Luxury on the waterfront: Inside Auckland's five-star Park Hyatt hotel

Barman Ezequiel Marquez in the Captain's Bar, which serves 57 varieties of run. Photo /Supplied

Joanna Wane gets a taste of luxury on the waterfront at Auckland's five-star Park Hyatt hotel

A 30ml pour of Black Tot 40-year-old rum from the West Indies costs $260 at the Captain's Bar, a cool drinking hole where you can sit by the fire watching the harbour sparkle and pretend one of the floating white palaces tied up at Auckland's Viaduct Marina might be yours.

My father was a keen sailor, although the foiling monohulls battling it out for the America's Cup this weekend would look like alien spacecraft to him now. Dark rum and orange was his favourite tipple. When I mention this to bar manager Richard Meads, it's a masterclass in professionalism that he doesn't visibly flinch.

"I've never tried that," he says, graciously suggesting he could see how the combination of flavours might work. Among the 57 varieties of boutique rum on his menu is a lively Venezuelan blend with citrus notes – priced at a modest $16 a shot. The true rum aficionado, obviously, drinks it neat.

Meads was born in New Zealand, but grew up in Yorkshire and worked in the UK and Australia before being lured back to Auckland to join the Park Hyatt, which opened on the waterfront late last year. It was his idea to create a point of difference at the Captain's Bar by specialising in rum, when gin is the spirit currently in vogue. A bespoke chocolate and rum pairing is on the way.

A view over Viaduct Harbour to the city from the Park Hyatt's sixth floor. Photo / Phil Taylor

There's just one local rum on the list, a spiced Helmsman from a small-batch distillery in Auckland. Meads has also managed to get his hands on what he thinks is the only remaining stock in New Zealand of Black Tot Last Consignment Royal Navy rum — traditionally given to sailors on the forenoon watch until the custom was disbanded on what's become known as Black Tot Day, in 1970.

On display in the bar - and available for sale - are several miniature models of America's Cup boats, originally commissioned by US skipper Dennis Conner. The price tag for a twinset of the 1937 winner Ranger and defeated British challenger Endeavour II is $85,000. Well, it's been called a rich man's folly, after all.

The Viaduct was heaving for the pre-Christmas races before the lockdown lull and the hotel is fully booked this weekend for what could be the grand finale. Built on the site of Team New Zealand's shed for the 2003 America's Cup challenge, it sits directly opposite the America's Cup Race Village, where the Union Jack is still flying stoically in the face of defeat at the Ineos Team UK base. No sign of the Stars and Stripes at American Magic, though.

Up on levels 3 and 5 of the hotel, guests have access to a private Sky Garden overlooking the harbour where they can see the boats sailing out. Order in some Champagne, one of the staff tells me, and it would be a great place to propose.

A dizzying view down into the atrium lobby, which features a light installation by Peata Larkin. Photo / Joanna Wane

Chief concierge Nikolas Adams, another expat-Aucklander tempted back onshore, began working at the Park Hyatt a year before it opened after being headhunted from a five-star rival down the road. Despite the ravages of Covid-19 on the hospitality industry, he sees this as a golden age for the city's restaurant scene, with several notable Kiwi chefs deciding to return home and an emphasis on fresh local produce.

In-house, however, it's a typically international team. Jonathan Pasion, the chef de cuisine at the hotel's signature restaurant, Onemata, is Hawaiian. In 2019, he won the Hyatt's global culinary challenge while working at a resort in Maui. First runner-up was Argentinian Leo Minelli, who's also now part of the Auckland crew. You'll find him at The Pantry, an all-day eatery where gig workers sit hunched over their laptops and a flat white costs $4.50 — competitive for inner-city prices.

Aimed at the top end of the market, the Park Hyatt targets the kind of wealthy tourists who use helicopters to get about and might be enticed to stop over in Auckland en route to somewhere like Huka Lodge; the hotel's penthouse Presidential Suite is a whopping 245sq m.

Ingredients for the day spa's signature White Flannel Flower Sanctuary Ritual. Photo / Supplied

Border restrictions have inevitably shifted focus to the domestic market. One couple from Hawke's Bay who usually holiday in Paris every year recently booked in for a three-night stay and barely left the hotel. A 25m infinity pool has a view of the harbour bridge and next to the gym and day spa is a hydrotherapy room, where the sauna is lined with pink Himalayan rock salt. There's even a seamstress on call.

With international travel off the cards, it's also being pitched as a "staycation" where you can indulge in a bit of inner-city luxury with the harbour on your doorstep – and the ASB Waterfront Theatre right next door. Think dinner and a show where all you have to do is cross the road after the final curtain call.

Work by locals artists line the walls. Photo / Phil Taylor

I liked the bold, industrial design where concrete and glass frame a dizzying seven-storey atrium and a black, bullet-like lift shaft references Wynyard Quarter's Silo Park. Commissioned Māori artworks include a waka carving by Lyonel Grant, a stunning light installation by Peata Larkin and tukutuku panels handwoven at Ōrākei Marae on Takaparawhau (Bastion Point).

Sadly, three enormous light shades were all that could be salvaged from the old America's Cup shed. They're now hanging in The Pantry, where there's one more clue to the hotel's origins if you take a close look – the back of the sliding wooden door has been painted red.