Craig and Liz Alderson discovered the Otago Central Hotel in Hyde while cycling the trail during a trip to settle their daughter at the University of Otago.
Mr Alderson said he had been working in Dubai and Malaysia for the past 10 years in corporate banking, but the time had come for a change of pace.
When the Aldersons cycled through Hyde the previous owners happened to be at the hotel and invited them to look around.
"It was complete luck."
The hotel, which closed about seven years ago, should reopen early next month, with five rooms available in the boutique hotel from Labour Weekend, Mr Alderson said.
While his background was in banking, Mrs Alderson had run a school cafe in Dubai and was a great cook.
"She will be the boss."
Her mother was coming from the United Kingdom for six months to help get the hotel and cafe up and running again.
It was obvious Hyde needed more accommodation and meal options for both locals and cycle trail riders. Completing their vision for the hotel would be a multi-year project with a new roof and replastering taking priority this year.
It was important local people saw the cafe as their’s too and not just for tourists. They would be invited to try new menu items and he could see other opportunities coming from the hotel reopening including gold mining, star-gazing, fishing and hiking tours.
While some work was essential to maintain and preserve the building it would be sympathetically done.
"The past will meet the future. We will respect history and want people to feel the old lady has been brought back to life."
Otago Central Rail Trail Charitable Trust manager Colin Stevenson said the cafe and possibly a bar operating in Hyde along with additional accommodation would make Hyde a key a destination again.
"The Otago Central Rail Charitable Trust was delighted to learn that the old Hyde hotel was reopening as it was one of the missing jewels in the crown for us."
The other missing jewel was the pending return of the Taieri Gorge train to Middlemarch and the reopening of the hotel would certainly help to put more passengers on the train to Dunedin, Mr Stevenson said.
