Resort plans upgrade after rebound

An Australian-operated Wānaka resort is spending $2.2 million on upgrades as the New Zealand visitor industry rebounds from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Club Wyndham Wānaka, in Mount Aspiring Rd, is one of 52 membership-based properties operated by Australian company Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific.

The parent company is in the United States.

Wyndham Destinations spokesman David Wray estimated the resort’s economic impact in the local community was $12 million a year.

The resort’s gym, pool and barbecue areas were upgraded last year, the reception area and lounge spaces had just been renovated and now the focus was on the apartments, he said.

"The refurbishment at Club Wyndham Wānaka is one of the more comprehensive projects we have scheduled this year and we expect it will utilise an estimated nine local companies ..." Mr Wray said.

Wyndham Australia New Zealand operations manager Duncan Mars said occupancy had taken a hit during Covid, but New Zealand members created "quite decent occupancy".

"The majority of members booking at Wyndham Wānaka are New Zealanders.

"Prior to Covid, the core visitors would have been from Australia. There’s been a complete reversal."

What "really hurt" Wyndham Wānaka during Covid was staff churn, as transient staff members left town and went home, he said.

"It only really has been in the last two to three months that we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel for recruitment and staff. That was the toughest bit," Mr Mars said.

marjorie.cook@odt.co.nz