10 Dec 2007

Hotel developer says getting Hilton in the Cook Islands is a coup

11:24 am on 10 December 2007

The founder of the New Zealand based McEwan Development Group says it's been a real coup for the Cook Islands to secure the backing of the international hotel chain Hilton to redevelop the failed Sheraton Hotel project on Rarotonga.

The project has been plagued with problems since a deal was signed in 1987 for the 200 room hotel.

A number of contractors have failed to finish the work for a variety of reasons.

Dan McEwan says he's confident the project will succeed with the backing of Hilton because he's been involved with them for some time now.

"Not only for the Rarotongan hotel but also Dunedin Queenstown and also the Wellington one, and no we're thrilled, I mean Hilton of course is the largest five star hotel operator in the world probably the most respected, and it's a coup."

The redevelopment will cost just over 44-million US dollars, with the cost split 50/50 between the McEwan and Tepaki group.