Dominion Post Column - 20th March

The One The Intercontinental Didn't Like

I read the terrible news today as I was surfing on wireless by the sala pool at a luxury villa in Bali as the servants re-stocked the mini bar and I planned on what I was going to wear to a cocktail party that night to the opening of even nicer villas of the same chain. The Environment Court has prevented construction of The Hilton in Wellington.

Not on

For a city its size and national importance Wellington must be a world leader in supplying its visitors with terrible hotels. I frequently refer to them as motels and bawk as I book on-line at not only the expense but the relative quality. If you are unlucky enough to require accommodation when there is an event of importance ranging from a Super 14 game to Bryce’s 40th birthday, you end up paying New York rates for Birmingham quality. Although such a statement may be a tad unfair on Birmingham.

Allegedly your best hotel is The Intercontinental, a strategic opponent of course to The Hilton’s arrival. I have stayed there in a “spa” suite. I found it awful and that was two years ago before I upgraded myself to nicer true 5 star hotels while travelling. What we find in Wellington are outdated interiors, limited optional extras, poor availability and staff that look like they are sleepwalking to victory from limited supply and therefore competition.

Wellington should simply be throwing itself at large international hotel chains and begging for them to open up. The city itself should be ensuring it has these adequate high-end facilities and it is criminal that it doesn’t as I am sure if MP’s lived in these hotels all year they would pass laws to change things and banish some of the staff to Palmerston North.

The current day international market cries out for top quality, high end but reasonably priced business and vacation hotels. Auckland has a few that I can safely refer to visitors to New Zealand, most notably Sky City Grand which not only provides a true 5 star service from its staff but highly reasonable pricing. The arrival of new hotels lifts the game of the other hotels in town. In America the Hilton has become a middle class chain of hotels patronized by families, the closer to tacky destinations such as Los Angeles the worse my stay has been. Hilton hotels out of America however are compared with the local high-end business hotels.

For a business traveler the extra charge over a motel is for services. You should be able to be on the road traveling without any staff of your own because the 50-70% you are paying over and above a motel is effectively a charge for the hotel staff to run your life for you. In a strange city a good concierge or butler can turn your stay from a nightmare to a dream. I am not paying $NZ5-600 a night to stay in a room with 1970’s interior, stained carpet, 25” box set TV, a locked mini-bar, power points conveniently located nowhere near the bed and a concierge who is never available and when he is has limited understanding of basic English.

As more New Zealanders ditch the back-packing mentality and travel overseas for extended periods they will identify the disgrace that are Wellington’s hotels. We will collectively cringe with embarrassment that in our nation’s Capital this is the best we can offer the long-haul tourist standing next to us in the endless check in line who is used to being met in a special immigration area, escorted off the plane right into a waiting limo, taken straight to his room and facing not a line of check-in with silly questions that have been asked many times before, but a personal concierge.

And this is where Wellington will be heading, only it will take 20 more years to get there than even the villa here in third world Bali where the wireless broadband access speed is of David Farrar’s nicest dream.