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The press
The former Heritage Hotel in Hanmer Springs will reopen on December 21 before being transformed into a luxurious five-star hotel.
A prominent Hanmer Springs hotel was sold that will reopen before Christmas after closing in March due to the Covid-19 shutdown.
The former Heritage Hotel in the heart of the city of North Canterbury was sold to CPG Hotels, one of New Zealand’s largest privately owned and operated hotel groups.
The 54-room hotel will reopen on December 21, under the new name of Hanmer Springs Hotel. It will employ 40 people.
CPG Hotels Group Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Ronalde said the hotel will undergo a complete remodel next year to transform it into a five-star luxury hotel under the Fable Hotels and Resorts brand.
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He said it was too early to say how much the company would spend on the remodel because the figure was still being calculated.
“This recent acquisition means we can breathe new life into the property.”
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
The former Heritage Hotel in Hanmer has been acquired by CPG Hotels, New Zealand’s largest privately owned and operated hotel group.
Ronalde said the group had been hiring for the past month and had already appointed a general manager, a front desk manager, an executive chef and a restaurant manager.
“We also have highly qualified staff across the country that are being dispatched to Hanmer to ensure the hotel is open before Christmas.”
Previously, all of the hotel units had been privately owned and rented, but CPG purchased the entire hotel and most of the garden suites from those owners.
Graham Wilkinson, a director at Hanmer Management Ltd, the former operator, announced in May that it would not reopen the hotel after the closure was closed because it was not feasible.
Trading conditions had slowly deteriorated in recent years and it was simply not profitable in any way, shape or form, he said at the time.
JOSEPH JOHNSON / THINGS
The resort town of Hanmer Springs is suffering the economic effects of the Covid-19 shutdown. (Video first published on May 10, 2020)
JLL Hotels agent Nick Thompson, who handled the sale, said it showed the market was confident that New Zealand’s tourism industry would recover.
Ronalde said the hotel would increase Hanmer’s appeal to local and eventually international visitors.
CPG Hotels owns 17 properties in New Zealand, including Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Picton and Dunedin.
Properties currently in the group include two five-star boutique hotels and a range of three- and four-star hotels, all destined to be renovated under the five-star Fable brand over the next two years.
The Hanmer Springs Hotel dates back to 1897 when it was an 18-room log cabin. It was converted into a hospital for soldiers returning from the First World War. The existing Spanish-style building was built in 1932 and several separate units have been added over the years.
