Mokutu Apartment Hotel
Mokutu in Polynesian society refers to a spiritual ancestral god. The spiritual ancestry deity is one who is dedicated to his people and works very hard to ensure their survival and well being.
Mokutu Apartment Hotel relives that spiritual ancestral deity. It is dedicated to its guests and is committed to offering a lifetime experience. Its commitment to quality, service and experience is unmatched on Norfolk Island.
And the new look Mokutu Apartment Hotel is aimed at providing the ultimate Norfolk Island holiday.
Famous for its A-frame architecture and views, the iconic self-contained apartments have recently undergone a new makeover.
Troy Hamilton-Irvine’s family own Mokutu as part of The Inn Group that also includes the Dolphin Inn and Viewrest Inn on Norfolk Island. The Inn Group was established by Cherie Hamilton-Irvine and was originally part of the Hibiscus group. Cherie has been involved in tourism on the island since the 1970s but, because of sickness over the last seven years, has stepped away from the business now.
“Mokutu was originally called Mokutu Inn until about 15 months ago when we started to look at our brand and the need to update the property,” explained Troy. “We saw that the brand needed to be focused on being earthy and arty.
“Norfolk Island was so popular in the past that many accommodation places did not see why they needed to keep updating their image, rooms or facilities. This had let many places on the island fall behind.
“My family owns the property and I was born on the island. I had been living in Berlin but returned to the island with the sole intention of remaking Mokutu into a place that would be different, interesting and memorable for visitors to the island. I was interested in really being different and trying some new things that I believed guests would truly benefit from.
“These included new communal spaces and improvements such as a pool catering cabana, yoga deck, outdoor movie screen, lounge type restaurant café, wireless Internet, at-cost mini bar, luxury fire pit, more artwork and sculpture, and, most importantly, connecting with the culture, fresh produce and activities on the island. Many of these things we are just getting up and running at the moment. The road has been long but it is all starting to come together,” said Troy.
The property was built in many different stages since the 1920s when the main building, now the restaurant and conference room, was established. The A-frames are classic retro built in the 60s that have been the most popular room types on the property.
“The A-frames have seen many renovations over the years to keep them modern while still enjoying the style they were built in. We have plans to put a second master bedroom upstairs with a balcony, which will take advantage of the views much better. We will do the first trial of this sometime next year and I believe it will be very popular. The other plans we have is using local artists and materials to build more of the furniture and move as far away as possible from typical generic hotel furniture. I would like every part of the property to display something original, something to remember as distinctly a Norfolk Island and Mokutu experience,” Troy added.
Running things day-to-day is Fasiu Jone, a man with an extensive 25-year history in tourism. He started his career in 1983 when he joined the Shangri-La Fijian Resort as a public relations officer and, the next year, was seconded to Shangri-La Singapore on a six month training attachment for hotel management.
Returning to Fiji at the end of 1984, he was promoted to front office manager, undergoing training in IBM’s hotel information systems as he led the team to implement the computerisation of all the hotel’s front office systems, reservations, housekeeping and all food and beverage outlets.
In 1986 he was promoted to sales manager North America for the Shangri-La Fijian based at the Los Angeles office. In April 1987 he set a record for the hotel in the incentive and conference market by securing the largest incentive group of 750 top achievers of the Bank of Montreal and Bristol Meyers.
“After our political crisis in 1987 the market suffered a big drop and was recalled back to the Shangri-La Fijian Resort as rooms division manager and assigned the task of supervising the resort’s renovation of its 108 room Lagoon Terrace,” Fasiu explained. “In September 1988 I was head hunted for the position of marketing manager of the Fiji Visitors Bureau and was responsible for the planning and execution of all the FVB’s marketing programs.”
After the FVB, he was passenger services director with Blue Lagoon Cruises and then joined the Natadola Hotel Project as a consultant in 2006, responsible for the landowner relationship and the implementation of the project goals. The Natadola Project consisted of an international six 18 hole golf course designed by Fiji’s international golfer, Vijay Singh. Today the project is open and has the InterContinental Hotel Chain managing the 275-room resort and golf club.
In 2007 joined the Australia-Pacific Technical College, an Australian government funded AusAid project in the Pacific for the technical training of Pacific Islanders in hotel and tourism and trade skills.
“I arrived into Norfolk Island in 2009 to join the All Seasons Colonial Hotel and then joined the Inn Group in February 2010 as their office and marketing manager,” Fasiu added.
The Mokutu’s logo seen here is the preliminary design of the planned new logo. It is made up of an urchin shell (called on Norfolk a Wanna), a basalt pebble found on the shorelines around the island and a Norfolk pine cone.
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