2700 hotel rooms being built or proposed

The backers of this proposed 162-room hotel on the corner of Thompson and Glasgow Sts are seeking...
The backers of this proposed 162-room hotel on the corner of Thompson and Glasgow Sts are seeking resource consent. Image: Supplied
A new five-star hotel opens for business in Queenstown tomorrow with at least another 2700 rooms on the drawing board or under construction in the resort.

QT Queenstown — a 69-room hotel on Brunswick St above the Rydges hotel — is the first large central hotel built for about a decade.

But many more are on the horizon, including one right next door to QT.

Singaporean company Well Smart Group is  proposing a 162-room hotel on Thompson St, part of the Lakeview zone opened up through Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Plan Change 50.

Last week, plans by Auckland-based Shundi Customs for a $60 million, five- to six-star, 68-room hotel on Frankton Rd were unveiled.

Destination Queenstown chief executive Graham Budd said: "We still have huge demand for Queenstown which has not eased up at all in the last few years.

"Every indication is that demand is as high as ever, and so we without question welcome and need many more hotel rooms. So hopefully some of these developments that are proposed will come to fruition."

Other hotels in the works, centrally and across the resort, include a 260-room hotel by the Hilton complex, a 131-room hotel on the Frankton Rd/Stanley St entrance to central Queenstown, a 227-room hotel on the corner of Stanley, Sydney and Melbourne Sts, and a large hotel and serviced apartment complex at Arthurs Point.

Queenstown Views, comprising 19 two-key apartment suites on the prominent corner of Man St and Brecon St,  is also being developed.

According to local property services company Colliers International, more than 2700 hotel rooms are under construction, consented, or going through the consent or design process.

Those under construction comprise Lew Gdanitz’s Henry St hotel, Jucy Snooze backpackers and Wyndham Garden, near Ramada.

Despite all the mooted room numbers, local Colliers tourism broker Steve McIsaac predicts as few as 500 may be delivered over the next three years.

"The hardest part in the equation is the construction cost, so when we’re stretching out to $500,000 a room, it’s starting to become prohibitive," Mr McIsaac said.

As a result, he said some developers may looking at cheaper building methods like modular construction.

Central Queenstown’s last new visitor accommodation, Queenstown Park Boutique Hotel, opened 10 years ago this month.In the wider area, Hilton opened in 2011 and Ramada Hotel, by the airport, last year. 

- Philip Chandler

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