258-Room Hotel in Wailoaloa
Ocean view rooms will be a key feature of the $220 million luxurious hotel that will be constructed at Wailoaloa Beach in Nadi. This major hotel project adds to the investment portfolio of Hari Punja & Sons Limited.
Chairman Hari Punja said the 258room hotel will include features equivalent to a five - star luxury hotel.
“The whole idea behind this is to give an ocean view to our customers,” Mr Punja said.
“We feel that people come to Fiji for sandy beaches and Wailoaloa has got a better beach than Denarau.
“One thing I got to mention is that Denarau is full and is overflowing while Wailoaloa is just next.
“This hotel will be very close to Crown Plaza hotel and all the hotels are connected to Bula Bus and people will be able to travel up and down all the time. There is a move to connect to the Bula Boat.” He said the hotel is designed in a way that all rooms provided an ocean view.
“Some of the features that make it a five-star luxury hotel is the restaurants, large swimming pool (maybe one of the largest in Fiji) and all rooms will have ocean views,” Mr Punja said.
“When tourists booking into hotels, they always ask for an ocean view so the hotel is designed as ‘V’ looking towards the ocean and its six-story high.
“We are already operating a 50room hotel in Denarau under the name of Palms so this hotel project is not new to us in the form that we are already operating a hotel in Nadi.
“This has been a very successful operation for us and a profitable one as well.
“This is the second step but a bigger project; from 50 rooms to 258 rooms.
Mr Punja said construction is expected to commence in June this year.
The hotel will be managed by Rydges Australia, which is one of the most recognized brands in Australia and New Zealand with 60 hotels in operation. “Rydges are coming to Fiji for the first time but they are strong in Australia and New Zealand.
“More than 70 per cent of the visitors to Fiji come from Australia and New Zealand and we are keeping in mind to have chosen Rydges. They were also very keen to come to Fiji.
“We made changes to the size of the room. Initially, we planned a room to be 30 square meters but then the Rydges said it’s too small and we can do 34 square meter. So this made the number of rooms to come down.
“It will have big suits and a cultural centre as well. “
Mr Punja said the hotel will be sustainability complainant
The 258 room, five-star luxury hotel is scheduled to be open for business in June 2026.