{"id":223034,"date":"2026-01-08T10:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/223034\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:21:15","slug":"auckland-hotels-near-capacity-as-jehovahs-witness-convention-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/223034\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland hotels near capacity as Jehovah\u2019s Witness convention opens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Hotel Council Aotearoa\u2019s strategic director, James Doolan, was also optimistic about the impact of the event and told the Herald the event has been a positive for businesses in the city and further afield.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Special Convention of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses conference delegates and organisers have been spotted around Auckland, including at Mission Bay. Photo \/ Michael Craig\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Special Convention of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses conference delegates and organisers have been spotted around Auckland, including at Mission Bay. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cA number of Hotel Council Aotearoa member hotels are reporting sell-out nights or occupancy in the high 90s for the Jehovah\u2019s Witness conference,\u201d Doolan said, \u201cwhich is attracting both international and domestic travellers to beautiful Auckland. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cMajor conferences like this one can be a real economic boost for host regions. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Special Convention of Jehovah's Witnessed is forecast to generate over $20 million for the Auckland economy. Photo \/  Michael Craig\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Special Convention of Jehovah&#8217;s Witnessed is forecast to generate over $20 million for the Auckland economy. Photo \/  Michael Craig<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAs well as revenue generated by the conference venue and accommodation providers, delegates spend heavily at restaurants, attractions, transport providers and retailers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cMany delegates will also venture further afield to other parts of New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Special Convention takes place at Eden Park from January 9-11. Photo \/ Michael Craig\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Special Convention takes place at Eden Park from January 9-11. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Delegates and organisers had been spotted around the Auckland this week, including groups at Mission Bay posing with signs promoting the special convention. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">A spokesperson for Jehovah\u2019s Witness church said the event would be the largest faith-based event in New Zealand in decades with the convention being free and open to anyone who wanted to attend. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hotel Council Aotearoa\u2019s strategic director, James Doolan, was also optimistic about the impact of the event and told&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,51,11231,12509,13849,4766,45450,219,305,20285,1019,70339,661,3180,111,43,139,69,2680,9346,133688,3603,28251],"class_list":["post-223034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-auckland","tag-boost","tag-capacity","tag-citys","tag-conference","tag-convention","tag-economy","tag-have","tag-hotels","tag-international","tag-jehovahs","tag-major","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opens","tag-packed","tag-providing","tag-witness","tag-witnesses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}