Full article below as written in RNZ:
By Nona Pelletier
Pro-Invest aims to double $400 million New Zealand portfolio
An international hotel property investor is looking to double the size of its New Zealand property portfolio.
Pro-Invest chair and chief executive Ron Barrott said New Zealand was still one of the world’s most desirable tourism destinations and the primary driver behind its plan for growth.
“So we’re looking for opportunities where there are hotels, for want of a better term, tired, that can be brought up-to-date, not only in terms of their interior design and the quality of what they offer, but also their sustainability,” he said, adding there were many opportunities in New Zealand to do that.
The private equity firm, which traded on its record of building for sustainability, was looking to add to its existing $400 million New Zealand portfolio of three newly built hotels, which included the Voco Hotel and Holiday Inn Express complex in Auckland, as well as the Holiday Inn Express in Queenstown.
“Yes, we are quite happy to double that investment and are keen to do so,” Barrott said.
“We are now looking to use our expertise and knowledge to improve the accommodation that’s on offer within New Zealand,” he said.
The company’s entire global portfolio of hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Australasia were built to the property industry’s Neighbourhood Sustainability guidelines, Barrott said.
“The industry has long last woken up to the fact that they need to improve buildings and it doesn’t matter if a building is newly built or older buildings that you need to renovate and bring up to speed to have good ESG [environmental, social, and governance] credentials.”
The global tourism industry was fast emerging from the pandemic, Barrott said, suggesting the government should ease restrictions like other countries have.
“The biggest problem we all have is labour supply,” he said, adding it was an international problem affecting all aspects of the tourism sector, including food and beverage and aviation.
“I mean, we’ve got our businesses in Europe as well, where basically everything has been removed, all the restrictions have been removed and things are getting back to normal quickly or quicker.”
The New Zealand government is today considering whether to ease Covid-19 restrictions.
Some of the broader industry issues, such as emerging regulations covering Airbnb, were inevitable, he said.
“They need to play by the same rules as the rest of the hospitality industry,” he said.
“It’s now become a major industry and it needs to be regulated and sorted and I think governments around the world are now waking up to that fact and are dealing with it.”
In 2020, Airbnb’s head of public policy for Australia and New Zealand Derek Nolan said the company was having frequent conversations with councils around the country as they sought to bring in bed taxes.
While Nolan supported regulation, he said it was important to recognise the differences in Airbnb’s business model.
