Hilton Hotel – complete with warm chocolate chip cookies – for Karratha mining town

Karratha in Western Australia’s Pilbara is getting a Hilton Hotel.

The $65 million hotel will be Australia's first under the DoubleTree branding, known for its warm welcome chocolate chip cookie, over its 40-year rollout of 300 hotels across 24 countries.

Hilton Worldwide and Ramtron Australia have signed an agreement, and the hotel is due to open in mid-2014.

Ramtron Australia Pty Ltd is a consortium led by local Western Australian developer Rothchester Hotel and Resorts Pty Ltd. The consortium also includes Karratha identity Kim Loxton, Tang Weng Fei of Singapore-based Ramtron Oil International Ltd, and Perth-based company AYR International Pty Ltd.

The eight-storey project features 144 guest rooms, 20 executive apartments, restaurant and bar, fitness centre and outdoor pool.

Brendon Grylls, WA Minister for Regional Development and Lands, says the growth of the resource sector needs to be accompanied by the growth of infrastructure and amenities.

The hotel will be located in the centre of the Karratha commercial area, 15 kilometres from Karratha airport and 20 kilometres from the port at Dampier.

“The DoubleTree by Hilton, Karratha will be our 16^th property in Australasia and the first DoubleTree by Hilton in the region, joining the Parmelia Hilton Perth as the second Hilton Worldwide property in Western Australia," says Robert Scullin, vice president of development in Australasia for Hilton Worldwide.

Mirvac was named the preferred developer of a suburb of Karratha, the biggest town in the iron-ore rich Pilbara region, last November in a joint venture with the local land authority. The $1.5 billion project, which will create a new suburb, Mulataga, to accommodate 8,000 people.

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