Effect of the Canterbury Earthquake

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand (NZX:MCK) advises that some of its hotels in Christchurch had suffered some damage as a result of the earthquake that affected the Canterbury region on Saturday 4 September 2010, but that all guests and staff are safe.

"The safety and security of our guests and our staff is paramount", said MCK Managing Director Mr. BK Chiu. "We are taking steps to minimise the disruption to our guests including relocating them to our other properties and we are ensuring that our staff are looked after and able to work safely". One hotel, the Copthorne Hotel Christchurch Durham Street has been issued with a Restricted Use notice from the Council and is closed to guests until further notice. Guests are being relocated to the Copthorne Hotel Christchurch Central. Recovery and retrieval operations at the hotel are currently underway.

MCK's other hotels, the Millennium Hotel Christchurch and the Copthorne Hotel Christchurch Central have both passed Council inspections as being safe for occupation. Copthorne Hotel Christchurch Central is operating as normal now that essential services had been restored to the Christchurch Central Business District. Millennium Hotel Christchurch is open but is currently within the cordoned area of the central business district and access may be restricted.

MCK’s franchise partner the Copthorne Hotel Commodore Christchurch Airport is open and operating normally.

Mr Chiu said that insurance assessors would look at the damage as soon as possible in the following days.

"We will update the market once the insurance assessors have completed their inspections and made their recommendations to us", he said.

Guests with current reservations for MCK’s Christchurch hotels who wish to check or amend their booking should not call the hotels directly but should call 0800 808 228 (+64 9 309 4411) or email central.res@millenniumhotels.co.nz for further updates and information.

ENDS

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