The new hotel will have 144 rooms. Image/Supplied.
The new hotel will have 144 rooms. Image/Supplied.
Auckland International Airport has announced development of a new $30-40 million hotel, converting and expanding existing commercial premises into the new offering.
The former Qantas headquarters or Altitude building at 1 Leonard Isitt Dr near the intersection with John Goulter Dr on airport land will be revamped and a floor will be added to it, an airport spokesman said today.
The site is off George Bolt Memorial Drive and the new hotel near the Countdown supermarket will have 144 rooms and complement the nearby Hotel ibis budget Auckland Airport and the Novotel Auckland Airport, he said.
"It will be a three-star property. We already have a two-star and the four-star," he said referring to ibis and Novotel.
A fourth hotel - expected to be five-star - is also understood to be planned on the airport's land but no details of that have been released.
Christchurch's Dalman Architects had been engaged as the lead agency on the 144-room conversion at 1 Leonard Isitt Dr, the spokesman said.
Work would start later this year or at the start of next year, he said.
The new hotel does not yet have a brand because no agreement has yet been signed with a management business. Accor owns both the ibis and Novotel brands so the new hotel might be its more mid-range Mercure. But no announcement or statements have yet been made about the branding or manager.
"We've just gone out to market looking for a partner brand to run the hotel," the spokesman said.
Talk of a potential Auckland hotel oversupply made no difference to the airport's plans due to the unique location of its tourism and accommodation offerings, he said.
Guests at airport hotels tended to stay only one night: "They're often here for early departures or late arrivals or because they're on business and in town for meetings, then wanting to get home again," he said.
This week, Horwath HTL released a report which said 41 new hotels were planned for Auckland in the next five years, bringing 6500 extra rooms to the city. Wim Ruepert, a Horwath director, said 12 hotel projects were now under construction and that would bring 1800 new rooms.
"We have identified 41 hotel projects in various stages that are planned to open over the next five years with a total 6500 rooms. If all these projects proceed, this will represent an increase of approximately 89 per cent of the current major hotel supply in Auckland," Ruepert's report said.
At this stage it is still unclear which of the Accor brands will be attached to the new hotel. Image/Supplied.
In April, the 193-room Naumi Hotel Auckland Airport opened on Kirkbride Rd, 3km from the airport. That property was formerly the Hotel Grande and was previously owned by the GHI Group, Singapore. The building had an overhaul with renovations reportedly exceeding $25m.
Auckland's most expensive new hotel is the $300m Park Hyatt by China's Fu Wah. That is expected to be finished around June next year.
