Mat Woods: Destination Queenstown CEO on the the $130 million luxury hotel set to be built in Queenstown

A new $130 million luxury hotel development in Queenstown is designed to draw in more high-spending visitors.

The new hotel will sit on an elevated 1.2 hectare site in front of the award-winning Kamana Lakehouse hotel in Fernhill.

Once completed, it will encompass 37 ultra high-end residences across 10 architecturally designed villas, with a central facilities building.

Destination Queenstown CEO Mat Woods says this will be a draw card for the entire nation - not just Queenstown.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good, Heather, due to see us. So I was telling
you earlier about this new one hundred and thirty million
dollars super luxury hotel being built in Queenstown. It's called
the Noctus Hotel. It's going to sit on an elevated
one point two hectare site in Fernhill. Has been described
as one of the largest hospitality investments in Queenstown's history.
And when I say super luxury, I mean it. You
have thirty seven ultra high end residences. They start with

(00:22):
three hundred square meter three hundred square meter junior suites,
six hundred and seventy square meters executive residences, or the
presidential pent house, which has got ten bedrooms and comes
in at a cool twelve hundred square meters. Matt Woods
is the CEO of Destination Queenstown.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hey, Matt, Hi, how are you, Heather?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Matt, I'm very well. But geez, I'll tell you what.
How good does this sound for you?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Guys? Do you reckon?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
You have the people to fill it?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh? Look, I think it's a great thing from New Zealand.
I think it's one of those pieces that we actually
need in the terrorism puzzle here for those high end
visitors that are coming to New Zealand that are looking
for something like that. So it's not just for Queenstown.
I see this actually for as a draw hard for
New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
How many people do you reckon turn up in Queenstown
and want to stay in a place as bougie as this.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, I hope we've got thirty seven.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
When you say it like that, thirty seven is not
a lot. I mean that's going to fill up in
the ski season, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah. Look, and I think that's a really interesting point.
And as we see the government at the moment's investing
in terrorism and putting money back into marketing and actually
hopefully into our infrastructure as well. You know, thirty seven
people for these high end rooms actually isn't a crazy
amount when you consider the amount of international visitors that
do come to New Zealand. But I think it's really
important that we look in Queenstown too. We actually have
something for everybody, so it's not just all high end.

(01:37):
We've got backpacker accommodation and we've got mid price points
as well. It was interesting to hear in the weekend,
you know, Anthony Albanezi, the Prime Minister of Australia was
in Queenstown this weekend and he referred to his first
trip to Queenstown when he was a backpacker staying in
a hostel. So, you know, it's really important that we
actually have a whole spread, you know, from backpacker all
the way through to this high end. And obviously these

(01:58):
guys have seen a real hole in the market and
they can see the confidence to invest one hundred and
thirty million in this property, which is fantastic, you know,
and it's really good to see that the public sector
is prepared to actually the private sector is prepared to
invest one hundred and thirty million, you know. So that's
amazing from the private sector. And what we really need
to see is the public sector investing in infrastructure to

(02:18):
go along with this as well.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, so what you're talking about hospitals, you know.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Hospitals would be something we needed in Counstown. Absolutely we
don't have one, but also we do have a lot
of issues on other infrastructure and particularly congestion and roading.
So if we could actually see investment in that, I
think that's one of those things that our visitors and
our community alike would really like to see from the
visitor economy.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, totally. Hey in terms of you know, the best
times that Queenstown's ever had, how close to that are
you or how far away?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Oh? Look, every time is the best time in Queenstown,
isn't it. But you know, at the moment we are.
We've got fantastic snow. Clearly, Otago and Southland's doing really
well at the moment and that's on the back of
terrorism and agriculture. You know, so both Southland and Otago
doing really well. But you know, tourism, we're fortunate that
we have a great airport and we get great connectivity

(03:06):
and a lot of visitors from Australia. So we've seen
great connectivity coming out of Australia and we're still seeing
lots of local domestic visitors coming down to Queenstown and
enjoying what we have.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Brilliant stuff. Matt, Thanks very much for your time. Matt
would CEO of Destination Queenstown.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
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