On Saturday, 17 February, the National Executive Team held its face-to-face meeting at the Grand Mercure on The Terrace in Wellington.
The Grand Mercure Wellington has recently been refurbished and it shows. Reception is beautiful with lovely couches and chairs.
The hotel is easy to find and offers valet parking. We met in The Boardroom on the 2nd floor. The plus sides of this room are that it’s very private and has its own heat pump (or air conditioning as we used it for) with a remote. The room is an internal one so does not have any windows. You could argue that this is a downside, however it does allow for total concentration on your meeting. The decoration is tasteful and the chairs are very comfortable. I suspect that the hotel gym may be above the Boardroom as there were the occasional thumps and bumps. Just outside the door, you can look down on the hotel pool which looked lovely. Overall the room certainly met our purposes, although if you use it for an all day meeting, make sure you get out and about at lunchtime. It’s perfect for a half day where you need privacy and focus.
One of the standouts about the Grand Mercure is its staff. Everyone we dealt with was really helpful and cheerful, especially in the restaurant. We nipped up to the café to order morning coffee and they offered to bring it down to the Boardroom so we didn’t have to wait around. I might add that the coffee was good, too. They also offered to bring us a lunch menu so that we could pre-order what we wanted and not have to wait at lunchtime. The food was divine and the wine list was good (as was the wine).
The view from the restaurant, Forage, was an angle on Wellington I’d not had before and as such was really interesting.
I was jealous of the three NET members who got to stay the night. The rooms looked beautiful and I’m assured they were very comfortable with gorgeous linen on the bed. The view was also superb.
