Hilton Worldwide vice-president operations Australasia Ashley Spencer, of Sydney, flew into Wakatipu this week to join resort-based Marlene Poynder, general manager of both Hilton Queenstown and "Kawarau Hotel, managed by Hilton" for an introductory function to explain what the Hilton brand meant globally and the facilities on offer in "Kawarau Village."
Mrs Poynder said the village within the $1 billion Kawarau Falls Station would be comprised of the five-star, 178-room Hilton Queenstown. Its signature restaurant, the Wakatipu Grill, would be situated on the waterfront at the bottom of the flight of steps which divide the two hotels.
Mrs Poynder said a luxury spa with nine treatment rooms would operate within Hilton Queenstown for guests, community members and tourists. Downstairs from the spa would be a heated 25m indoor lap pool, and gym, she said.
"We also have some great meeting and function space within the Hilton Queenstown. The largest number of people we can take for a sit-down dinner in any one area is 180 and we do have two facilities within the hotel that can take about the same number of guests.
The village complex will also include the four-star 98 single-bedroom apartment-style Kawarau Hotel. The compact studio suites with kitchenettes were "hotel rooms with a difference", Mrs Poynder said.
"It's a very funky hotel. Ashley saw it for the first time [on Wednesday]. It's really edgy, fun, very bright colours. It's quite different from the Hilton Queenstown and I think people will enjoy the experience."
The north-facing village will also feature a standalone "gastropub", with wood fired pizza among the menu items, plus a gourmet grocer, deli and coffee shop for all to use.
Mr Spencer inspected the construction site yesterday during his overnight trip from Australia and said the Kawarau Falls development had come a long way. Hilton had invested hugely in manpower and resources, he said.
"We've been quite keen to talk to the people of Queenstown for a long time. In fact, we've probably planned this two of three times before [Wednesday night], because as well as being a global company, we really want to be part of the local community. It's really important for us."
Queenstown's "destinational knowledge" regarding activities and attractions will be shared among the portfolio of 530 Hilton hotels and resorts, operating in 81 countries. The Hilton Worldwide brand covers 3600 hotels and 600,000 experiences in 82 countries, plus 35 sales offices, in destinations including Sydney, Shanghai and London.
"We know Queenstown has it's [seasonal] highs and lows and we want to be able to flatten that out as much as we can."
Mr Spencer said it was difficult to announce a specific opening date, other than "before the start of the ski season", as construction progress was out of Hilton Worldwide's control.
"There's a lot of building work still going on. It's important for us that we open completed, so we're at the mercy of some of that contractual stuff with the builders.
"We'll be ready whenever that's ready. We want our systems up and running a couple of months before that [winter] season.
"We're so happy to be here. It's been a long time coming and we can't wait to get cracking. We think we've got a lot to add to the destination."
