Lucia Grambalova
Lucia Grambalova was appointed to her current role, General Manager Hotel Investments for Mulpha Australia Limited, in 2016, having joined the group in early 2015. She is responsible for sourcing hotel acquisitions and third party co-investment capital, establishing strategic capital partnerships as well as seeking opportunities for organic growth across Mulpha’s hotel and resort portfolio.
Lucia’s fifteen year career in the hotel industry has been diverse in both the nature of her roles and locations. During her nine years at the InterContinental Hotel Group she initially undertook a range of finance roles in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin. Her final role in hotel operations was as Acting General Manager of the five star InterContinental Hotel, Melbourne.
In 2011, Lucia transitioned from hotel operations to hotel investment initially with Mirvac Group and then with the Singapore based Ascendas Group. As a Portfolio Manager she was responsible for driving investment performance across multiple portfolios with over twenty hotels located throughout Australia, comprising major three star hotels together with upscale and five star hotels, with combined value of close to $1 billion. Investors in the various funds included a mix of Australian, Asian and European institutions.
In her current role with Mulpha, Lucia is overseeing value maximisation of some of the most prestigious hotel assets in Australia including InterContinental Hotel Sydney, InterContinental Sanctuary Cove and One & Only Hayman Island Resort. She is also responsible for sourcing and transacting new hotel investments which most recently included a $40 million purchase in Queensland.
Lucia is a regular and sought after panel speaker and often presents at various hotel industry conferences, such as AHICE. She is also an active member of IPD/ MSCI Hotel Advisory group, a panel member on Tourism Australia’s Investment Advisory Panel as well as a contributor to HM Magazine.
Lucia holds a Bachelor of Business degree from the La Trobe University and a Master of Business Administration (Professional Accounting and Business Law) from University of New England.