'Smart' hotel the latest to open in tourist mecca Queenstown

Thursday, 9 August 2018

The roof terrace at mi-pad Queenstown with stunning views of Lake Wakatipu.

Queenstown has a new 'smart' $15 million hotel, the fourth hotel to open in the past 12 months, but hundreds more beds are needed, according to a local real estate agency.

Billed as 'New Zealand's first fully smart hotel', it adds another 57 rooms to the resort town.

The Japanese owners of The George Hotel in Christchurch in a joint venture with local developer Lewis Gdanitz have opened the six-storey Mi-pad Queenstown overlooking Lake Wakatipu and are targeting the digitally savvy and professionals.

It features keyless 24 hour check-in and check-out through an app downloaded by guests, which also enables them to set room temperatures and mood lighting.

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Mi-pad Queenstown is billed as a 'fully smart hotel'.

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The app also enables guests to request room service and communicate with staff, and access information on events, activities and offers.

Gdanitz said the hotel was unlike anything else in New Zealand, offering affordable luxury using the latest technology.

MIPAD Holdings is the joint venture between Gdanitz and TJK NZ, owner of The George and Regent of Rotorua. TJK NZ chief executive Stephen Borcoskie said they were thrilled to be entering the Queenstown market.

The opening of Mi-pad Queenstown follows recent hotel openings of the 60-bed Jucy Snooze hostel, the 75-bed Wyndham Garden Hotel in Remarkables Park and the QT Hotel with 69 rooms.

An architect's illustration of the Holiday Inn Express in Queenstown.

The four hotels have swelled the town's accommodation stock in the past year by about 250 beds.

But tourism broker Barry Robertson of Colliers International in Queenstown said there was still a bed shortage. It took several years to plan and build hotels.

While there was a strong demand from local and international operators to have a presence in Queenstown, putting $50 million to $100m of capital together was a big challenge, he said.

Under construction was the 227-room Holiday Inn Express on the corner of Stanley, Sydney and Melbourne streets on the edge of the town centre. It was expected to be completed late next year or early 2020.

Another being built was 131-bed Ramada Queenstown which is due to open late next year.

Colliers International's latest Queenstown and Wanaka Market Review & Outlook said tourist accommodation would remain in extremely short supply for the medium term.

The average daily room rate was $239, up from $203 the previous year. Tourists were cutting their stays shorter because of the rising cost of accommodation and some were staying out of town.

As at May 31 this year, 330 rooms were under construction and 686 rooms had been consented while nearly 1400 were at the consent stage. In the next 10 years, potentially 2400 rooms could be built, the report said.

Proposed hotels also included the Ramada Kawerua River at Remarkables Park with 87 rooms, which is expected to open late next year, and boutique 40-room hotel Remarkables Park opening in 2020, the report said.