The Hurley Hotel Group is a proud South Australian; family-owned and operated business for over 45 years. To celebrate #NFBD22 today, we’re looking forward to the future and how our family business has continued to grow. With over 600 staff across 10 hotels in SA and NSW, a winery, seven Hurley Cellars retail outlets, accommodation along the Murray River and other significant investments across our state, Hurley Hotel continue to redevelop their businesses and grow in the hospitality industry.

A little history…

The Hurley Hotel Group started with Peter Hurley in 1975 when he purchased the Wudinna Hotel, where he met his soon-to-be wife Jenny Pengelly. After selling his share of the hotel to his brother Brian, Peter and Jenny then purchased the lease of the Spencer Hotel in Whyalla in 1978.

In 1979 Peter and Jenny purchased the lease of the Hotel Royal in Torrensville, their first suburban hotel. Over the next few years, they continued to grow their hotel property portfolio including the Marion Hotel in 1984 and the Arkaba Hotel in 1991. Peter’s brother Tony Hurley took the reins of the bottleshop and partnering with local retailers SipNSave, Tony has grown the Hurley Cellars retail liquor business to seven convenient locations across SA.

More hotels were subsequently purchased by the Hurleys with other partners over the years. The Tonsley Hotel in 1997, the Alma Tavern in 2000 with Adelaide Crows legends Mark Ricciuto and Simon Goodwin, Kensington Hotel, Torrens Arms Hotel, Pretoria Hotel at Mannum and in 2007, the impressive Port Lincoln Hotel. 

The future…

This year, redevelopment works began at the Hotel Royal which saw the opening of the Back Pocket, a new Sports and TAB bar at the rear of the venue. Additionally, renovations started on the bottle shop, which includes an expansion into the old Front Bar space and a tasting table for masterclasses making it a hub to taste local and premium beverages. This is just the beginning of the Hotel Royal’s redevelopment which will continue to employ local trades.

Port Lincoln Hotel is also currently undergoing a renovation with the expansion of Sarin’s casual outside area which will transform into an indoor-outdoor space for everyone to enjoy.

Additional future works include the renovation of the Arkaba Hotel and Willow Point Wines and building the Panorama Hotel.

Whilst working full-time as an accommodation revenue manager, Peter and Jenny’s son Nick occasionally advises on hotel operations within the group. Their daughter Samantha works as the Finance Director for the group and her husband Scott manages the Hotel Royal, they are both instrumental in the future building projects. Their youngest daughter Anna has stepped away from Hotel Manager of the Marion Hotel and is now in a Project Development role that will oversee the development of the Hurley Hotel Group’s new hotel in Panorama.

Family values flow throughout the business with many long-serving staff encouraging their own children to join the Hurley workforce. We have several long-standing employees who have children working across all venues.

Since the beginning, the Hurley Hotel Group have worked closely with many local family-owned businesses including AH Beard, Galipo Foods, Rohde’s Eggs, Harris Seafood, Fotobase, Polar Displays, Colourbox Printing, Boylen, Big Screen Video, Xpansionz Electronics, Contect Electrical, BJ Plumbing, Goodall Refrigeration, Letcher Moroney, Southern Beer Systems, Wallis cinema and Coopers Brewery.