ETBTravelNews, March 2, 2016  - Quest Apartment Hotels (NZ) currently operates 35 properties in New Zealand and Fiji under its business franchise format.

The group is looking to add another 20 purpose-built operations over the next five years, which will take the total number of Quest properties in New Zealand and Fiji to 55.

The group has released its five-year growth strategy, showing the new properties will be in Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Nadi. Quest has been growing 10-15 percent per annum, year on year, since opening its first New Zealand property in 1998.

New Zealand CEO, Stephen Mansfield, says the experience of working in New Zealand and the Pacific, along with feedback from Quest customers has helped identify locations for the future properties. “Over the past decade, Quest has focused on getting established in the main centres of New Zealand, as well as all of the key regions,” Mr Mansfield said. “The national framework is now complete and over the next five years our focus is on increasing density in the main centres.”

Quest anticipates the new developments will add around $200 million in value to the existing property that is under the Quest system. Once the properties are complete, it will boost the total value of property under the Quest network in New Zealand and Fiji to an estimated $550 million.

“We are currently working with finance institutions and developers to help us achieve this goal and to assist in establishing the best complexes and locations to meet our customers’ needs,” Mr Mansfield said. “The domestic corporate market is set to grow and we see many positive trends in the tourism and hospitality sectors that makes us very optimistic about the future.

Now is the perfect time for Quest to expand its network to meet this demand.” One of those trends is the growth in the millennial business traveller, which was one of the key motivators of Quest’s rebrand last year. “We have ambitious growth plans over the next five years but we remain firmly committed to our core focus of meeting the needs of the extended-stay business traveller,” Mansfield says.

With plans to open a second property in Fiji, Mansfield says Quest’s current property in Suva has escaped any major damage after Cyclone Winston hit the Pacific Island nation on Saturday night. Quest Suva remains open to guests as staff clean up after the powerful storm. “The property has no significant damage and all staff and guests have been accounted for and are safe,” he said. “We are working with our staff and managers in Suva to assess and quickly fix any damage that may have been caused by the storm.”