By James Wilkinson

SpiceNews can exclusively reveal this morning (Aug 14) that following a restructure and recapitalisation Stella Hospitality has announced a new corporate identity that has resulted in the company changing name to the Mantra Group.

The change of name to Mantra Group follows the recent announcement by owners CVC Asia Pacific that the Stella Group would be separated into two independently operating businesses.

Mantra Group CEO Bob East said the rebranding would herald an exciting phase of growth and expansion for the company.

“The separation of the two businesses means each can operate independently and focus on being the best in their respective fields,” he said.

“The recapitalisation has given us a strong balance sheet and an injection of funds which allows us to forge ahead with our plans to expand our three consumer brands of Peppers, Mantra and Breakfree with confidence,” he said.

East said the renaming to Mantra Group was part of a logical progression for the company.

“Stella Hospitality Group was built on nine hotel brands amalgamated into three core brands of Peppers, Mantra and BreakFree,” he said.

“Peppers and BreakFree were existing successful brands while the Mantra brand was developed by our team and is now the fastest growing hotel brand in Australia.

“It is a name that has had great exposure.  It represents the best in home-grown skills and service and is synonymous with integrity and professionalism which are the key values that our company is built on,” East said.

Mantra Group currently operates 140 resorts, retreats, hotels and apartments throughout Australia and New Zealand and employs more than 3500 staff.

East said there are more properties in the pipeline for all three brands, particularly Peppers.

“In the future, we plan on increasing the size of the Peppers, Mantra and BreakFree portfolios as well as new initiatives like introducing the Peppers product into a CBD environment,” East said.