Distinction Invercargill Hotel

Distinction Invercargill Hotel opened in August 2025 in the Menzies Building, a seven-storey government office block completed on Esk Street West in June 1966. It has 150 studios and suites, a 4.5-star rating, and an owner who was born in the city: Geoff Thomson, who runs the New Zealand-owned Distinction Hotels group. It is the group's 17th hotel in the country. The first was in Te Anau.

The place

Esk Street West is the stretch of Esk Street between Wachner Place and the railway station on Leven Street. It was full of civil servants when the Menzies Building was new and emptied as government offices left the city.

The hotel sits in the center of Invercargill, in the middle of a block that is being rebuilt. Wachner Place is being redeveloped, a bus lane now runs from Dee Street to the hotel, and the Wachner Place clock was taken down and is due to return nearer Dee Street when the works end.

The concept

The Menzies Building replaced a structure that had stood on the site since 1910. Its largest tenant was Southland Community College, whose space shrank before the building was sold in 2021 by Nelson-based commercial owner Gaire Thompson. Thomson, a hotelier from Invercargill, bought it that year, and the interior was stripped back to its concrete frame, with structural strengthening and heavy asbestos removal, before the contractor ABL rebuilt it as a hotel. Work lasted about two years.

Thomson also bought empty council-owned buildings across Esk Street West that were judged unsafe and folded them into the project. The complex includes a three-storey car park and plans for twelve apartments of two or three bedrooms.

The 150 rooms are studios and suites. The hotel describes enhanced soundproofing, blackout curtains and warm lighting, with a smart television, microwave, refrigerator, Nespresso machine and a washer-dryer in the room. Bathrooms have walk-in showers with both standard and rain heads, and Executive Suites have a freestanding bath.

Dining & wellness

The Retreat Restaurant & Bar is on the ground floor and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The hotel presents it as a place for locals as much as for guests, which matters in a city center that lost its office crowd.

Private dining rooms take smaller functions. The gym is free for guests and open at all hours, and Wi-Fi is free throughout. The hotel has paid valet parking, and it does not advertise a spa or a pool.