Wonder in a Wonder
Nestled in the primordial wonder of the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland is a wonder of its own.
- 6 June 2024Read →
ResortBrokers’ fresh face for Brisbane
ResortBrokers has appointed its Central Queensland broker Nathan Benjamin to the prime position of Brisbane agent to serve the motel, hotel and caravan park market.
- 29 May 2024Read →
Embrace the Algorithm
Advances in software and AI have made dynamic pricing accessible to even the smallest accommodation businesses. If you don’t already use it, you’re missing out.
- 22 May 2024Read →
To Defend Price, You Need to Understand It
In this market, you need a broker who understands price — and will defend yours.
- 22 May 2024Read →
Plug and Play
ChargeBoss brings EV charging to accommodation businesses
- 13 May 2024Read →
Stay on Top of Top-Ups
Not topping up your motel lease risks missing out on big bucks when it’s time to sell — or not being able to sell at all.
- 13 May 2024Read →
A Touch of Paradiso
Paradiso Place’s smart phone app give its residents control of everything in a single app (yes, just one).
- 13 May 2024Read →
No contact. No keys. No drama.
Contactless motel management is a growing trend — and smart locks are making it increasingly viable.
- 7 May 2024Read →
The Dice Man
Mandala Asset Solutions’ John Zeckendorf discusses his company’s steep ascent, whether money can buy happiness, and breaking down mountain-size problems into manageable molehills.
- 22 Dec 2023Read →
Broker Q&A
In her four years with ResortBrokers, Jessie Shi has established herself as one of Brisbane’s foremost management rights specialists. Her commitment to delivering exceptional outcomes for her clients has resulted in more than $65 million worth of sales … and she’s never had a deal fall through.
- 19 Dec 2023Read →
New kid on the block
Clint Amos is the second former elite sportsperson to join ResortBrokers’ Gold Coast management rights team this year after Syd Douglas in April. With our long-time broker Todd Warner (a legend in his own right), this terrific trio forms the spine of our new look Gold Coast team in ResortBrokers’ second largest management rights market in the country after Brisbane.
- 14 Dec 2023Read →
Let’s get social!
As market leader, ResortBrokers is always at major industry conferences giving presentations or forging the connections our sector thrives on. #weareeverywhere
- 12 Dec 2023Read →
Wollongong woos investors
The reinvention of New South Wales’ third largest city is one of the great urban renewal stories of the last decade. Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery spoke to Informer about how his council managed it.
- 10 Dec 2023Read →
Inner Circle Forum 2023
ZEarthCheck’s 12th annual sustainable tourism forum was a spirited call to action.
- 1 Dec 2023Read →
A motelier’s journey
Australian Accommodation Property Group’s Gareth Oakley reflects on his more than three decades in motels from making beds to making money running a portfolio.
- 29 Nov 2023Read →
Game On
Brisbane is primed for a golden era of development leading up to the 2032 Olympics. Two titans of Queensland’s building and construction industry share their views on what the Games will mean for Australia’s third largest city.
- 27 Nov 2023Read →
Hail the Queen
Queen’s Wharf is Brisbane’s regal proclamation of its world-class status ahead of the Olympics. Leading its delivery is Simon Crooks, who spoke to Informer in the lead-up to the precinct’s staged opening expected from April 2024.
- 20 Nov 2023Read →
Bouncing Back
Since I joined ResortBrokers at the end of 2019, the area I serve, NSW’s Central West, has been kicked in the guts. I’d prefer to be talking about the region’s positives (and there are plenty), but first I have to acknowledge the pain this part of the world has experienced of late. There was a record-breaking drought, followed by catastrophic bushfires, followed closely by Covid, and then, more recently, devastating floods.
- 16 Nov 2023Read →
Big Industry, Small Businesses
This month, we’re delighted to launch ResortBrokers’ second ever management rights industry report.
- 6 Nov 2023Read →
The Green Convergence
From consumers to regulators to tech to financial institutions to government, the paths to a more sustainable accommodation industry are converging from all sides. Operators take note.
- 30 Oct 2023Read →
Let’s get social!
As industry leader, we’re always looking to host events to help educate everyone in our network. We also give presentations at Australia’s major conferences. #weareeverywhere
- 23 Oct 2023Read →
Riding the wave
Since joining ResortBrokers at the end of last year, our Gold Coast and Northern Rivers NSW broker Miguel Bozina has been on a winning streak. We let him catch his breath for this interview.
- 16 Oct 2023Read →
Green acres
Townsville Eco Resort’s evolution towards sustainability best practice is a template for how caravan parks can help aboth the environment and their business.
- 9 Oct 2023Read →
A Bias For Beds
Hotel TOTTO in Wollongong announces the bold debut of Pi Capital Partners in the hotel space. Principals Nick Potter and Jack Shaw share their vision for the hotel, the TOTTO brand and Pi Capital.
- 5 Oct 2023Read →
The Jolly Green Giant
Australian company EarthCheck took its certification to the world and is now a globally recognised brand for sustainable travel and tourism.
- 2 Oct 2023Read →
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ is not only a great headbanger from The Clash I still like to rock out to, it’s a question we’re asked a lot these days from owners and operators who are contemplating a sale.
- 29 Sept 2023Read →
Black Tie Service, Blue Jeans Attitude
Richard Crawford is Marriott’s dealmaker in Australasia. The seasoned hotelier talks about his stellar career, catching his second wind with Marriott and his plans to expand the hotel giant’s footprint in our region.
