Grand Pacific Hotel (Fiji)

The Grand Pacific Hotel is a historic hotel built in 1914, located on the main sea front, on Victoria Parade in Suva, Fiji.

This article is about the hotel in Suva, Fiji. For other uses, see Grand Pacific Hotel (disambiguation).

The main entrance of the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, Fiji.
The lobby of the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, Fiji.

History

The hotel was built by The Union Steamship Company in 1914 to serve the needs of passengers on its transpacific routes. The design of the hotel was to make the passengers think they had never gone ashore, for rooms in the GPH were like first-class staterooms, complete with saltwater bathrooms and plumbing fixtures identical to those on an ocean liner.

It has been a popular place to stay for famous guests such as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Somerset Maugham, James A Michener and Queen Elizabeth II.

Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith landed his plane, having flown from California, into Albert Park. His plane was transported to another place for take-off, to complete the flight to Australia. Thus completing the first trans pacific flight from the U.S.A. to Australia.

All rooms were on the second floor, and guests could step outside on a 15-foot (4.6 m)-wide veranda overlooking the harbor and walk completely around the building — as if walking on the deck. When members of the British royal family visited Fiji, they stood atop the wrought-iron portico, the "bow" of the Grand Pacific, and addressed their subjects massed across Victoria Parade in Albert Park. Queen Elizabeth alone is known to have stayed there three different times during different visits.[1] The last members of the Royal Family to stay in the Royal suite were the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their 2018 visit to Fiji.

The hotel was built on the landing spot for the original Suva village, called Vu-ni-vesi after the trees nearby. There was a hotel on the site previously called Hotel Suva, which was little more than a shack.

The Grand Pacific Hotel during renovation works prior to its reopening in 2014

The hotel closed in 1992 and changed hands several times. It was restored to a five-star hotel with the help of the government-run Fijian Investment Corporation Ltd (FICL) and re-opened on 24 May 2014, in time for the hotel's 100th anniversary.[2] The 'Grand Old Lady' was reopened as a joint venture between Papua New Guinea's Superannuation Fund, or NASFUND, Fiji National Provident Fund and Lamana Developments of Papua New Guinea. NASFUND has a 50% stake while FNPF and Lamana have 25% stakes each.[3]

Joske's Thumb and the Grand Pacific Hotel depicted on the reverse of a 10 Fijian dollar note

The hotel joined InterContinental Hotels Group in July 2020, and will be rebranded as InterContinental Grand Pacific Hotel Suva in 2022, following a renovation.[4]

References
  1. "The Fijian hotel with royal approval". Stuff. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. More investments anticipated Grand Pacific Hotel’s 100th anniversary marked in style with hundreds gathered Archived 26 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Fiji Sun, 24 May 2014.
  4. https://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article111435.html

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