This thread is very interesting. Good to know Hilton are looking at one if not two hotels in Melbourne.
Anywhere in King Street would not be the most desirable location in Melbourne, but things could be changing. The Grollos have bought all the properties between Collins Street and Flinders Lane, including the Rialto Buildings which they have owned for years. In addition Fragrance Hotels are building a mixed use apartment building at 555 Colins Street, on the opposite corner of King and Collins Streets to the Rialto. There were some plans to put a 300 room hotel into that building, but it's not clear on whether that is going ahead. A likely contender to be a Hilton?
Alan Watts, Hilton Asia Pacific President, is quoted at length in an article in The Australian.
Amongst other quotes he said:
Hilton aim to double their existing 23 Australian properties by 2023. (Similar aim to Marriott.)
They are eyeing more opportunities in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra.
They think Sydney is a place they could launch a Conrad hotel.
To him their only aspiration for a Conrad is Sydney and possibly Auckland.
Personally I would question putting a Conrad in Auckland before Melbourne but the following indicates their strategy.
"Generally we deploy a Hilton to a city and then go above or below it with a Conrad or Doubletree."
So Melbourne needs to get a Hilton in place first!
It's great to see the American chains building hotels in Australia at last after decades of not expanding their footprint here.