Whanganui beds hard to find over big weekend

Whanganui's accommodation industry is stretched to the limit and probably beyond as the city gears up for one of its biggest entertainment weekends yet.

While vintage weekend is the major attraction, the visit of a steam train and the opera school have also been cited as reasons for an upsurge in demand for beds. And for at least one provider, the annual celebrations at Ratana starting on Monday, means their "full house" sign will be up into next week as well.

All the accommodation outlets the Chronicle contacted yesterday said they were booked out tonight while some were fully booked for tomorrow night as well.

While the Vintage weekend is probably the major attraction, the transfer of a major athletics event to Cooks Gardens from Wellington tonight has compounded the demand for beds.

A spokesperson for the Kingsgate Hotel said all 55 rooms were "pretty much" booked up for the Anniversary weekend.

"Saturday night is fully booked and we have limited space available on Sunday and Monday," she said.

"The Ratana celebrations start on Monday and we've got one whole floor booked out for people attending that event and that carries over for the next couple of days as well."

In most cases all the rooms have been taken for tonight.

At the Aotea Motor Lodge and B-K's Magnolia Motor Lodge there's nothing available tonight but they had some space available after today.

One motelier said he would assume most of the visitors have been drawn to Whanganui because of the Vintage weekend and the events happening around that.

At Cooks Gardens Motor Lodge all the rooms have been booked from Friday through to Monday morning while it's a similar story at the Kings Court Motel with yesterday and today full and a couple of rooms available at this stage tomorrow.

A spokesperson at Burwood Manor said tonight was fully booked but they had vacancies tomorrow and Monday nights at this stage.

"But we've got a waiting list for people wanting to get in here on Saturday night," he said.
Ron Wheeler, who has been the host at Sienna Motor Lodge since 2015, said he was fully booked for tonight although things eased after that.

"I advertised in Wellington some time ago for this weekend and that's how I filled our place up. Other motels have been ringing me to see if we've got space. If anyone is coming here for the athletics for the one night I'd say good luck to them finding a place to stay," Mr Wheeler said.

And it's a similar story at the Grand Hotel where a spokesperson said just about all the guests were coming here for the Vintage weekend.

Anybody caught out and in need of accomodation can try Top 10 Holiday park in Aramoho which had a few vacancies late yesterday.