image of Tuakau Hotel at night

About Us

A Gracious 1875 Hotel

Inside Tuakau Hotel you will discover a beautifully restored building that maintains its original charm but is enhanced to meet the needs of the discerning traveller.

The Hotel is situated in a small rural town of North Waikato

Only 35 minutes from Auckland Airport, this a great place to start your New Zealand adventure or a great escape when you just want to relax and enjoy yourself.

With our close proximity to Auckland we are an ideal facility for those that do not wish to be in the confines of a large city but do want to be close enough to enjoy all the attractions if they choose.

We are surrounded by exceptional landscape that offers many activities for adventure, or for just taking in and enjoying the rural and river lands aspect, through to the ocean at Port Waikato.

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Image of Tuakau Hotel entrance

Our COVID Protocols

At Tuakau Hotel ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our guests, staff and wider community is our first priority. We are following official advice from the Government and monitoring updates closely. We are committed to providing a safe and clean accommodation experience that puts people first.

Some of the steps we’re taking:

  • Cleaners have been assigned to certain areas of the facility and have their own bubbles.
  • All of the rooms are disinfected with hospital grade sanitizer and disinfectant.
  • Public areas of the Hotel are disinfected twice a day, and housekeeping is available to service rooms in the morning.
  • All meals from Elsie’s Bar and Restaurant are charged back to the room accounts, and contactless payment is available on departure.

Qualmark Rating

Tuakau Hotel holds a Silver Environmental Rating as part of our Qualmark Rating. We are striving to achieve a Gold Rating.

We started our sustainability and Qualmark journey at Tuakau Hotel in 2013 with a Bronze Environmental Rating. From there we began to learn about what is expected from the tourism industry in Aotearoa and how we can minimise our environmental impact.

We have had to work hard to achieve our Silver Qualmark Rating and have implemented a lot of changes. We also had to grow a lot. We learnt a lot about recycling at work, knowledge which we also took home with us to educate our friends and families.

Qualmark logo - silver rating

“When I go to the shop now, I look at products we purchase with sustainability in mind, from where the product was sourced, to where it will end.”

- Tash, Hotel Manager

Tuakau landscape image

Sustainability Policy

Tuakau Hotel is a large, popular venue with an array of accommodation, conference facilities and associated services. But, with our size comes the responsibility to minimise Tuakau Hotel’s impact on the natural resources which sustain us. The team at Tuakau Hotel is dedicated to minimising our environmental impact, lowering our emissions and reducing our waste. The Waikato is a beautiful, geographically and culturally diverse part of New Zealand, with stunning natural landscapes and wildlife. Tuakau Hotel wants to keep it that way.

Green Policy

We strive to protect our environment and follow sustainable business practices. At Tuakau Hotel we endeavour to support our local community by minimising our environmental footprint, to care for New Zealand now and for future generations. As new sustainable options become available we will work on making our processes more environmentally friendly.

Resource-Saving Initiatives

Our complimentary slippers are biodegradable and packaged in brown paper.

All rooms have biodegradable rubbish bags. Our staff use reusable shopping bags for day-to-day tasks and we limit our plastic use wherever possible. In particular, we no longer make use of plastic bags for laundry delivery. These initiatives have passed on to other local businesses in the area too!

We have removed all the small plastic amenity bottles (such as shampoo and body wash) from guest rooms and replaced them with refillable dispensers. The 5 litre bulk containers are then recycled.

We avoid single-use items where we can, for example our housekeepers have their own individual gloves.

Energy-Saving Initiatives

We installed a new three phase hot water system, which is more water and energy efficient than older systems.

We minimise our power usage by having no power in rooms when rooms are vacant, (except for fridges), and we wait till 5pm to turn on guests’ heaters in winter during turndown service.

To reserve energy use, we use energy saving lights throughout the Hotel. All lights are on sensors, and the outside lights are on a timer which we adjust during summer and winter months.

image of George St studio solar panels

Supporting Our Community

Every year we help coordinate the Tuakau Clean Up. A base of operations is set up in the bar. We provide tea and coffee for the community volunteers during this event to clean up the neighbourhood and plant trees.

historical Tuakau Hotel image

The History of the Hotel and Tuakau

Below are images from the early days of Tuakau.

We are actively trying to build a history of our great little town. If you have any images or writings and records about times past, please contact us, we would be most willing to have them added to this gallery for others to share.

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Stay with us at Tuakau Hotel

A boutique hotel with warm, friendly hospitality at the Gateway to Waikato within one hours' drive of Auckland or Hamilton.