- 1 Sept 2023Read →
RESORTBROKERS IS THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE ITS AUGUST RESULTS
We’re settling transactions at a rate of over 5 sales a week .
- 23 Aug 2023Read →
Mad dogs & Englishmen
On one of his many trips to the North Queensland town, Bone learned the town’s old mental hospital, Mosman Hall, was up for sale.
- 15 Aug 2023Read →
Remote Control
For most companies “remote work” means their staff work from home when the office is an easy commute away. But for Northern Interests, “remote work” takes on a whole new meaning.
- 8 Aug 2023Read →
Reception This Way
For the past several years, Tim Ross has had a love affair with Australia’s roadside motels.
- 25 July 2023Read →
A Radisson Individual
A little more than six months into his new role as Managing Director Australasia of Radisson Hotel Group, Lachlan Hoswell has ambitious plans to drive the group’s growth here.
- 5 July 2023Read →
ResortBrokers is thrilled to announce its end FY23 results
“We’re entering the new financial year with the strongest agreed sales pipeline in ResortBrokers’ 38-year history. We believe there will be enormous opportunities for our enterprising clients both in the current market and further down the line,” says Managing Director Trudy Crooks.
- 30 June 2023Read →
Introducing ResortBrokers’ Internship Program
While studying my Bachelor of Property Economics at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), I was required to undertake an internship as part of my studies. My time spent as an intern acted as a springboard to my first property career opportunities and was vital in shaping my early professional experience.
- 23 June 2023Read →
Are you positioned for a reposition?
Everywhere we look these days we’re being encouraged to recycle — and that’s no bad thing.
- 14 June 2023Read →
The Road To Success
Twenty years ago, Andrew Chapman spotted a newspaper advertisement that would mould his career. It was for the management of a caravan park in Streaky Bay, a small coastal town with less than 2,000 people on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
- 6 June 2023Read →
South Australia
When I took on the challenge of driving ResortBrokers’ expansion into South Australia in 2017, I could see the huge potential for growth in my home state. Six years on, I still do.
- 31 May 2023Read →
New Kid On The Block
At 27 years old, Joshua Roberts joins ResortBrokers with a decade of sales experience under his belt. Meet our bright new broker for the Mid North Coast of New South Wales whose patch covers Woolgoolga, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Forster, Tamworth, Armidale and Kempsey … and everywhere in between.
- 25 May 2023Read →
Californi-yay!
Artesian Hospitality’s Cali Beach Club turned heads when it opened on the Goldie in September 2021 with its killer mix of rooftop pools, ocean views and the sickest DJ line-up in the country. Now, the slick venue is rumoured to have its own reality show, airing as early as June.
- 22 May 2023Read →
Back On-Board
The Goldie is not just marquee hotel brands. The backbone of its tourism industry are the thousands of small to medium letting businesses, both short term and permanent. Here’s how three of them have been tracking since Covid restrictions lifted.
- 19 May 2023Read →
Toast Of The Coast
With properties dotted along the eastern seaboard, Dreamtime has distinguished itself as one of Australia’s foremost independent resort management groups. Dreamtime’s hallmark is to offer a “home away from home,” which it does superbly with its modern, self-contained, apartment-style holiday accommodation.
- 18 May 2023Read →
Main Beach Makeover
Tedder Avenue was the place to be in the ‘80s, ‘90s and early ‘00s. In its heyday, Main Beach’s most famous street was a haut monde haunt, so much so that it earned the suburb the nickname “Vain Beach.” But the Global Financial Crisis ended the party. For Lease signs replaced A-listers as Tedder Avenue fell into disrepair for over a decade.
- 17 May 2023Read →
The Ultiqa Way
Ultiqa made a splash on the coast when it launched Ultiqa Air at Broadbeach 13 years ago. Since then, the boutique apartment operator has raised the bar with every subsequent property, which comprises a portfolio of four on the Gold Coast and one each in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Fiji.
- 16 May 2023Read →
Accor’s Golden Appetite
There’s good reason why the world’s leading hotel group is calling the Gold Coast “the leisure capital of Australia.” The French hospitality giant has coined the slogan as a working mantra among its team for the country’s most popular holiday destination.
- 15 May 2023Read →
Surf’s Up!
After the Covid tsunami, Australia’s No. 1 tourist destination is riding the perfect wave.
- 3 May 2023Read →
A home away from home for young Australians in need
Australia has one of the best healthcare systems in the world, consistently ranking among the top developed countries. Our system works exceedingly well for most people, especially those living in major cities.
- 26 Apr 2023Read →
From Cattle Station To Coast
Growing up on a cattle property west of Yeppoon, the idea of operating a management rights business was not on Craig Dunne’s horizon. The 35-year-old became a sparky straight out of school and fell into work as a fly-in-fly-out electrician at mining sites in Queensland. The prospect of running a hotel just wasn’t in his frame.
- 18 Apr 2023Read →
Up, Up & Away
The Gold Coast is back. The beaches are full, the cafes are buzzing, and the restaurants are pumping. I’m a Goldie local and I’ve never seen the coast busier, especially over this Christmas season just gone.
- 12 Apr 2023Read →
The art of the Seal
Well, what a difference a few months make. At the start of this year, I was a little cautious given the negative press regarding the economy, especially regarding interest rates and inflation.
- 10 Mar 2023Read →
Superannuation changes
How the proposed super changes might affect your asset
- 3 Mar 2023Read →
2023 has started with a bang.
After a record year in 2022, there’s no sign of slowing down in the accommodation property market.