For sale: Hotel that offers the high life

New Zealand's highest hotel, Skotel Alpine Resort on Mt Ruapehu, is on the market. PHOTOS/SUPPLIED

It is reckoned to be the country's highest hotel and now it's on the market.

Skotel Alpine Resort, in Whakapapa Village on Mt Ruapehu, is about 1140 metres above sea level and was built in the mid-1980s by a group of recreational skiers looking for a European-style lodge on the mountain.

The hotel was bought from that consortium in 1990 and now, after 23 years of running the business, the owner is looking to retire.

Michael Pleciak, of the real estate firm Bayleys, said that while Skotel was originally developed as a ski resort and lodge, the growth of eco-tourism had expanded its appeal to a year-round hospitality venture.

Mr Pleciak said the increasing popularity of the Tongariro Crossing walk, along with the growth in mountainbiking, had added dimension to the traditional uses of the Tongariro National Park, and summer business now competed with winter as the busiest time of the year.

The resort has 48 accommodation units, consisting of five individual cabins with bunk beds and double beds, 31 hotel rooms with facilities, and 12 rooms in a backpackers' wing with shared facilities.

The hotel employs 14 full-time staff, and there is a three-bedroom manager's flat and five individual staff quarters.

Other amenities within Skotel include an a la carte restaurant seating 65, a house bar and two separate lounge areas. The basement features a spa and sauna complex, games room, gymnasium and ski hire department operated by a sub-lessee tenant.

The three-star rated Skotel sits on a hectare of land leased from the Department of Conservation and has just negotiated a new 30-year lease with DoC, with a further 30-year right of renewal.