Hotel chain set for airport deal

Global hotel chain Accor plans to build a hotel on the grounds of Auckland International Airport, with a deal expected to be signed within days.

The airport has been trying for years to get a joint-venture deal with a hotel operator to build on its land. A previous feasibility study with casino and hotel company Sky City in 2002 went nowhere.

Discussions on building the first airport hotel are thought to be well advanced, with one industry source expecting announcement of a deal between the airport company and Accor at the end of last year.

A new hotel should be a good source of new earnings for the airport company, faced with growing demands on its money for terminal upgrades and runway development.

It is also fighting with its airline customers over planned increases in landing fees.

Of its $282 million revenue last year, $152 million came from "non-aeronautical" sources, including carparks, retail shops and property rentals.

Airport chief executive Don Huse said negotiations were continuing on a hotel project in the airport business park but details of the project were "commercial in confidence" at this stage. He said it was well known the company had been keen for hotel developments on-airport for years.

Land next to the international terminal has been earmarked for a four-to-five-star hotel, while a site nearer the domestic terminal on Tom Pearce Drive has been selected for a budget hotel such as Accor's Formule 1 brand.

Accor has been aggressively expanding its Formule 1 brand across Australia with a particular focus on airports.

The brand will be promoted as a good cheap option for visitors to New Zealand, since it is known globally and facilities are kept consistent the world over.

Formule 1 operations manager Larry Raffel said last year that travellers using airport hotels arrived later, often caught early flights or were in transit. This meant they had only simple requirements.

They would baulk at paying A$150-A$200 ($165-$220) a night for an airport hotel, but were prepared to pay between A$59 and A$89 a night at budget hotels like Formule 1.

Raffel said the success of the brand had grown with the rise in popularity of low-cost airlines. Many business travellers were taking the cheap flights, wanting to replace phone calls with face-to-face meetings, but wanted to "economise" on hotel costs.

An Accor spokesman said the company could not make any comment on plans for an airport hotel and would neither confirm nor deny that it was interested.

Booking in

Accor has more than 3500 hotels and resorts in 90 countries.

It also owns the Sofitel, Novotel, All Seasons, Mercure and Ibis brands.

Formule 1 hotels are the cheapest brand in the Accor stable of hotels.

They have 24 hour check-in, sometimes automated.

Rooms are small, with a TV, clock radio and en-suite.