Located near Lake Rotorua in New Zealand, the 227-room Millennium Rotorua has recently completed Phase One of renovations with 99 refurbished rooms. Each space is meticulous designed by the Millennium Rotorua team with floor-to-ceiling photo panels and a colour palette of Burnt Orange and Azure Blue, inspired by the volcanic and lake tones that the city of Rotorua is renowned for.
Rotorua’s
Hotel Stalwart
Hits Refresh
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Sustainable
Hospitality
The 227-room Millennium Rotorua announced that the hotel has completed Phase One of renovations, delivering 99 revamped guestrooms for a warm and refreshing welcome to business and leisure travellers. The renovations started in March 2023 with the first phase costing about NZ$5 million.
Phase Two of refurbishment to the remaining 129 rooms is expected to begin in Q4 2024 and complete in Q3 2025.
This is the largest rooms refurbishment at the hotel in almost 20 years, reflecting its long-standing tradition of excellence and the local team’s vision for the future. The last refurbishment was done in 2005.
Guests can now enjoy updated bathrooms with new walk-in showers that benefit from a geothermally heated water system, New Zealand-made cedar hot tubs in deluxe rooms, and luxurious touches such as 100 per cent NZ wool throws on the beds.
Instead of the hotel servicing the room, guests can opt to save on housekeeping for a meal donation to "feed a kiwi for the night". (Photo credit: Alex Cairns/The Rotorua Post.)
“We’ve seen a 70% return in visitation over our high seasons of October to April in this region. The timing was just opportune to refresh and start again,” said General Manager Ms Pipiana Whiston in an interview with The Rotorua Post.
Sustainability in hospitality is about ‘persistent education’
Sustainability practices are high on the hotel’s priority list. This includes reducing plastic use with big bottle amenities, introducing clearly marked recycling bins, and repurposing material during construction.
As part of the renovations, a food waste audit was conducted last year with an assessment of the hotel’s sustainability practices.
General Manager Ms Pipiana Whiston said ongoing education is important for staff and guests to understand how their own actions can impact the wider community. 
Operations Manager Mr Carl Bennett said the hotel is trying to partner with someone to help recycle soft plastics on a commercial scale.
“We took the opportunity to review our waste flow. The audit found 80% of rubbish removed from our guestrooms was brought into the hotel by guests themselves. So we introduced guest recycling cupboards on each floor, right next to the elevator. We’re not doing the oversell but trying to do little reminders for guests to help with our sustainability journey,” said Ms Whiston.
Millennium Roturua’s kitchens also aim to produce no waste. According to Operations Manager Mr Carl Bennett, the hotel is operating with New Zealand’s first anaerobic digestion, Ecogas, to convert its food waste to biofuel and nutrient-rich fertiliser.
“All of our waste is measured. We track it to ensure we’re making improvements, take suggestions on best practices, as well as review and modify our business operations while making gains. It’s an ongoing process,” said Mr Bennett.
“It’s an ongoing education. Staff and guests gets to understand that what we do here impacts the wider community and the environment. We’re not just putting a recycle bin in because that’s the theme of the week for everyone,” said Ms Whiston.
Watch this space for more updates on Phase Two of Millennium Rotorua’s refurbishment!
