Homegrown hotel chain Sudima looks to grow in NZ and the Pacific

Saturday, 6 September 2025

When Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala moved to New Zealand to manage his family’s portfolio of local commercial properties in the 1990s, he had never worked in the property business before.

Now, he heads Sudima Hotels, one of the country’s few homegrown hotel brands. It has seven hotels, offering 1358 rooms, across Auckland, Rotorua, Kaikōura, Christchurch and Queenstown.

It is complemented by Hind Management, a company Jhunjhnuwala set up to develop and operate hotel and hospitality businesses.

Hind Properties, the name of the Jhunjhnuwala empire’s broader company group managing many of its various hotels and other interests, reported $65.3 million in revenue in its 2024 annual report, the last one lodged with the Companies Office. The company recorded a $17m loss, but most of that came from a large depreciation write-off.

The broader group has diversified its offerings to include Moss Spa in Christchurch and Queenstown, and eateries East, Sunset, and Hiku, and also manages properties under international brands, such as Novotel Christchurch Airport.

Founded by Jhunjhnuwala in 2000, the Sudima brand - which employs about 700 staff - is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. The Post talked to Jhunjhnuwala about challenges, points of difference, and what lies ahead.

How’s the industry faring these days, and what’s the outlook?

The industry has faced challenges, such as the GFC and bird flu in Asia, in the past, but they were nothing compared to Covid and its economic fallout. New Zealand is still struggling to get back to pre-Covid tourism numbers.

There are things that can be done to help. We need more major events here to turbo-charge the economy. Look at what happened with the Fifa World Cup in 2023, or the World Choir Games last year: they created a real buzz and energy. It’s great for business.

Instituting some sort of bed tax or tourism levy will only work if it is designed properly, and introduced nationally. And it will have to be all-encompassing across the industry, rather than just applying it to hotels.

Until recently it was difficult for people from some countries to get visas to come to New Zealand. So the Government’s moves to address that barrier will be helpful. Making it easier will encourage more tourists from countries like China and India, where people are avid travellers, to come here.

But New Zealand hotels rely a lot on domestic tourists, particularly in the slower winter months. We’re hoping the latest OCR cuts will help ease the financial pressure on Kiwis, and lead to more domestic travelling.

What’s important to Sudima, and what does it do differently?

From very early on in our journey, we focused on creating our own identity as a hotel brand, and following a path that focuses on diversity, accessibility and sustainability. We’ve always had an emphasis on integrity, innovation, and investment in people and the environment.

Every founder has their own idea of how they want to do things, and our way is not the only way – but our approach is holistic and consistent with our values, and part of how we invest in our people, guests, communities and environment.

One example is in the sustainability space. One of my daughters, Kanika, is our chief sustainability officer and she has a “take no prisoners” approach. She has led us to become the first Toitū Carbon Zero certified hotel in New Zealand, and has forced many of our suppliers into becoming truly circular.

Three of our hotels have beehives, and produce honey served in their restaurants. The Sudima hotels at Auckland and Christchurch airports use tanks to harvest rainwater and use it to flush hotel toilets and water gardens.

All food waste from South Island hotels is composted, while all food waste from North Island hotels is anaerobically digested at the Ecogas Reporoa plant. The group funds the planting of 12,000 native trees a year, and we provide free conference space for the Kaikōura Wildlife Centre.

Sudima has seen strong growth over the years,**** *what’s next on the agenda?*

Our growth over the years has been very organic. We’re always on the look out for new projects, and we look at them from a variety of angles.

A project might involve owning and managing our own hotel, or working with an investor who wants to build a hotel to advise on the development and operation, or taking on a management role. There’s lots of options.

Currently, we are looking for new developments in New Zealand, but also in the Pacific, in places like Fiji and Tonga as I think our next phase of growth will be there.

But overall our goal is to continue providing a safe and healthy working environment for our staff, and offering lovely, safe places to our guests where they can relax and enjoy our hospitality.