“Food and beverage is probably what my passion is and always has been,” admits Joachim, who started working in fast food as a teen and made his way through to hotel F&B, banqueting and into supervisor roles before becoming GM at PARKROYAL Parramatta.
“There’s a lot of longevity in this hotel…and I’ve been at the hotel a long time. I’m very passionate about this hotel and about this area. I grew up here,” he says, adding that he’s also a board member for the Parramatta Chamber of Commerce and the Western Sydney Tourism Task Force.
He’s seen a few iterations of the hotel, when it was rebranded as a Crowne Plaza before returning to the PARKROYAL family, and over the years, he’s witnessed some big transformations across three renovations.
Currently undergoing another, with phase one near complete, he says, it’s the biggest and best refurbishment yet.
“It’s just elevated our hotel to a different level,” he says, “we’ve gutted the whole place. It’s like a brand-new hotel, really. The only thing we kept was the TV.”
He says the new beds, in particular, were a pet project of his – custom-designed only for the PARKROYAL Parramatta.
Joachim adds that the upgrades will see the hotel in line with the huge boost in business that’s shifted to Western Sydney. And it’s a change, he says, that conference organisers shouldn’t underestimate.
“Parramatta really buzzes. There’s great nightlife. It’s not so many nightclubs anymore, but the food scene is great; we have chef hatted restaurants and popular dining that has only ever been in the city… and they know [Parramatta is] a second CBD. The third largest in Australia, behind Melbourne.”
For event planners, he says the hotel has been closely working with its AV partner Encore, upgrading and updating 13 event spaces and working to install a “next-level LED screen” unlike anything else currently available in Parramatta.
Over the next year, Joachim says there’s more growth ahead with the anticipated opening of the Powerhouse Museum in 2026 on the PARKROYAL doorstep and the debut of QT Parramatta, with a yet-to-be-confirmed opening date.
“The hotel is already very much collaborating with the museum…they’re our neighbours, they’re our partners, they’ll also have some event space for business events, so it’ll be great from an accommodation and groups point of view.”
From a sustainability perspective, PARKROYAL Parramatta is certified by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), something Joachim says is essential in general, but even more so when many of their business events are booked by government agencies.
“If you’ve seen our hotels, they’re very green, and there’s more coming that I can’t talk about yet, but it’s exciting,” he says.
With a focus on wellness, the hotel also includes a menu to reflect lighter options over traditional heavier fare and has worked with a personal trainer over the years to create an in-house wellness channel guests can use for free, offering morning workouts, stretches and the like. Custom sessions with a personal trainer are also available for groups.
Joachim says that while Sydney’s eastern CBD has so much to offer, savvy planners can really benefit from considering Parramatta as a destination, given its proximity to Sydney Airport, the soon-to-open Western Sydney International Airport and Sydney’s harbourside CBD.
“Come to Parramatta, there are plenty of things to do. Plenty of nice restaurants… There are nice walks through Parramatta Park with historic sites and people don’t realise how close to the Sydney CBD we are. And if you’ve got time, there’s a beautiful ferry ride from the city, 100m down the road. You can easily jump on a ferry and go straight to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and come back.”
With much of the renovation complete, including accommodation, the Club Lounge and more, final enhancements to business events facilities are set for completion in the coming months at PARKROYAL Parramatta.
