The Jhunjhnuwala family has opened its wallets in a big way in 2018 in the New Zealand hotel industry.
Its Sudima Hotels has seven hotels either already operating or about to be developed, and now has plans to build further new hotels in Wellington, Queenstown, Sydney, Melbourne and Fiji.
“We're planning these new hotels but it's a longer-term plan," Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala recently told the NZ Herald. He says the Australian hotel projects are worth more than $200 million each.
The existing portfolio of Sudima hotels already developed is estimated to be worth around $300m with 40% debt gearing.
The company will also build the first substantial hotel accommodation in the earthquake-hit South Island coastal tourist town of Kaikoura.
The 4.5-star hotel will cost $30 million and offer 118 guest rooms, a restaurant and bar, conference facilities, and a gym and pool. It is scheduled to open during the summer of 2019/20.
Sudima Kaikōura will be located on the shoreline of the Kaikōura township and will be added to the chain's properties at Auckland Airport, Lake Rotorua and Christchurch, where it has a hotel at Christchurch Airport and is building another in the central city.
Jhunjhnuwala says on a recent trip to Kaikoura he couldn't find anywhere to stay.
“Since the earthquake we’ve had a lot of disruption, including a few times where accommodation in town was completely sold out,” he says.
“This project sends a positive signal to locals, visitors and investors that Kaikōura is on a path to becoming better than ever.
“It will give confidence to other investors that Kaikōura is really on the move and I’m really looking forward to the development getting under way.”
In mid-July, Jhunjhnuwala also announced a new hotel of up to 200 rooms for Auckland’s CBD on the corner of Nelson St and Wellesley St near the NZ International Convention Centre.
Jhunjhnuwala is also a proud member of Be Accessible’s Fab 50 in recognition for his work in making Sudima Hotels & Resorts accessible.
Sudima has a single-use plastic free 2020 goal and recently became the first group of hotels in New Zealand to discontinue using plastic straws – eliminating an estimated 52,000 straws each year from going to landfill, according to the brand’s recently appointed environment and social advocate, Vedika Jhunjhnuwala.
The family has maintained a presence in New Zealand since 1991 and also owns several industrial properties in Auckland and Wellington that are collectively worth at least $30 million. In 2017, it also laid the foundation stone for a new $40m flagship hotel, office and retail development in Christchurch called the Sudima Christchurch Victoria.
Meanwhile, a different branch of the family, which is based in Singapore, has also been spending on new hotels in New Zealand.
The first move came in January with the official opening of the $50 million Naumi Auckland Airport, which follows a complete overhaul of the old Hotel Grande.
The next move came in February when Naumi Hotels increased its presence in New Zealand with the acquisition of two hotels in Wellington’s Cuba St, which were bought from CQ Hotels for an undisclosed sum. With the rise in experiential travel, chief executive Gaurang Jhunjhnuwala says “New Zealand is definitely a hot favourite with millennial travellers and we see a lot of potential in Wellington for something new and vibrant.”
Gaurang is distantly related to Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala, who runs the Sudima Hotels brand in New Zealand.