Hotel plans are back on track
With only a few weeks’ work left on the extension of the Novotel Tainui in Alma St, Hamilton, Tainui Group Holdings is pursuing a ‘‘wait and see’’ policy around its opening as
Covid-19 border closure hits the tourism and hotel industry.
Owned by Waikato-Tainui through its investment arm Tainui Group Holdings, the original Novotel Tainui hotel was opened in Hamilton in 1999, operated by AccorHotels. A
$13 million, 40-room extension project was launched in 2018 and was due to be completed mid-2020, but progress was slowed by the
Covid-19 shutdown, and the borders closure has greatly reduced inbound tourism and local use.
Tainui Group Holdings (TGH) chief executive Chris Joblin said there was around a month’s work left to complete the hotel’s extension.
‘‘The construction team has re-mobilised to get under way on this. No decision has been made on the timing to open the new wing as we will be assessing the rate at which demand is returning to the market as restrictions are progressively lifted for domestic and business travellers.’’
TGH also owns the Ibis hotel in Hamilton, and has a half share in the Auckland airport Novotel, which opened in 2011. It is joint developer with Auckland Airport Ltd of the $150 million 311-room Te Arikinui Pullman hotel, which began construction in August last year, and is scheduled for completion mid-2022.
TGH is also making headway in finding interested parties for the former Railways Building site in Hamilton.
‘‘We have some promising tenant interest for the corner of Ward St and Victoria St and continue to work through the options of tenant mix and building specifications for this signature corner site. Any announcements will be a number of months away,’’ Joblin said.
Ground-floor renovation work on the Days Hotel and Suites work is about six weeks from completion, according to manager Perry de Jager. The project includes creating a new reception area and lobby, and a new restaurant, cafe and bar area with immediate access to the streets through floor-to-ceiling doors.
Closer to the centre of the building will be a boutique gym, along with conference facilities and boardroom to cater to up to 50 people.
A ‘‘soft refurbishment’’ of the hotel’s four accommodation wings had been planned to be completed by March.
‘‘We were only about six weeks away from final completion of the downstairs restaurant, bar and new reception before level 4 was imposed. This has naturally pushed everything out, so we now expect completion in June.
‘‘We are still closed and will only partially reopen – 50 per cent of our rooms – [this month] with an eye to being fully operational and all rooms open in June.’’
The Days Hotel and Suites, on the corner of Victoria St and Collingwood St, is a 69-room listed heritage building and formerly the Commercial Hotel.
Waikato Regional Airport chief executive Mark Morgan said the Hamilton Airport-located Jet Park Hotel was not as exposed to the domestic or international tourism market as are other hotels, with its main market being corporates, conferences and sporting groups.
During the Covid-19 level 3, its
Propeller Restaurant had remained open, providing a contactless takeaway menu.
‘‘That has proven very popular and we will continue to provide a takeaway service during alert level 2, and the restaurant will be open to seated guests.
‘‘The hotel itself re-opened in early May and we have already hosted some regular corporate clients and have forward conference reservations and we’ve had a number of other inquiries. There are some encouraging signs for summer.
‘‘We’ll start some active marketing over coming weeks as well, and we’re optimistic that people will come to stay in the Mighty Waikato, for work or for personal reasons. If so, we’re more than ready for them.’’
Morgan said the first flights following Covid-19 level 3 lockdown arrived in Hamilton on May 14 and the flight schedule would gradually pick up with 12 flights, departures and arrivals, scheduled by June 1.