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Westin Resorts and Hotels in the United States has signed up to manage a hotel which developer Nigel McKenna is planning as part of a larger, $800 million Queenstown project.
Four months ago the US chain announced a deal to manage an Auckland hotel which McKenna has almost finished.
McKenna said Westin would manage the 177-room Queenstown hotel he is building on the Kawarau Falls Station site.
In August, he said Westin would manage the 173-room, $90 million Auckland Lighter Quay hotel being built by Fletcher Construction.
The Auckland building will be Westin's first hotel in New Zealand and its arrival was welcomed by tourism officials, who said the international operator might push up room rates.
McKenna said construction work on the Queenstown hotel would begin soon and it would open in 2009. He plans to put 13 buildings on the 7ha site with apartments, boulevard-style streets, restaurants and parks.
For many years, the Kawarau Falls Lakeside Holiday Park has operated a camping ground and cabin accommodation on the site.
