Pullman Rotorua

In January 2020, Accor opened Pullman Rotorua, the first five-star hotel in a geothermal tourist city that had never had one. The 130-room property is a conversion, not a new build: a 1987 office and retail tower on Arawa Street, bought by local developers the Chow brothers in 2015 and rebuilt from the inside out over roughly five years.

The place

The hotel sits on Arawa Street in central Rotorua, on land with documented significance to Ngāti Whakaue and Te Arawa, steps from Lake Rotorua and the geothermal attractions that draw the city's tourism economy. It gave the North Island's most visited geothermal destination a genuine five-star anchor for the first time, in a town whose accommodation stock had otherwise stopped short of that tier.

The concept

The building started life in 1987 as a nine-storey mirror-glass office and retail block before Rotorua developers John and Anthony Chow (Chow Group Management) bought it in 2015 and spent roughly five years converting it into a purpose-built hotel. Project manager RDT Pacific describes a full interior strip-out, lift modernisation and façade retention with acoustic and fire upgrades, completed in 2020 and later awarded a Merit Award at the Property Council of New Zealand's Property Industry Awards. Positioned for high-end domestic and international travellers — couples, families and business delegates — it operates under Accor's upscale Pullman brand as the group's second Pullman-flagged property in New Zealand.

Dining & wellness

Dining runs through Barrel & Co Bar and Grill, an open-kitchen brasserie built around New Zealand grill cuts, craft beer and local wine. The hotel adds an executive lounge, gym, day spa treatments and conference space split across four function rooms (up to 120 theatre-style) plus a boardroom — but no pool; guests are pointed instead to the Polynesian Spa, a ten-minute walk away.