Two upmarket hotels in Queenstown will reopen when Covid-19 restrictions allow, despite the owners calling time on an operation in Hanmer Springs this week.
Graham Wilkinson owns five-star hotels St Moritz and Sofitel in the resort, and is a director of Hanmer Management Ltd, which this week announced the Heritage Hotel would remain closed after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
Mr Wilkinson said a "massive increase" in Airbnbs and similar holiday rentals in the area had made the Heritage Hotel not viable.
"We struggled to keep our heads above water pre-Covid and post-Covid was going to be a disaster," Mr Wilkinson said.
But he was optimistic for the future of hotels in Queenstown, with many Airbnbs "disappearing" as landlords turned to longer-term tenants.
"There wasn’t that market in Hanmer, they are still sitting empty those holiday homes, but in Queenstown it has all changed."
He believed this would mean a "slightly increased pick-up’’for hotels in Queenstown, somewhat offsetting the lower occupancy levels expected over the coming months.
Mr Wilkinson has, to date, kept his staff on through the wage subsidy and said the New Zealand Hotel Owners Association was pressing the Government to extend the scheme.
