Dual purpose development: Hotel and apartment living secured by SALTO

Mixed use developments are a growing asset class. They combine different spaces into the single building – hotel accommodation mixed with apartment living is the example of this article, however, office and retail space can also be included. The rationale behind this kind of development is that mixed use decreases risk by diversifying revenue.

The management of the spaces within a mixed-use development can present challenges, particularly where security and access control is concerned. Securing the base building and individual tenancies is one thing, but then how to add ease of use value across the shared facilities, without bogging down in heavy keyrings? And the shared facilities can be a big deal – for apartment residents, sharing facilities designed for a five-star hotel is greatly appealing. Likewise, a mid-level hotel can benefit from offering shared facilities designed for luxury apartment living.

Having these spaces talk to each other through a single key credential is an important way that mixed use developments can go above and beyond for tenants. With a SALTO system installed, this not only means one credential, it also ensured access management is simple, central, and reliable.

The Wyndham Garden Hotel: Dual model, single access solution

In the heart of downtown Christchurch, The Wyndham Garden Hotel is part of the new breed of dual-purpose developments – part hotel, part apartments. The Wyndham Garden – surrounded by the shops and restaurants of downtown Christchurch and attractions including Riverside Market, the Canterbury Museum and Christchurch Casino – opened in December 2021 to serve tourists and locals alike.

The first four floors of the building house the 96 bedrooms of the hotel, which are topped on the higher floors by the 29 private dwellings of The Spire Apartments. The building was purpose built for the two distinct types of accommodation and is managed as a single entity.

As with any hotel or apartment development, access management and security is a crucial element of staying or living in the building. The developers wanted an electronic access system (EAC) rather than managing the cost and overheads of traditional mechanical locks and keys.

It was important to have a single EAC that met the needs of both sets of users – guests and residents. The developers chose SALTO as the provider. SALTO Partner and installer Teltrac was selected to manage the design and installation of the system.

Managing hotel and apartment access on a single system

The SALTO system installed at Wyndham consists of wire-free locks for all hotel rooms and apartment front doors, card readers in each of the three lifts, and 16 wired locks in shared areas including the on the main entrance, the gym and the roller shutter door to the car park.

The SALTO system is fully integrated with the OPERA, the developers’ selected Property Management System (PMS). Residents and guests have the choice of a keycard for access, or using their mobile phone with SALTO’s JustIn app.

The building opened its hotel doors in late 2021, in good time for the increase in visitors as New Zealand opened its borders in 2022.

Manager Alisa Ravelje is delighted with the way that the SALTO EAC and OPERA mean her residents and guests have ease of access combined with complete security.

Benefits

Single touch operation –The integration between SALTO and OPERA means that as guests check in via the PMS, key cards can be automatically generated, saving staff time and getting guests to their room quicker.
Mobile key option –Using the SALTO JustIn app, guests or residents can download a mobile key to their phone. For residents, this means not having to carry a keycard. Once this is also implemented for guests, it will streamline the process for late arrivals. Reception is not staffed 24/7 and currently the hotel uses a lockbox for late arrivals, but soon guests will be able to simply download their key and go straight to their room, any time of night or day.
Security –The SALTO access card or mobile key only gives each person access to their floor, so guests can’t access the residential floors and vice versa.
Controlled access – Some facilities, such as the gym, are only open at certain times, and we can very simply program the keycards to manage this, rather than having to manually lock the doors.

Winning with SALTO EAC

Alisa sums up the reasons that she is delighted with the choice of SALTO for the building’s EAC: ‘The design of the locks is minimalist, and fits in with the overall style of the hotel really well, giving a high quality feel. The system is so reliable, there are no issues, and no downtime, which makes my life a lot easier and means I can focus on residents and guests. Above all, the installation team at Teltrac have been fantastic. I’m not an EAC expert and they showed me how to use the system, and answered all my questions, so that I can ensure we’re getting the absolute best from the SALTO solution. It’s a delight to work with people who are so happy to help and who want to make this development a success.’

Visit SALTO Systems or contact our Vertical Manager, Tim Kneebone at [email protected], to find out more.