Jet Park Airport Hotel Opens Auckland's Newest Event Centre

PRESS RELEASE

Jet Park Airport Hotel Opens Auckland's Newest Conference & Event Centre

After 18 years in operation Jet Park Hotel, Auckland Airport has opened a new 250 person conference centre and a further 60 guest rooms. The ambitious undertaking brings the 4-star plus hotel’s room capacity to 222 and it now features an ultra-modern multi-level conference complex complete with a ballroom, multiple conference rooms, and a 5th floor complete with a private bar and magnificent views to Rangitoto.

Guests can enjoy break-out to a beautiful landscaped garden and an outdoor deck overlooking a pond/wetland area. The venue offers a close location to Auckland Airport with complimentary 24-hour shuttle bus, free car parking, and superb food and beverage options. Uniquely, the new facility and guest rooms can also be hired out entirely for exclusive use by one client. It includes its own restaurant and coffee bar, reception desk, and a range of flexible conference spaces. Says General Manager, Jeeva Jeevananthan, “This development will be immensely important for a number of reasons. Our existing precinct is growing in popularity for meetings, it’s very convenient for people to access from all around New Zealand. Our additional rooms are timely with the shortage of rooms in the area very much in the news.”

The new conference centre was opened on the 15th July at a gala-dinner attended by those central to the build and fit-out, the hotel’s loyal long-term suppliers, staff, industry guests and dignitaries Sir George from Villa Maria and Bob Kerridge from SPCA Auckland. The evening was a great success, MC being youngest son of Liz Herrmann and former hotel GM, Sebastian Herrmann. Guests enjoyed a “movable feast” across the various spaces and levels of the new building finishing on the upper floor with live music, dessert and a cake cutting to commemorate the hotel’s 18th birthday.

Liz Herrmann, Director says, “We wanted a modern, highly functional building which is located close to the existing building, a design that both incorporates our current buildings, but provides a renewed profile to the whole site. We sought flexibility for conference space and set-ups, a beautiful green space, modern building with state of the art technology and a magnificent new commission by James Wright and new sculptures by Rex Homan which links the new with the established buildings.” The new conference centre was a joint project with Watts and Hughes, architectural and design work by Joey Cordero, engineers Envivo and many of the hotel’s long-term suppliers contributing- including Ward Chandler (electrical), Chenery Plumbing, Titon, Panasonic, Burns and Ferrall and Basically Floors. At the gala dinner Liz Herrmann celebrated the many long relationships of what she describes as “the greater Jet Park family”. Many of these suppliers contributed to the original build and the subsequent expansion projects.

The hotel is a family business and the project has been a very hands-on experience for all with son Ashley Schierhout being project manager for the entire build, overseeing the details as well as the greater vision. In keeping with previous art work created by her, daughter Sonja Herrmann has used original creations of the staff’s children and re-interpreted their works onto canvas for a unique art installation adorning the new guest wings and floor lobbies. In addition Sonja has orchestrated the Human Resources and Marketing for the hotel. All the hotel’s department heads have contributed greatly in the process and everyone is immensely pleased with the outcome.

The hotel has grown in several stages since it first opened in 1998 with 90 rooms, adding a 45 room wing in 2004, then a further 45 room wing in 2008. The business has achieved 4 star plus and Qualmark Enviro-Gold standard and won several awards over the years for excellence across different aspects of the operation. In November 2015 it also opened a hotel in Rotorua, Jet Park Hotel Rotorua. With the years of planning and 18 months of construction at an end the hotel can proudly stand by its accomplishment which has expanded the opportunity for conferencing near Auckland Airport, provided 40 new jobs, and channelled an enormous amount of creative energy and challenge for staff. Jeeva Jeevananthan says, “Anyone can build a hotel, but it’s the service that makes the difference and it’s our staff that make the difference for us. We put a lot of time and effort into our staff and as a result we have low staff turnover and we have the core principles of service right.”

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