Mike Gallagher has invested $500,000 in doing up the rooms at their motel to get ready for the international visitor market but he hopes other moteliers who made money during Covid will do the same.
A couple who own Fenton St motels and made money during the pandemic have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars reinvesting and are ready to welcome back visitors.
Mike and Annemarie Gallagher own Arista of Rotorua Motel and Capri on Fenton, both on Fenton St in Rotorua.
They have justspent more than $400,000 on a major refurbishment programme and Mike Gallagher is now encouraging other moteliers who have profited from the pandemic to do the same.
The Gallaghers had a New Zealand Defence Force contract to provide accommodation to staff who were needed to work in Rotorua's three isolation hotels for 18 months.
It meant they didn't need to go into emergency housing to survive the drop in the visitor market and they were able to save on paying third-party booking agents, such as Expedia and Booking.com.
Gallagher said they loved Rotorua and were now showing confidence in the years ahead by reinvesting back into their two motels - and he encouraged other motels to do the same.
Arista of Rotorua Motel and Capri Court owner Mike Gallagher has installed the latest-technology television and internet systems at their Fenton St motels. Photo / Andrew Warner
Improvements at their motels included installing new air-conditioning units in all the rooms, installing blackout curtains, buying new guest washing machines and dryers, buying new furniture and linen, repainting, installing new carpet and lino and replacing some beds.
A major change has been an upgrade of the Arista of Rotorua Motel's internet and television systems.
The couple have installed the latest-technology televisions with customised cabinets, USB charging ports, built-in WiFi access points and secured encrypted Chromecasting, something that particularly appeals to corporate travellers.
Gallagher has designed a television programme that links through to Rotorua's greatest attractions and restaurants with QR codes to offer more information.
Each room has a hard-covered booklet that explains the history of the Gallagher family, their love for the city and their challenges along the way - including having a child who survived cancer.
"We are confident to invest in Rotorua. We have mud pools, nature and beautiful lakes and we are looking forward to summer. It is still a safe place to come, just do your homework before coming here, contact and book directly."
Cactus Jacks manager Dan O'Connor said the motel had made money but it had also cost a lot of money to have emergency housing clients.
However, Cactus Jacks has also spent money reinvesting in recent months.
It was among the top emergency housing earners in Rotorua, being paid $1,567,510 from July 2019 to July 2021 in grants to house the homeless.
O'Connor said they had both emergency housing clients and visitors but they were always upfront with visitors and told them they had emergency housing clients on-site before they booked.
He said with they had replaced the motel roof, upgraded geothermal piping, refurbished their entranceway and refurbished some of their rooms.
He said some rooms had been destroyed, costing thousands.
"We had this one woman staying here and it wasn't her fault but her boyfriend came over and destroyed the room. He broke her door down, smashed the lovely doors we had to our courtyard and destroyed my front door. He racked up $8000 worth of damage and we got nothing back."
O'Connor said some people were excited about summer but he had his doubts it would be busy as he felt advertising overseas was targeting more high-end clients, which meant cheaper accommodation suppliers such as his would miss out.
In his view: "If you're only looking at doing up your motels [to attract visitors] I think it's not going to work because a lot of the damage has already been done ... I think it is going to be a tough summer but I hope I'm wrong."
O'Connor believed there needed to be a tougher "push back" against people who begged in the streets and harassed people for money.
He said there also needed to be a tougher stance on emergency housing.
"People who are destroying places and lighting them on fire shouldn't be rehoused. There should be consequences."
RotoruaNZ chief executive officer Andrew Wilson. Photo / Andrew Warner
RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson encouraged moteliers to reinvest in their properties if they could - and the organisation was aware of property owners who were doing that.
Wilson said RotoruaNZ had always believed mixed-use motels were not suitable for both visitors and emergency housing clients and he strongly recommended people either went to their website or visited the local iSite to avoid any confusion around suitable properties.
"We know the anti-social behavioural issues that have resulted due to the concentration of emergency housing ... on Fenton St has impacted the reputation of our city, particularly at the domestic visitor level but it's important to note that these problems do not define the whole of Rotorua as a destination."
He said there were many "wonderful world-class experiences", and "amazing operators" who had reinvested and redeveloped their products to ensure visitors had memorable experiences and enjoyed the manaakitanga (spirit) Rotorua was world famous for.
