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<\/p>\nA “lull in arrivals” to hotel quarantine because of the transtasman bubble has left New Zealand’s MIQ rooms only two-thirds full – and the Herald can reveal taxpayers have spent more than $300 million on MIQ since September.<\/p>\n
Three Auckland MIQ hotels are totally empty as of today: the Stamford Plaza, Grand Mercure and Grand Millenium hotels.<\/p>\n
This is partially because a new MIQ cohorting system is being phased in, which will see a single hotel only housing arrivals from flights within a 96-hour arrival period into New Zealand at any one time.<\/p>\n
The hotels need to be deep cleaned before they can be transitioned to this 96-hour system.<\/p>\n
The now-empty Grand Millennium and Grand Mercure have been operating under “reduced capacity” after positive cases linked to their ventilation systems in early April.<\/p>\n
“We are currently experiencing a lull in arrivals due to the introduction of quarantine-free travel, as well as the current halt on passengers from designated high-risk countries,” an MIQ spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
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“We are currently utilising around two-thirds of the rooms we have available, bearing in mind we have a reduced capacity with the Grand Millennium and Grand Mercure being offline.”<\/p>\n
A travel ban on returnees from India to New Zealand implemented on April 11, which was lifted on Wednesday, had also contributed to the reduced MIQ demand.<\/p>\n
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As of April 29, New Zealand had a capacity of 4000 MIQ rooms, of which only 2398 were allocated.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has revealed the total spend towards the 32 MIQ hotel providers it uses was $305,356,902 from September 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.<\/p>\n
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This figure includes all costs paid to the hotels, primarily for guest rooms and food, but also included smaller amounts for other services such as: staff rooms and meals, security, plus additional laundry, cleaning and waste disposal.<\/p>\n
An MIQ spokesperson said: “Negotiations with the hotels are ongoing and details around the individual contracts are commercially sensitive. All of the current Managed Isolation and Quarantine facilities have indicated a desire to continue.”<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said it could only provide costs for the seven months MBIE had been in charge of MIQ.<\/p>\n
A change is being implemented in how overseas arrivals into MIQ are grouped in hotels.<\/p>\n
Returnees will now be cohorted into a single MIQ facilities according to flights that arrived within a 96-hour arrival period into New Zealand.<\/p>\n
“This approach will be phased in across the majority of managed isolation facilities over the next three weeks. Facilities must be emptied before a cohort of passengers can arrive,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
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“Over the next fortnight, the proportion of rooms being used will steadily increase and we will be closer to 90 per cent of our capacity by the middle of May.”<\/p>\n
The process of deep cleaning MIQ hotels after all their existing isolation guests have left, before this 96-hour cohorting system is up and running, has contributed to MIQ’s reduced utilisation at the moment.<\/p>\n