ELLERSLIE HOTELS TO BE NZ TREND-SETTERS

First international hotels to open outside Auckland CBD/Airport areas

The first international-standard hotels outside the Auckland central business and airport districts have opened at Ellerslie, in the southern suburbs of Auckland.

The hotels – a 147 room 4-star Novotel and 100 room 3-star Ibis – will service the area’s rapidly growing commercial, medical and conference markets, as well as providing accommodation for sporting and other events at the Auckland Racing Club and Ellerslie Convention Centre.

The decision to establish the new hotel complex at Ellerslie follows the success of similar projects in Sydney and Melbourne, including a Novotel/Ibis hotel complex at Homebush Bay, the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

The Novotel and Ibis Ellerslie will work closely with the Ellerslie Convention Centre, but will also operate its own conference facilities. The three function rooms have a capacity to host meetings for up to 280 delegates.

The two hotels, while sharing operations, food and beverage outlets and ‘back of house’ facilities, are housed in two separate wings, with separate check-in desks and rooms offering different standards of accommodation and in-room facilities. The two-tier hotel complex is unique in New Zealand, though hotel operators, Accor, operate similar hotel complexes throughout the world.

The opening of the Ellerslie hotels will increase Accor’s New Zealand network to nine hotels, with three in Auckland, two in Wellington and Queenstown, and one each in Rotorua and Hamilton. The hotels are all branded either as Novotel or Ibis hotels.

Commenting on the opening of the Ellerslie hotel complex, Accor’s General Manager for New Zealand, Nigel Harper, said that the group’s research had shown that corporate travellers did not want to commute long distances each day, and wanted hotels located conveniently to where they had to work.

“The performance of our hotels in suburban areas of Australia’s major cities has proven that travellers want accommodation close to where they are working or where they have to visit,” said Mr Harper. “The first year’s results of the Novotel Glen Waverley in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs business corridor proved that conclusively, and early indications from the Novotel/Ibis hotel complex at Sydney’s Homebush Bay suggest similarly strong demand.

“The Ellerslie and Homebush Bay areas share a number of similarities – they are both major venues for conferences, exhibitions and events, and have large commercial areas nearby, so we are very confident about the future of the Ellerslie hotels.

“Once the hotel complex becomes established we anticipate that more businesses will be encouraged to move away from the city centre to take advantage of the extra space and facilities in the Ellerslie area. This has been the case in Sydney and Melbourne, and indications are that a similar pattern will occur here.

“The hotel complex has been designed specifically to meet the various – and quite differing needs – of travellers visiting the area. The two hotels will be able to cover a wide spectrum of demand from standard 3-star rooms in the Ibis to suites in the Novotel. These multi-purpose hotel complexes mean that a company can have all their visitors staying at the one location, while still being able to provide differing categories of room styles.

“It is likely that the guest profile will contrast quite markedly between weekdays and weekends, with corporates and conference groups the key clientele Monday to Thursday, and leisure guests on the weekend. The Novotel will have a range of packages to suit the different market sectors and we are introducing the Dolfi* kids ‘recognition programme’ to cater for families.”

The two hotels were developed by Accor, at a total cost in excess of NZ$30 million. The hotels are located just off Auckland’s Southern Motorway, State Highway one, on Greenlane Road East, adjacent to the Ellerslie Racecourse.

All rooms feature remote control television and radio (with Sky TV), security key-card locks, tea and coffee making facilities, iron and ironing board, dedicated modem jacks and individually controlled air conditioning. In addition, Novotel rooms include in-room safe and mini bar.

Novotel and Ibis hotels are managed by Accor, the world’s largest hotel and tourism company, operating in a total of 140 countries. The global group is a leader in travel, tourism and corporate services with two major international activities:

- hotels: 3,400 hotels (370,000 rooms) in 90 countries, including 170 in Asia pacific under brands such as Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, All Seasons, Ibis and Formule 1

- services: each day, over 11 million people in 30 countries use a broad range of services (vouchers and cards, online services) developed, issued and managed by Accor on behalf of corporate clients and public authorities.