New Zealand hotel chain buys Settlers

A substantial New Zealand-owned hotel chain has given Whangarei a big vote of confidence by buying one of its largest hotels and planning a major refurbishment as soon as the sale becomes effective on February 28.
One-hundred per cent New Zealand-owned and operated group Distinction Hotels has bought the former Settlers Motor Inn from Renaissance Group Ltd (RGL), the commercial arm of the Te Uri O Hau Settlement Trust.
Financial disputes and internal strife have wracked the trust over the past few years.
Distinction Hotels is owned by Invercargill-based developer Geoffrey Thomson.
The "Setts", built in the late 1960s, has been operating as a Comfort brand franchise of the American-owned chain Choice Hotels International for the past 18 months.
RGL chair Rawson Wright said the facility had now been sold outright because it no longer matched the group's investment criteria. The board was pleased to have sold to a quality New Zealand-owned hotel chain which could "fully develop the Settler's potential", he said. The purchase gives Distinction Hotels its first foothold north of Rotorua, where it owns and operates the Distinction Rotorua Hotel & Conference Centre. This was previously its only North Island operation.
Distinction Hotels originated in the South Island, where it has Distinction Te Anau Hotel, Villas & Conference Centre; and the Distinction Luxmore, also at Te Anau; and two 4.5 star-plus boutique hotels operating under its brand, Distinction Queenstown and Distinction Fox Glacier.
The company is about to begin work redeveloping the old chief post office in Dunedin into a 4.5 plus star hotel with 180 rooms and suites, restaurants, bars, conference facilities, business centre, supporting technological services, gym and lap pool.
CEO Duncan Fletcher said the company saw great potential in Whangarei and the region as a whole and was looking forward to working with the Whangarei City Council and other groups "in looking at ways the hotel can add to an already vibrant city".
He said the planned re-investment programme, which would include significant sales and marketing in both the domestic and international markets, would enhance the property and help attract new business to Whangarei.
The hotel rooms would be refurbished first.
The company's website advertises itself as New Zealand's "premier hotel group, providing an international standard of accommodation for the discerning traveller."