Opening of luxury hotel completes Commercial Bay
Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Walk-in guests have been trying to check in to Auckland’s newest luxury hotel since the front entrance was revealed recently, but staff have had to turn them away until this week.
InterContinental Auckland, which is located at the premium CBD waterfront address of 1 Queen Street, officially opened its doors on Tuesday morning.
The hotel has been four years in the making, and its opening marks the return of IHG Hotels & Resort’s InterContinental brand to Auckland.
Designed by Warren & Mahoney, the five-star hotel occupies levels six to 11 of the Deloitte Centre building in the Commercial Bay precinct. It has 139 rooms and suites, and views over Waitematā Harbour.
Intercontinental Auckland general manager Ryan South said there were only 200 InterContinental hotels globally, and just one in New Zealand, InterContinental Wellington, so the Auckland hotel was special.
Prices are flexible to demand, but currently start at $494 a night for a classic room, and range up to around $5000 for the presidential suite.
But it was surprising how many people had been walking in off the street, and from cruise ships berthed overnight, without reservations but wanting to stay, South said.
Staff have had to point the aspiring guests in the direction of IHG’s sister hotels nearby, which include Voco and Holiday Inn Express on Wyndham Street, and the Crown Plaza in Albert Street, he said.
“We’re been taking reservations though, and on opening night we’ll have 70 to 80 people staying. They’re a mix of paying guests, and some IT consultants and staff who have been staying on site to make sure the opening days run smoothly.”
Interest and enquiries had been running higher than expected, and demand for the coming months was tracking well, he said.
“We have the best address in Auckland, adjacent to Commercial Bay, opposite the ferries, and with easy access to precincts such as Britomart. It’s primed for guests to have the best of all worlds.”
The hotel was being marketed with promises of refined hospitality, and had features such as valet car parking, a 24 hour fitness centre, and an in-house restaurant helmed by former-My Kitchen Rules host Gareth Stewart.
The restaurant, Advieh, seated 140, and the hotel also offered an in-room dining service curated by Stewart. The food was Middle Eastern inspired, but made from locally sourced, sustainable produce.
But Stewart said it was more than a hotel restaurant, it was a restaurant for Aucklanders, and very open to diners coming in off the street.
A Club Intercontinental lounge, and a rooftop bar were also set to open later this year.
The hotel’s opening came just two weeks after Commercial Bay developer, Precinct Properties, opened the Deloitte Centre for business, and described it as the completion of the development.
Precinct chief executive Scott Pritchard said it was a significant milestone for the business, and for the ongoing transformation of Auckland’s city centre.
The sustainably refurbished building was a gateway to Auckland city, and offered a mix of premium commercial, hospitality, retail and hotel space, he said.
InterContinental Auckland itself had targeted a six-star Green Star rating, and was the first six-star Green Star rated hotel in New Zealand.
It would run a sustainability programme, and had offerings such as wooden keys, refillable water carafes with fountains in the hall, and choices around the regularity of room service.
South said about 100 people would be employed across the hotel initially, but as it got busier more would be recruited.
It was the second hotel he had opened in his career, and bringing the InterContinental brand to Auckland was an exciting project to lead, he said.
“Many years ago, there was an InterContinental in what is now the Pullman, so technically this hotel is the second of the brand to be in Auckland, but it’s a brand which has a special place in peoples’ hearts.”
IHG would also be opening a 225 room hotel, under its Indigo brand, in central Auckland later this year.