Scenic Hotel Dunedin City shut its doors in April last year because of Covid-19’s effect on international tourism.
The central Dunedin hotel — one of two the corporate hotel chain owns in the city — will reopen at the start of November.
The Scenic Hotel Group also owns another two hotels on the West Coast, which will remain closed until at least next year.
Reopening after a challenging time was exciting, general manager Adrian Clifton said.
"It is something I’ve missed; the hotel lost its soul without people here, it is what makes it come alive so I can’t wait to see people here again," he said.
Mr Clifton spent three months living in the hotel last year, beginning in the lockdown.
"It was hard because my family was at home here in Dunedin so I had to keep myself busy by scrubbing floors and stuff like that.
"We did lots of video calls with my family, they had to take me outside so I could see some gardens," he said.
Over the hibernation, the hotel had been aired out regularly and undergone a deep clean.
It would initially open for the September 25 All Blacks test — which the hotel was already sold out for — but would reopen permanently on November 1.
The hotel would undergo a refurbishment when it reopened, so the number of available beds would not be at full capacity.
"We are also doing that to not overextend ourselves with the smaller staffing number but if there is demand, we will certainty open up a few more."
The hotel had employed more than 50 staff, who had to be made redundant or sent to other Scenic Group hotels.
"It was incredibly tough to see it close and we had a tight relationship with the old team.
"Closing it down and the uncertainty for all of them was the hardest bit about it," Mr Clifton said.
The hotel would restart with half the number of employees it had before the pandemic, but finding 25 new and experienced staff was "incredibly tough".
"Finding trained staff is very very difficult in this environment
... Whilst we are prepared to train staff, we need staff with a little bit of experience as well."
