July 12, 2007

Pacific | New Zealand | Auckland

Westin First

By Nicole Cotroneo

The yachting crowd shouldn’t harbor any doubts about Auckland’s new hotspot.

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What this year’s America’s Cup did for Valencia, it also did quite nicely for Auckland. The legendary regatta, hosted in the City of Sails in 2000 and 2003, spurred a waterfront transformation that shows no signs of slowing down. The latest addition is the Westin Auckland, which just opened on trendy Viaduct Harbour. Corporate understatement: that the property has “water views” (its huge glass walls face the spectacular Lighter Quay marina and an internal lagoon). Corporate overstatement: that with “only” 172 rooms, this Westin somehow constitutes a boutique hotel. One thing’s certain: Kiwi design darling Tom Skyring has pulled off one of the most striking — and profligate — interiors this year. For the hotel’s dining room he created a marble wall showpiece using 36 slabs of stone that he boasts is the last remaining “of that type of marble in the world.” Perhaps he felt entitled by the hotel’s singularity: this is, after all, the first Westin in New Zealand — until the Westin Queenstown opens in June 2009.