Budget lodge has four-star potential

Media Release
Date 20.5.2009

Budget lodge has four-star potential

One of Queenstown’s most instantly-recognisable tourism properties - offering unobstructed views over Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables - is on the market for sale.

Queenstown Lodge in the suburb of Fernhill, is approximately two kilometres south-west of the Queenstown town centre, nestled between two of Queenstown’s largest accommodation providers - The Heritage and Mercure Hotels.

The property has 130 beds contained within 56 rooms, together with four self-contained apartments, licensed restaurant and bar, lounge/games room, spa and sauna complex, and reception area. The lodge was originally constructed in the mid 1980’s for Contiki, and continues to accommodate travelers with the chain today.

The lodge is situated on a 1.25hectare freehold site with an additional 932 square metre parcel of land also offered with the property – which is being marketed by Bayleys Real Estate and Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels under instruction from receivers, Grant Thornton. The land zoning is high density.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ national director, Dean Humphries, said “Queenstown Lodge provided a rare counter-cyclical buying opportunity in one of New Zealand’s most sought after locations.

“Despite current market conditions, there are currently no hotels for sale in Queenstown. This is due largely to the fact that most hotel owners are well capitalised and are long term investors. This property offers immediate vacant possession, as opposed to most hotel assets which are normally tied into long term management or lease contracts,” Mr Humphries said.

Bayleys Real Estate senior sales consultant Michael Pleciak said Queenstown Lodge property would provide a potential investor with an immediate cashflow.

“Queenstown Lodge has unlimited potential for further development by an energetic owner/occupier or investor who can identify niche markets within one of New Zealand’s most popular tourist destinations. Potential future opportunities include restructuring and modernising the current operation, converting the premises to an exclusive lodge status, or conversely, refocusing on the budget accommodation market,” he said.

“The budget and holiday park sectors in our tourism industry have considerable upside potential – particularly in the current economic climate where domestic tourism is growing at the expense of international travel, and budget accommodation is emerging as a preferred choice ahead of four star and top end providers.”

“Queenstown Lodge is particularly suited to this style of accommodation – sustaining a separate self-contained commercial kitchen with associated cooking facilities, and with additional land that could be developed with the addition of power services to accommodate campervans.”

Local marketing agent Barry Robertson of Bayleys Queenstown said the high density zoning for the 6,000square metres of land opened the door to a raft of future developments on the site.

“This is one of the few vacant sites in the town fringe that can accommodate future tourist accommodation, while also providing a valuable long-term land holding option for those investors with a medium - long term outlook of the Queenstown market,” Mr Robertson said.

The property is being sold through a Private Treaty by Deadline - closing on May 28.

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