Hilton plans long-term stay in NZ as it eyes more hotels

Global hotel operator Hilton wants to open more New Zealand hotels, vowing the recession is making little difference to the chain which has come here for the long haul.

Ashley Spencer, Hilton's vice-president Australasian operations, was in Taupo and Auckland from Sydney this week to plot the chain's expansion.

Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin were longer-term targets, he said.

"It's logical to say now is not a great time but we're here for the long run," he said. Hilton sought contracts to operate a property for at least a decade.

Hilton opened in Auckland eight years ago and by October plans to have taken over operating the Terraces Hotel, 1km from the shores of Lake Taupo on the Napier highway.

That hotel will get a $55 million expansion, incorporating a block of part-built units which the hotel's owners - an investor group linked to Triumph Capital and headed by Brian Fitzgerald - bought from receivers KordaMentha on December 22 for $8,589,000 of which $7.6 million went to funders ASB Bank.

Fitzgerald said the Terraces Hotel business was never in receivership, only the 40-unit development linked to the existing hotel and now being finished to give Hilton more rooms. The expanded hotel will be rebranded the Hilton Lake Taupo.

Spencer predicted five or six Hiltons would eventually operate in New Zealand.

Hilton has been vowing to expand here for almost a decade. In 2001, The Herald reported the chain wanting to add hotels in Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch after opening Auckland. No Hiltons opened in Rotorua, Wellington or Christchurch and moves to establish in Dunedin were scuppered by the financial failure of developer Dan McEwan.

Plans to open a Hilton in Rarotonga have also come to nothing. Spencer acknowledged Hilton's failures but indicated the chain was closest to announcing in Wellington.

Chris Partridge, Hilton Auckland's new general manager, said that hotel was running at occupancy levels of 60-70 per cent which was expected during the challenging economic times.

About half its guests are domestic. Partridge, who has moved here from Melbourne, said he was involved in establishing the new Taupo hotel and about 40 to 50 staff would be working there by October.

ONE BIG FAMILY

Hilton's brands:

* Hilton
* Conrad Hotels & Resorts
* DoubleTree Hilton
* Embassy Suites by Hilton
* Hampton by Hilton
* Hilton Garden Inn
* Hilton Grand Vacations
* Homewood Suites Hilton
* The Waldorf Astoria