Famous filmmakers have known about New Zealand for years. The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong,The Last Samurai and Avatar all were filmed there. Hollywood isn't the only one having a Kiwi love affair, however. More and more, travelers also are discovering the Pacific nation. In fact, the country projects that Auckland alone will require up to 4,000 new hotel rooms by 2025 in order to keep up with current demand.
To satiate travelers' growing appetite for New Zealand, global hoteliers are developing new properties there that will help the country keep up with visitor demand. The latest, for example, is InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), whose Hotel Indigo brand announced today that it will open its first New Zealand hotel in Auckland in 2021.
Hotel Indigo Auckland will feature 225 guest rooms -- many of which will boast views of Auckland's iconic harbor -- as well as an all-day restaurant and bar, an unspecified amount of meeting space and a gym. It will be part of a mixed-use development in Auckland's central business district, where it will become one of the city's tallest buildings by building a brand-new structure around an existing historic building whose original façade will be maintained and integrated with the new building.
"Hotel Indigo is one of our fastest growing brands globally and, closer to home, Hotel Indigo Auckland will be the fifth signing in Australasia. We're so excited to open one of the first globally-branded boutique hotels in Auckland, creating a destination for travelers who are looking for a local experience, with the security and amenity of a global brand," said Abhijay Sandilya, IHG's senior director of development for Australasia.
Added Dean Rzechta, managing director at Ninety Four Feet Property Development, the hotel's developer: "Auckland is becoming recognized as one of the world's key gateway cities, and is consistently one of the top 10 most livable in the world. Its rich arts and culture scene makes it a great fit for a boutique brand, and we can't think of a better match than Hotel Indigo. This development is destined to become an iconic landmark on the Auckland landscape, and with robust tourism arrivals and unprecedented demand we are confident that Hotel Indigo Auckland will be a story of success."
Here are four other new and forthcoming hotels that are poised to help New Zealand meet the "unprecedented demand" of which Rzechta speaks:
• Park Hyatt Auckland: Hyatt Hotels Corp. exited New Zealand in 2011, when the former Hyatt Regency Auckland became a Pullman hotel. Opening in spring 2019 in Auckland's central business district, Park Hyatt Auckland will mark the company's return to New Zealand. The hotel will have 190 guest rooms, three restaurants and bars, event spaces, a spa, a 25-meter pool and a fitness center.
• DoubleTree by Hilton Wellington: The DoubleTree by Hilton Wellington opened earlier this month inside a historic building in the central business district of New Zealand's capital city. It has 106 guest rooms, an onsite restaurant that's open for breakfast and dinner, a fitness center, a business center and a small meeting room for groups of up to 10 people.
• Crowne Plaza Christchurch: In 2011, a major earthquake shook Christchurch -- and its hospitality industry, which lost several hotels in the disaster. Years later, the city's hotel landscape has finally begun to recover. One of the most significant additions is the Crowne Plaza Christchurch, which opened in June 2017 near the city's new Te Pae convention center, scheduled to open in 2020. The hotel has 204 guest rooms, a café, a bar and restaurant, and four event spaces.
• Sudima Auckland Hotel: Another Auckland addition to look forward to is Sudima Hotels' just-announced Sudima Auckland Hotel, which will open in downtown Auckland in summer of 2019 or 2020. It will have 180 to 200 guest rooms, a gym, a rooftop bar, and a separate restaurant and bar. Although it's not clear if it will have meeting space, the new property will be located opposite the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), which is scheduled to open in 2020.
