In the heart of downtown Christchurch, The Wyndham Garden Hotel is part of a new breed of dual purpose developments – part hotel, part apartments. The Wyndham Garden – surrounded by the shops and restaurants of downtown Christchurch and attractions including Riverside Market, the Canterbury Museum and Christchurch Casino – opened in December 2021 to serve tourists and locals alike.
The first four floors of the building house the 96 bedrooms of the hotel, which are topped on the higher floors by the 29 private dwellings of The Spire Apartments. The building was purpose built for the two distinct types of accommodation and is managed as a single entity.
Apartments
We were thrilled to provide the Wyndham Garden Hotel and Spire Apartments with a world-class access control system, which has been a huge success story in making the entire building easier to manage, and a streamlined access experience for guests and residents alike.
The SALTO system that James and his team installed consisted of wire-free locks for all hotel rooms and apartment front doors, card readers in each of the three lifts, and 16 wired locks in shared areas including the on the main entrance, the gym and the roller shutter door to the car park. The SALTO system is fully integrated with the OPERA, the developers’ selected Property Management System (PMS). Residents and guests have the choice of a keycard for access, or using their mobile phone with SALTO’s JustIn app.
The building opened its hotel doors in late 2021, in good time for the increase in visitors as New Zealand opened its borders in 2022. Manager Alisa Ravelje is delighted with the way that the SALTO EAC and OPERA mean her residents and guests have ease of access combined with complete security.
Alisa sums up the reasons that she is delighted with the choice of SALTO for the building’s EAC: ‘The design of the locks is minimalist, and fits in with the overall style of the hotel really well, giving a high quality feel. The system is so reliable, there are no issues, and no downtime, which makes my life a lot easier and means I can focus on residents and guests. Above all, the installation team at Teltrac have been fantastic. I’m not an EAC expert and they showed me how to use the system, and answer all my questions, so that I can ensure we’re getting the absolute best from the SALTO solution. It’s a delight to work with people who are so happy to help and who want to make this development a success.’
In SALTO’s pursuit of making the world more sustainable, Wyndham Garden Hotel offers to their guest the ‘Eco Guest Key Cards’ credential option. Instead of using single-use plastic guest key cards, guest now have the opportunity to contribute to the circular economy by changing to sustainable wooden alternatives. Opening smarter doors keyless with a clean conscience.
- Single touch operation –The integration between SALTO and OPERA means that as guests check in via the PMS, key cards can be automatically generated, saving staff time and getting guests to their room quicker.
- Digital key option –Using the SALTO JustIn app, guests or residents can download a digital key to their phone. For residents, this means not having to carry a keycard. Once this is also implemented for guests, it will streamline the process for late arrivals. Reception is not staffed 24/7 and currently the hotel uses a lockbox for late arrivals, but soon guests will be able to simply download their key and go straight to their room, any time of night or day.
- Security –The SALTO access card or mobile key only gives each person access to their floor, so guests can’t access the residential floors and vice versa.
- Controlled access – Some facilities, such as the gym, are only open at certain times, and we can very simply program the keycards to manage this, rather than having to manually lock the doors.
- Bamboo Hotel Guest Key Cards – Reduce plastic pollution one guest keycard at a time. The cards are entirely made from recycled FSC-certified paper or wood, and therefore contain 0 plastic while maintaining 100% of its structural integrity.
In the heart of downtown Christchurch, The Wyndham Garden Hotel is part of a new breed of dual purpose developments – part hotel, part apartments.
