Hotels, Hospitality and Tourism

Delivering meaningful solutions    

Tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest export, and our hotels, hospitality and tourism experts offer clients a seamless, full-service legal offering covering the entire range of transactional and operational matters.

With extensive experience across the tourism sector—from accommodation and transport to infrastructure and major events—our cross-practice team partners with clients to support their strategic objectives in areas including:

• Real Estate and construction
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Employment issues
• Environment and planning
• Financing
• Franchising and management agreements
• Tax
• Technology & Digital 

Experience

Our relevant experience includes advising:

• Auckland Airport on the hotel management agreements for its airport hotel portfolio (including the Novotel and Pullman hotels), with Accor.
• SKYCITY on the property and environmental aspects of the New Zealand International Convention Centre including the hotel being developed next to and at the same time as the New Zealand International Convention Centre.
• The senior banking syndicate on the development financing of an IHG franchise hotel in Queenstown.
• Precinct on the sale of the InterContinental Hotel property and shares in Precinct Properties 1 Queen Street Limited to Maxford Investments Pte Ltd.
• Fiji National Provident Fund on the acquisition of the Westin and the Sheraton resorts and golf club in Denarau, Fiji from Marriott Group, together with the management and operation agreements entered into with Marriott, and the consultancy and construction agreements for the redevelopment and renovations of those two resorts.
• A New Zealand developer on the negotiation of new hotel management arrangements under the Six Senses brand (part of the IHG group) for four sites in Fiji.
• RF Corval on its acquisition of the Sherwood Hotel in Queenstown.  
• The owners of Quest managed apartment complexes in Auckland and Tauranga on the hotel management leases.
• Accor on the development of two Christchurch hotels, the sale of properties in Auckland and Rotorua and other property aspects of Accor's operations in New Zealand.
• Russell Group and Lockwood Property Group on NZ Super Fund's investment into their hotel portfolio and the subsequent sale of the QT Hotel into that portfolio.
• The developer of the Kawarau Falls Station Resort in Queenstown (comprising hotel and apartment complexes, including the Holiday Inn Kawarau Falls).
• The owners of Westin Auckland Lighter Quay and the Holiday Inn Wellington in arrangements with the hotel operators.
• Toga Group on the management and divestment of various hotels (including under the Holiday Inn brand).
• Panuku Development Auckland in securing all necessary resource consents for the Park Hyatt development in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter.
• A client in relation to their investment in a large New Zealand car rental business, including in relation to key assets such as the integrated reservation, booking and aggregation system.
• The funders on the acquisition of the Pullman Hotel in Auckland and the development of Sofitel branded hotels in both Auckland and Wellington.
• The funders on the acquisition and operation of Novotels throughout New Zealand.
• The receivers of a major hotel in Denarau, Fiji.

International reach

Our team has considerable offshore experience supporting local and overseas clients. We have a wide network of international contacts, and we are members of the American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand, Asia Pacific Loan Market Association, Australian Investment Council, Australian Securitisation Forum, Japan New Zealand Business Council, International Fiscal Association, International Bar Association, NZ Asia Foundation, and Trans-Tasman Business Circle.

Investing in New Zealand and Asia-Pac

To invest in significant business assets and/or sensitive land in New Zealand, overseas investors require Government approval under the Overseas Investment Act. The team has significant experience in successfully obtaining consent for a wide variety of transactions. For more information on our international trade and investment expertise, click here.

For some clients, we act as a 'gateway' to the wider Asia–Pacific region. In particular, we advise clients wanting to acquire assets in the Pacific Islands such as Fiji, Samoa, and Cook Islands.