A philosophy of transparency and open communication combined with an eye for the right opportunity is sending accommodation group Q Resorts on a meteoric rise, according to its founder and managing director Rob McLean. The rise itself is a statement of fact. In less than 12 months Q Resorts has grown from managing one building to seven, with that number expected to double before the end of 2008.

The Q Resorts story began in 2005 when Rob McLean purchased the management rights to Brisbane’s Abbey Apartments on Roma Street. Rob was no stranger to the accommodation industry having grown up in a motel-owning family in Victoria before studying hotel management in Switzerland. He worked in food and beverage for a number of years for Hyatt, Hilton and Accor hotel groups before deciding to put his experience to even better use and branch out on his own.

“When I bought the rights to Abbey I thought the company might grow to a couple of properties,” said Rob. “But after we were so successful there lots of opportunities came up because Brisbane was growing so quickly and that’s how it all started.”

Rob explained that via the wholesale change of property use, excellent marketing, detailed customer service and smart rate yielding, returns to owners at Abbey have increased significantly and the value of the business increased almost four fold. This enabled Q Resorts to begin a significant growth phase beginning in March 2007 with the purchase of Skyline Court Apartments and continuing throughout the year with the acquisitions of Tribeca Apartments, The Ridge on Leichhardt and Willahra Tower – all in Brisbane. This year sees the addition of Cascade Gardens in Cairns and Whitsunday Terraces in Airlie Beach, with more purchases in the pipeline already. The company aims to secure an east coast network before branching out to Sydney, Melbourne and beyond.

The Q Resorts properties are all around the 4 Star rating and Rob believes there’s a good niche market for that level of service. The company is keen to diversify out of Brisbane to make sure it is not reliant on one market and to maximise brand awareness. Properties are chosen for their upside potential, something Rob gauges partly by numbers and partly by gut feeling. “I always go to the property before I consider buying to see how I am treated as a potential guest,” he said.

However, every entrepreneur needs a steady rock to keep his feet on the ground and Rob McLean has found that in Grant Clonan, his highly qualified Operations Manager. “Grant is pretty conservative and I am the risk taker – we make a good team,” said Rob.

The addition of Grant (and others) to the Q Resorts management team came when the company moved past the ‘one man band’ stage and needed a more systemised approach.

“Rob realised he couldn’t do it all on his own and my background in multi-site management (as general manager of Sundowner Motor Inns) fitted well. We’re in the process of centralising company management software building a great new website and really systemising everything we do,” said Grant.

With Q Resorts growing so rapidly there is a lot of emphasis on ensuring the successful foundations remain solid, as Grant explained. “Going from one property to seven you dramatically increase the stakeholders. Abbey Apartments had around 70 owners and now Q Resorts has 500 owners. Understandably they all want to know what’s going on with their apartments all the time. We need to have an open and transparent communication system with owners to ensure they are kept fully abreast of all issues,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m working for this company because of the level of integrity that is maintained. Rob is a very fair and honest manager and he believes in maximising returns for everyone – owners, employees and himself. If that happens everyone wins.”