As ResortBrokers Managing Director since 2019, and previously as National Sales Manager from 2011, Trudy Crooks is the driving force behind ResortBrokers’ ongoing success and expansion.
Trudy has spearheaded the growth of the family company, started by her father Ian in 1985, from six to more than 30 brokers across every state and territory resulting in an exponential increase in sales turnover. She travels extensively to mentor and support her sales team across Australia’s diverse and dynamic accommodation markets.
Trudy is widely regarded as one of the top leaders in the accommodation property sector, and her energy and enthusiasm for the industry is well recognised.
The seeds of Trudy’s passion for the sector were planted early. She started her career with ResortBrokers straight out of school, initially working in administration before turning to sales. Trudy sold her first motel, the Windmill Motor Inn in Coffs Harbour, aged 20.
Eager to expand her industry experience, Trudy spent almost a decade in London working for Foxtons, the city’s leading real estate agency. Trudy won repeated top sales awards, was quickly promoted to branch manager running a team of 14 agents and went on to manage Foxtons’ blue chip Mayfair office setting a company record of £1 million in fees within her first month.
Since rejoining ResortBrokers in 2011, Trudy has settled sales of accommodation properties and businesses with a combined value of approximately $700 million.
As ResortBrokers Managing Director, Trudy continues to act personally on major transactions nationwide. Her notable career sales include:
- the celebrated Art Series Hotel portfolio of seven hotels: five in Melbourne and one each in Brisbane and Adelaide. The off-market transaction saw Mantra Group purchase the Art Series brand from Deague Group for $45 million in 2017, the first ever sale of an entire hotel brand anywhere in Australia.
- the City Edge Apartment Hotels franchise in Melbourne, another off-market entire brand sale that saw Choice Hotels Asia-Pac acquire City Edge’s five Melbourne hotels comprising 271 apartments in December 2023.
- Australia’s largest ever management rights transactions, which she achieved in 2017 with the sale of Gurner’s FV high-rise in Brisbane for $28 million to Mantra Group.
- the 2015 sale of Elan Soho Suites (now Oaks Darwin Elan Hotel) for $55 million following an expressions of interest campaign that received several high-quality bids, three from overseas hotel groups, with SGX-listed Minor International (owner of the Oaks brand) emerging as the successful buyer.
- the 2021 sale of the iconic Barkly Homestead in the Northern Territory. Sold for $14 million to a cash buyer at a 7x multiplier, this transaction holds the record for a roadhouse sale anywhere in the country.
Trudy also heads ResortBrokers Hotels Division, which focusses on assisting major hotel operators such as Quest, Accor, Mantra and Minor International expand their footprint in Australia.
She is a much sought-after speaker on Australia’s accommodation property sector at major industry events, including Asia Pacific Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition (AHICE), Australian Property Institute (API), The Urban Developer, The Accommodation Conference (AccomCon), Accor Pacific Franchise Conference, Quest Business Franchise Conference and the Best Western Franchise Conference.
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