{"id":566876,"date":"2026-08-12T16:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566876\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T16:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:32:11","slug":"new-158-room-hotel-begins-construction-just-50m-from-tauranga-waterfront","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566876\/","title":{"rendered":"New 158-room hotel begins construction just 50m from Tauranga waterfront"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVT director of development Peter Hill said in a media release: \u201cWe\u2019re pleased to be partnering on a development that will help meet increasing demand for quality accommodation, conferencing and hospitality experiences\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe site where the new 158\u2011room Rydges Tauranga hotel on Willow St is being built. Photo \/ Zoe Blake<\/p>\n

EVT Hotels Group general manager Callum Kennedy said the location \u201dticks so many boxes”.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful setting close to the beach, will be a stone\u2019s throw from the new hospital and is right in the heart of the community it serves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said while Rydges was an international brand, each hotel was designed to reflect their local surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait to be part of Tauranga.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rydges Tauranga will become the eighth Rydges property in New Zealand, taking the brand\u2019s Australia and New Zealand portfolio to 38 hotels and resorts. <\/p>\n

The development follows another major international hotel brand arriving in Tauranga earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Accor\u2019s Mercure Tauranga<\/a> opened on Brown St on May 1 after the former Hotel Armitage and Conference Centre underwent a multimillion-dollar refurbishment and rebrand.<\/p>\n

The 80-room Mercure became Accor\u2019s first hotel in Tauranga and signalled growing confidence in the city\u2019s accommodation sector.<\/p>\n

\"MercureMercure Tauranga was Tauranga’s first internationally branded hotel. <\/p>\n

Priority One chief executive Dave Courtney previously described the arrival of Mercure as a \u201cstep-change\u201d in Tauranga\u2019s development as a business and visitor destination. He said the lack of suitable accommodation had long been a barrier to growth in the conference market.<\/p>\n

Gareth Wallis, Tauranga City Council head of community hubs, arts, heritage and events, said it was encouraging to see another international hotel brand commit to the city centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will attract new opportunities to our city centre and increase our city\u2019s capacity to host larger events.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallis said Mercure and Rydges arriving within a short timeframe was a positive signal for the local economy and reflected growing investor confidence in Tauranga as a place to live, work, visit and do business.<\/p>\n

\" Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Oscar Nathan. <\/p>\n

Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Oscar Nathan said Rydges would strengthen the region\u2019s visitor economy and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Having Mercure and Rydges would help Tauranga mature as an international destination and provide greater confidence for travel agents and inbound tour operators recommending the city to visitors.<\/p>\n

Nathan said one of Tauranga\u2019s biggest opportunities was converting day visitors into overnight guests.<\/p>\n

Those visitors were more likely to spend money across restaurants, cafes, bars, retail stores, attractions, activities and transport services, delivering wider economic benefits.<\/p>\n

He said the new hotels, alongside major city-centre developments such as Te Manawataki o Te Papa, highlighted Tauranga\u2019s evolution into a more internationally competitive visitor destination.<\/p>\n

Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EVT director of development Peter Hill said in a media release: \u201cWe\u2019re pleased to be partnering on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[279079,86207,62925,11154,138,1853,2199,13849,1568,71,226,6735,1426,5511,26477,225,117,111,139,69,174906,5257,1227,8238,3590,42580],"class_list":["post-566876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-158room","tag-50m","tag-accommodation","tag-begins","tag-business","tag-central","tag-city","tag-citys","tag-construction","tag-from","tag-growing","tag-hotel","tag-investment","tag-just","tag-leaders","tag-market","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rydges","tag-significant","tag-tauranga","tag-under","tag-visitor","tag-waterfront"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566876","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=566876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}