New signage - ''Swiss-Belresort Coronet Peak Queenstown''- replacing ''Coronet Peak Hotel'', is one of the first visible signs of change at the Arthurs Point property.
A new general manager, Marcus Keenan, formerly of Rotorua, has been installed and groundworks have started. The owner of the property, Queenstown Resort Hotels Ltd, is finalising details of the
refurbishment, which will also add another four rooms to the existing 78 en-suite rooms.
Additional conference and meeting space and outdoor hot tubs are planned.
The renovation is due to be finished in six months. By then the venue should also boast a 10-pin bowling alley, petanque, volleyball, croquet, badminton, and ski-waxing facilities, as well as a spa and sauna.
Group business development director Oliver Faull, of Auckland, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday Swiss-Belhotel International took over management of the hotel on August 13.
''It's going from a reasonably tired product to a really good four-star hotel with a few more facilities and totally refurbished, so we can upgrade the occupancy and the average room-rate,'' Mr Faull said.
''Hopefully, you won't be able to recognise it. It'll be a lot better looking.''
The resort will remain open during the refurbishment. The first rooms to be overhauled will open for guests early next year.
Staff are being retained with the possibility of more employment next year, Mr Faull said.
''We're going to leverage off our Australian and international databases and guests at other hotels,'' Mr Faull said, with Queenstown promoted as part of the package.
''We're going to take the property forward and it's business as usual.
''Swiss-Belhotel is a company coming home to its Kiwi roots, so it's good to be home.''
Family firm comes home
- Swiss-Belhotel International manages a portfolio of more than 120 hotels and resorts, of two- to five-star classifications, in China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and now New Zealand.
- The chairman and president of Swiss-Belhotel International is New Zealander Gavin Faull, whose three New Zealand sons have joined or will soon join the business in offices around the group's countries.
