An artists' impression of the new The Sebel Manukau Hotel now under construction at 16 Lakewood Court, Manukau. Photo / Supplied
The land, building and management business encompassing Manukau's first internationally-branded hotel, have been placed on market while the property is still under construction and scheduled for completion in the middle of this year.
"It will be Auckland's newest upscale hotel," says Nick Thompson of Bayleys Auckland who, with colleague James Chan, is marketing 16 Lakewood Court, Manukau, for sale by expressions of interest closing at 4pm on Thursday May 24.
Thompson says the South Auckland hotel will have a four-and-a-half-star rating and is set to be branded under Accor Hotel's Sebel marque.
"It will be the biggest commercial accommodation provider in Auckland's south-eastern quadrant," he says.
The Sebel Manukau's 152 guest rooms will be configured into 70 studio units of 25sq m, 72 kitchen studio units of 38sq m and 10 one-bedroom suites of 42sq m.
The 7000sq m hotel is being built on a 4000sq m site zoned Mixed Use under the Auckland Council Unitary Plan. On completion, it is forecast to initially employ 55 staff in various management, housekeeping, reception/administration, kitchen, food and beverage, and maintenance roles with the complement growing to 75 when running at capacity.
Thompson says the hotel will have a licensed open-plan style restaurant with seating capacity for 50 diners, and a standalone bar. The commercial kitchen will also service in-room dining requirements and the hotel will have 57 onsite car parks.
Facing onto State Highway 1, and with an entrance off Lakewood Court, the hotel's lobby, reception, and food and beverage facilities will be situated on the lower ground floor, with guest rooms spread over the upper five levels. Internal access will be available through two lifts, with electronic key cards issued to guests.
The Sebel Manukau's room inventory dovetails into the brand's established global style persona of studio and one-bedroom apartments, rather than family configured options and penthouse suites.
Thompson, director of hotels and tourism for Bayleys Real Estate, says the property has been designed and configured to straddle both the business and leisure guest sectors - making the most of the surrounding council and privately-owned infrastructure assets and the property's central position in relation to them.
"With that in mind, while the hotel will contain a corporate guest element, the property has not been designed as a business hotel capable of hosting conferences or meetings," Chan says.
"Instead, it has been designed as an adjunct to the Vodafone Events Centre - one of the city's 'quiet achievers' in the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions [MICE] market.
"With the Vodafone Events Centre just four minutes' walk away, The Sebel Manukau hotel has specifically been formatted to work in conjunction with that venue by providing specialist accommodation and limited food and beverage options, rather than competing against the Events Centre.
"The Vodafone Events Centre has a multitude of small to medium-size meeting rooms for 10 – 50 attendees, with the main floor area capable of holding conferences and conventions for up to 1200 delegates, or performance events for up to 4000 people.
"From an operational perspective, it is far more efficient to utilise the assets of a dedicated function venue, with a highly organised event-hosting infrastructure already in place, along with all the required audio-visual apparatus and staging equipment."
Chan says the opening of the Wero White Water Centre two years ago this month has substantially improved the attraction of holding meetings and conferences at the Vodafone Events Centre by providing high-adventure team-building experiences.
"The Sebel Manukau will fill the missing piece in this MICE market by providing four-star-plus accommodation on the doorstep of both amenities."
Thompson says the hotel is also only a short distance from Rainbow's End with its numerous leisure activities.
"It's envisaged the hotel will be strongly supported by the tour groups picking up clientele from evening flights arriving into Auckland International Airport and needing accommodation for the night in Auckland before heading south to the likes of Hobbiton and Rotorua. The same will apply in reverse to tour groups requiring overnight accommodation before departing Auckland on early morning flights.
"From a domestic business guest perspective, The Sebel Manukau hotel's marketing will drive into the south-east Auckland corporate sector with business activities stretching from Manukau on its doorstep, east out to the industrial precinct around East Tamaki," Thompson says.
"While there are now multiple hotels servicing the corporate sector around Auckland Airport, The Sebel Manukau will be the closest internationally-branded accommodation provider to East Auckland and Manukau."
Chan says the Vodafone Events Centre has also hosted dozens of 'ethnic' weddings for Auckland's Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Pacific Island communities over the past five years.
"With most weddings held on Saturdays, guest bookings from that sector will integrate seamlessly with the corporate market with its clientele predominantly channelled into Monday to Thursday stays."
Thompson says Auckland International Airport's last half-yearly financial results recorded that international passenger numbers were up 13 per cent year-on-year to 5.1 million arrivals and departures. "Traffic counts show the airport caters for up to 150 international flights on a busy day. The airport is New Zealand's biggest visitor gateway on both the domestic and international scenes."
Australia remains New Zealand's largest tourism market, accounting for 39 per cent of arrivals, with China second, accounting for 11 per cent of arrivals. Thompson says the strong increase in visitor arrivals has contributed to a 64 percent increase in Auckland hotel revenues over the last five years.
Accor is the world's largest hotel operator – with more than 3500 hotels in 92 countries. It is New Zealand's largest hotel operator – with 29 hotels and almost 4,000 rooms under management.
It's New Zealand brands include the Sofitel, Pullman, Mercure, Novotel, Novotel Suites, Ibis, Ibis Styles and Ibis Budget. The Manukau hotel will double Accor's Sebel presence in Auckland – with the brand's other Sebel-branded property overlooking the viaduct in the downtown harbourside precinct.
Tourism Industry Association statistics for the year ending December 2017 show that Auckland's three to five-star hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 86 per cent, with a corresponding average yield of $210 per room night.
The tourism industry's goal is to increase its total annual revenue of $35.9 billion in 2017 - to $41 billion by 2025.
Thompson says the hotel accommodation sector is widely seen as critical to growing the wider tourism economy, and The Sebel Manukau property represents a rare opportunity in a tightly-held segment of Auckland's commercial real estate market.
