Hospitality group Solotel is celebrating what it’s predicting to be one of Sydney’s most iconic comebacks of all time with a huge line-up of experiences, events and late-night parties over summer, dubbed ‘Back Together, Now We Dance!’.

After 107 days of lockdown, and with the state closing in on its 90% double vaccination target and the return of nightclubs this week, Solotel says Sydney is well on its way to its best summer in years.

Elliot Solomon, Solotel CEO, said: “After a tough few months for Sydneysiders, we are so excited to have all our venues open once again doing what they do best and serving up their unique offerings and experiences to guests. This is an exciting and transformative time for Sydney and we expect this to be our biggest summer in years.

“We look forward to continuing to push creative boundaries to deliver experiences and events for our guests that are fresh, progressive and most of all, lots of fun.”

Solotel has curated more than 80 unique events and booked hundreds of local music acts across the next three months alongside partners Bacardi Martini Australia, CUB and Moet Hennessy Australia.

Think 12-hour long dance parties at KX Hotel, sipping spritzes in the sun on the new Barangaroo House Bar Lawn, kicking off your weekend early with Thursday night parties at GOROS, Natty Wine Socials and Car Park Parties at Petersham Public House, a vibrant summer Double Rainbouu takeover at North Bondi Fish, underground rave cave parties at Tokyo Sing Song at The Marly, live music back in a big way at Waywards stage at The Bank, and getting down with the best DJs in the west every Friday at The Albion.

The full ‘Back Together, Now We Dance!’ program can be found at https://www.solotel.com.au/summer.

Solotel adds Carousel Inn to its portfolio

Solotel has also announced its purchase of the Carousel Inn at Rooty Hill, which it describes as an “important growth step for the Group – as we leap into the North West of Sydney and expand our diverse set of pubs, bars and restaurants”.

The pub was sold on behalf of the Stanford family by HTL Property for around $64million. It follows the recent $70million sale of the Stanford’s Vineyard Hotel at Vineyard, as the second generation of publicans exit the industry after 40 years.

“We’re excited by the opportunity the Carousel Inn brings to Solotel and would like to thank the Stanford family for providing this opportunity and the team at HTL Property for running a seamless sales process. We’re thrilled that the venue can be passed onto another family-owned hospitality operator” said Solomon.

“We look forward to engaging with the community to better understand how we can take the venue into the future. This purchase is an important first step into the North West – a key growth corridor for Sydney – as we look to continue to expand our diverse portfolio of pubs, bars and restaurants across Sydney”.

“We’re absolutely delighted with the sale to the Solomon family, and look forward to concluding our portfolio divestment objective with the sale of our final North Western Sydney hotel asset in Riverstone, before the end of the year,” said Glen Stanford.

“Genuine AAA grade large format hospitality opportunities such as the Carousel Inn are increasingly scarce in Metropolitan Sydney, and the price and yield achieved bears testimony to this fact,” noted HTL Property National Director, Dan Dragicevich.

“Of the 10 most recent comparable sales by location and gaming segment the first seven, based upon chronology, represent an average cap rate of 6.7%; whereas the most recent three indicate an average cap rate less than 5%; keenly illustrating both appetite and product rarity.”