Luxury, elegance and modern are a few words that best describe the experience of staying in the Tanoa Plaza Hotel in Suva.
After being closed for two months the hotel opened its doors on July 1 2020 to its customers with a $10 million refurbishment.
According to general manager Tanoa Plaza Hotel Suva Fiji & Group sales executive Mere Rakoroi, the hotel is now a whole new experience.
“You will get to check-in a very different setup,” she said.
“There is a back-to-back concept that has never been done in hotels right now.
“So you can check-in a person up front and at the same time you can serve them a drink just at the back of it.
“So this particular concept has never been introduced here so we have become the first so this has become the new norm now.”
According to Ms Rakoroi even before COVID-19 hit they had already introduced this concept which was going to be the future for their hotel by having a person to do dual roles.
“We make sure if you are in the front desk you can do anything.
“It’s about staying relevant in today’s industry and today’s industry is about multitasking, you need to have the right attitude and you need to know more than two or three roles at the same time.”
Tanoa Plaza Hotel is about giving their customers an experience that would leave them feeling valued and having their money well invested as Ms Rakoroi said customer feedback had been well integrated into the design and layout of the rooms. These included better lighting and USB ports.
All rooms have LED lighting around which complement the design and interior decorating. Ms Rakoroi said they wanted to create an ambiance for their customers where they would enjoy the room.
“Enter the door and when you walk through, first thing you will be greeted by is this beautiful wood grain tile,” she said.
“Most hotels right now no doubt have a white polished tile, but for rollers it’s wood grain and it’s definitely quite good, it’s got a good grip so you wouldn’t have to worry when the customer is with a disability, they are quite safe.
“Also as part of our market, we get to do a lot of things in terms of our bedding, we normally have queen size beds but now we have king size beds.
“So a person coming in a 23 or 24 square-metre room gets to enjoy the luxury of a king size bed.”
All the rooms, according to Ms Rakoroi, has a 49 inch TV set; from the superior rooms to the executive suites.
“When you get into the bedrooms you also have these USB connections, so those things are a function of what a business person is looking for or a local.
“You got USB ports on both side of the beds and you also got it by the TV so you don’t have to worry about how many devices you want to use.”
Superior rooms were from level 2 to 5, with executive rooms from level 6 to 8 and then the executive suites on level 9.
According to Ms Rakoroi each of these rooms was different mainly in size with offerings of different bathroom amenities. Ms Rakoroi added they had a great deal on conferences as they want it to be a one stop shop.
“We want to be a one stop shop so we have come up with a package of $69 dollars per person, which includes the venue, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
“The sitting capacity at the ground floor restaurant is about 92.
“We have three conference rooms in one particular floor equipped with modern audio visual technology.” She said the rates the hotel was offering were taken into consideration with the competition in Suva.
“We have properties around Suva and we do not want to eliminate anyone of them but they are also important.
“So when we place our rate we place it in a way that is affordable, it cannot be higher than anybody else unless the town is full,” she said.
With the reopening Tanoa Hotel Plaza offers special rates from $230 for a night.