How to spend $1 million

Press, 2 January 1985, Page 16 (Supplement)

How to spend $1 million

By

CAROLE VAN GRONDELLE

When it comes to spending money, Noahs Hotel knows how to do it in style. Just over a million dollars was spent in 1984 updating and reconditioning both the interior and exterior of Noahs.

The most obvious changes for passersby are the gleaming new glass and gold-trimmed porch at the entrance of the building, designed to reduce the draught, and the cleaning and spray-paint job done on the 13-storey facade. The porch cost $25,000 and the exterior facelift $lOO,OOO. On the inside, however, more changes are evident.

Noahs’ public relations person, Miss Wendy Gapes, took “The Press” on a tour.

First stop is the women’s lavatory on the second floor where $22,000 has been spent on making it look feminine and classy, there are large mirrors, luxurious furnishings and extras like fresh towels. We walk to the Worcester bar, also on the second floor overlooking Worcester Street, and admire the more sophisticated decor which has replaced the purples, oranges, whites and reds of old. A further $lOO,OOO has been spent on this update. Up in the lift to the top floor, and we glimpse the last of the Royal Suite that was. In the last two months of 1984 the suite was totally reclad, at a cost of $85,000. A soft red colour scheme now predominates — rose mahogany marble, pale red carpet and shrimp-coloured wallpaper.

The suite includes one king-sized bed, and two single beds, two bathrooms and three toilets. Also provided are a video, colour television and stereo, a built-in bar and pantry as well as a separate kitchen for staff preparing food for small receptions. An Australian consultant, Mr John Andrew, was brought over to plan and oversee the suite’s redecoration, but Miss Gapes explains that all furnishings were specially commissioned from New Zealand manufacturers.

One overnight stay in the Royal Suite costs $5OO.

We go down a few floors in the lift for a brief look at some of the older style corridors and rooms that have yet to be done up. This is to give us a better appreciation of the three floors that have had $650,000 spent on their complete refurbishing. Miss Gapes is enthusiastic as she shows us the new decor, which features warmer, lighter colours like beige and soft pastels. The modern carpets, wallpaper and furnishings, together with the use of mirrors and amber spot lights give an air of warmth and quiet opulence. One of these suites costs $l9O a night. This year, the hotel management intends refurbishing another four floors of rooms, the whole downstairs foyer and the lifts.

The million-dollar sum spent last year on this maintenance work was a necessity, Miss Gapes says, for the hotel to maintain its reputation as one of the South Island’s top hotels. “We have to keep the maintenance up in a place this size, otherwise it would be a major expense when we did decide to do it,” she says.