Millennium and Copthorne Hotels New Zealand will require guests and visitors to be vaccinated when the new traffic light system comes into place next Friday.

Grand Millennium Auckland 1Grand Millennium Auckland 1 Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook

The company operates the Millennium, Grand Millennium, M Social, Copthorne and Kingsgate hotels.

It told the share market this morning that the rule will apply to people entering its hotels, restaurants, bars or meeting venues.

An exemption will be in place for children under the age of 12 who aren’t eligible for the vaccine.

The company will monitor people’s vaccination status through the Covid vaccine pass.

Managing director BK Chiu said it wanted to give visitors and employees certainty about its vaccination policy.

“We have looked at the Covid Protection Framework carefully and we believe that this is the right decision at the right time to keep our guests safe but also keeps our employees safe,” he said.

All hotel-based employees and contractors will need to be fully vaccinated by 17 January.

“We have been conducting a consultation process with our employees over the last few weeks, and the very clear feedback from that process was that our team are determined to provide the best possible hospitality to everyone that visits our hotels, and that it was essential that we make sure that each of our hotels are as safe as they could be,” vice president of operations Ken Orr said.

“From check in to check out, our teams do come into contact with our guests during their stay whether that be front of house or behind the scenes. Our guests expect the best personal service from us and they also expect that our employees also do the right thing to keep everyone safe from Covid-19,” he said.