“This hotel has an established track record and an exceptional location in the Queenstown market,” Barrott said.
IHG Hotels Australasia & Pacific managing director Matt Tripolone.
“Transitioning to voco allows us to reposition the asset for its next phase, leveraging IHG’s scale, systems and premium brand strength to support long-term performance.”
A spokeswoman for Pro-invest Group wouldn’t disclose the cost of the refurbishment, but confirmed the investment “aligns with the scale and ambition of the project”.
IHG Hotels Australasia & Pacific managing director Matt Tripolone told the Herald that the conversion reflected the company’s strategic approach.
“It was a wonderful Holiday Inn Express when we launched it a number of years ago now, but the market [has] moved so quickly there in Queenstown,” Tripolone said.
“Even when we were in the early stages of developing this hotel to now, the Queenstown market has just continued to grow, but now it’s a year-round destination.”
Tripolone said the group has a constrained business there, trading with 90% occupancy rates upwards of eight or nine months of the year.
According to Stats NZ’s latest international travel data, overseas visitor arrivals to Queenstown Airport in November 2025 were up 20.3% on November 2024, and up 10.6% on a yearly basis.
Tripolone described the property as “heavily utilised” and said that it had predominantly leisure travellers visiting.
“The leisure market is looking for more amenities, more service when they do stay in Queenstown, and we feel that we can better service the market through a different brand.
“The hotel’s been trading its head off and the best way for us to respond to the feedback we were getting from guests was to see if there was a strategy around upgrading the property with some physical enhancements and putting on one of our higher, more full-service brands.”
IHG’s Holiday Inn Express & Suites Queenstown will be converted into voco Queenstown. As seen in the render above, the site will get a new restaurant and bar, Mozzarella & Co.
By joining IHG’s growing premium portfolio in New Zealand, voco Queenstown will become fully integrated into the company’s enterprise platform – including global distribution, sales and its IHG One Rewards loyalty programme.
IHG said the upgrades were designed to strengthen the property’s commercial mix, broaden its appeal across leisure and corporate segments, and support sustained long-term performance.
Comparing a standard room for two adults, it costs anywhere from $170 a night to over $800 at voco’s Auckland location, depending on the time of stay and the room’s orientation.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Queenstown costs anywhere from $225 a night to $1000, depending on the time of stay and the room’s orientation.
Queenstown will be the second location for the voco brand after it opened its first site in Auckland back in May 2022.
Tripolone said the strength of the transient leisure market had surprised everyone, even in Australia, where it had branched out to become year-round.
“I think it’s quite clear now that some households are wealthier than we thought. Some houses are definitely more well ahead of their mortgages than we thought, but also people’s travel behaviours changed slightly such that now transient leisure is no longer an option, it’s something you have to do.”
Voco expansion
New Zealand currently has one other voco-branded hotel, located on Auckland’s Wyndham St, which opened in May 2022.
Tripolone said the group was working on bringing more voco-branded locations to New Zealand in the future, hinting at possible sites in Wellington and Christchurch, but couldn’t solidify any plans.
He said the group had a “lot of ambitions” for this year, with more announcements to be released soon, but said it was important that the group maintains a sustainable business model for the next three to five years.
“A lot of the work that we are doing is continuing to ensure that our loyalty platform and distribution platforms are really driving the value we need and getting cut-through in the market.
“We’re also looking at ways to ensure that we have an owner mindset when we run hotels to really look from a real estate owner’s perspective, what they’re looking to achieve with the real estate investment, and to make sure those two parties are aligned.”
As for when Kiwis can expect voco Queenstown to open, Tripolone said the aim was before the end of the year.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter – your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.