The ball is officially rolling for construction of a new hotel at Yaralla Sports Club.

After a period of careful planning, the first stages of physical work on the Gladstone Mercure Hotel begin a fortnight ago.

The new four-star hotel will provide 60 hotel rooms and is expected to open in September 2012.

Yaralla Sports Club CEO Will Schroeder said the club would never take its focus away from maintaining high quality sports facilities.

He said constructing the Mercure Hotel would add another string to the club's bow.

"The addition of a four-star hotel will increase and diversify the level of service offered to the local community and visitors by providing much-needed additional luxury and business accommodation options," Mr Schroeder said.

"The hotel guests will have access to conference facilities, fitness services and our wide variety of restaurants and entertainment."

Mr Schoeder said the club will operate as normal throughout the construction phase.  He said some existing parking spaces will be temporarily relocated to the junior sports ground.  That temporary parking will remain on the junior sports ground until February 2012 and alternative locations have been found for affected activities until then.

The hotel will be part of the Accor network, but in a unique arrangement it will still be owned by Yaralla Sports Club.

The club has purchased a franchisee agreement with Accor and the new hotel will be Queensland's first community-owned Accor facility.

Accor is the world's largest hotel group.  Accor Australia vice-president Simon McGrath said the timing of the new hotel was ideal to maximise on the region's growth forecasts.  "Gladstone is a thriving industrial hub and it's a perfect time for Accor to be partnering with the well-established Yaralla Sports Club to leverage the significant development and economic opportunities that are driving the region's growth,"  he said.

The club has 31,000 members, 12 sports sub-committees and employs 120 staff.

• March 2012 will see the opening of a new multi-platform car park at Yaralla Sports Club.
• May 2012 will see an additional 60 car parks for the Fitness Centre.
• The new Gladstone Mercure Hotel will be open in September 2012.
• Construction will take place Monday to Saturday, 7.30am to 5.30pm.
• The Accor Group operates more than 4000 hotels in 90 different countries.  It has 145,000 employees.
• Mr Schroeder said the franchisee agreement allowed Yaralla Sports Club to maintain ownership of the hotel, while capitalising on Accor's expertise.

Written by David Sparkes from the Gladstone Observer