New operator of Whanganui’s Grand Hotel keen to get it back on track

Gaurav Patel says there is nothing he can do about previous hotel reviews. Photo / Mike Tweed

Whanganui’s nearly 100-year-old Grand Hotel has a new operator and a spruce-up is the first thing on his agenda.

The new operator, Gaurav Patel, said the outside of the building would be water-blasted next week and two new cleaners were being employed.

“Then it’ll be the carpets. You have to make sure things are corrected,” Patel said.

“St Patrick’s Day was packed and a lot of locals said they hadn’t seen it like that for years.

“This is what we want.”

Patel said he was happy to be in charge of the entire hotel operation, including the 40 rooms.

“If you want to be involved in this kind of business, you have to be involved in full – in all of it.

“There’s the bar, the kitchen and a rooftop [balcony] on the first floor which hasn’t been used for years.”

The building, on the corner of Guyton St and St Hill St, is still owned by businessman Sunil Kumar, who took over hotel operations in 2020.

Kumar spoke to the Chronicle last year following a series of one-star Tripadvisor reviews and concerns aired publicly by Whanganui district councillor Ross Fallen about the state of the hotel.

The outside of the building will be water-blasted, with more lights added. Photo / Bevan Conley

The outbreak of Covid-19 had made it “very, very hard to survive” but new carpets were being laid and rooms renovated, Kumar said.

In January this year, The Grand Hotel Wanganui Ltd was put into liquidation.

Patel said most of the renovation work had been completed and he would finish the last “5%” this month.

There was nothing he could do about previous reviews, he said.

“Someone actually called the other day and asked about them.

“I just said, ‘Look, come and look at the rooms, and if you don’t like it, that’s fine’.

“In the end, they were really happy. If someone had a bad experience before, they should come back and check it out.”

According to Whanganui District Council’s heritage inventory, the hotel was opened by George Spriggens in 1927 as the Spriggens Hotel.

He owned it until 1932, when a wine and spirit company took over.

It was then renamed the Grand Hotel.

Other notable owner/operators include Tim Hurley (1961-1987) and Neville Gorrie (2004-2020).

A section of the building on Guyton St, formerly Breakers restaurant and The Grand Cafe and Eatery, was not part of his lease, Patel said.

It was “too early” to take that on.

Gaurav Patel is keen to make use of the balcony on the hotel's first floor. Photo / Mike Tweed

“I don’t believe in doing something quickly and messing it up.

“You have to do it right. If customers start coming and they’re happy then I can take a risk.

“First, I want to start things like a Sunday roast and breakfast every day.”

Once the outside of the building was cleaned, more lights would be going up. “A hotel should be visible”, Patel said.

“I want to bring people here, make it a destination with events.

“Maybe at the end of this month, we can have a Bollywood night in the bar.”

Patel, owner of the Midnight Munchies eatery on Wellington’s Courtenay Place, said he hoped to open an Asian fusion restaurant at the Grand in the future.

The restaurant currently offers more traditional pub meals – “fish, steak and chicken”.

“There is a place called Chow in Wellington, it could be similar,” he said.

“Whanganui doesn’t really have anything like that.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.