Airport Novotel taking bookings after delays add two years to construction

Tuesday, 18 June 2019

The Novotel hotel at Christchurch Airport is now expected to be open in November.

Almost two years after its original opening date, the Novotel hotel at Christchurch Airport looks set to open its doors in November.

The airport has invested $80 million in the 200-bed hotel, being built for it by Fletcher Building on airport land next to the international terminal.

An artist's impression of the new hotel.

Construction began in 2016 and was originally scheduled to finish in December 2017 but has encountered a string of major delays.

They included Fletcher having to re-order steel after the wrong grade was supplied, weather damage to bathroom pods awaiting installation, and serious damage to the hotel from a water leak.

Work under way on the hotel in August 2017, with sculptor Gregor Kregar's Cumulus Gate Pavilion at left..

* Further delays for $80 million Christchurch Airport hotel

* Incorrect steel delays Christchurch airport hotel opening

* Christchurch airport 'ticks a box' in building 200-room Novotel for short stays**

After the original completion date was pushed out to 2018, the hotel began taking bookings for that September before indicating it would not be open before 2019.

The Sudima hotel chain originally took on the lease of the property but global hotel chain Accor will now run it under the Novotel brand and has begun taking bookings from November 1.

Despite the advertised opening date, an airport spokesperson said while the hotel would open this summer, they had not received a confirmed completion date from Fletcher.

The 4.5-star five-storey hotel has been designed by architects Warren and Mahoney and overlooks the airport runways.

Advertised room rates range from $293 to $485. The hotel promises ergonomic comfort, dining with views of the alps, a bar, function rooms, and a gym 'with motivating views'.

The project's delays are likely to be costing Fletcher large sums of money, but the company had declined to reveal details of those costs.

In the last financial year Fletcher's building and interiors arm, whose projects include the hotel plus the Auckland convention centre and the Christchurch justice and emergency precinct, made a $660m loss. This was attributed mainly to delays and cost overruns.

Airport owner Christchurch International Airport Ltd, three-quarters owned by the city council and a quarter by central government, makes more than half its profit from non-core activities such as property leasing.

Since the earthquakes the airport company has embarked on property developments including Spitfire Square shopping centre, Dakota Park industrial complex, Mustang Park rental vehicle hub, as well as the Novotel hotel and $9m Jucy Snooze capsule-style hotel.

When the airport announced the Novotel project in 2016, it said the need had been created by record passenger growth, especially from Asia, and travellers wanting short-term stays near the airport.

However the plan drew criticism from central city hoteliers and other businesses that it would keep tourists away from central Christchurch.

Both Auckland and Wellington airports have recently built hotels on their campuses, run under the Novotel and Rydges brands respectively.