Auckland CBD’s avant-garde lifestyle hotel is recognised as the leading city, conference and business destination in Oceania.
SO/ Auckland is proud to announce they have won four 2025 Haute Grandeur Global Excellence Awards across four competitive and prestigious hotel categories. These are:
- Best City Hotel – Oceania
- Best Conference Venue Hotel – Oceania
- Best Business Hotel – Oceania
- Best Activity Hotel – Global
“It’s truly a collective effort,” reflects Zac Lumsden, General Manager of SO/ Auckland. “Getting this level of global recognition—across four categories, no less—is a true reflection of our entire team’s dedication to excellence.”
Embracing the best of Auckland City
The Best City Hotel – Oceania spotlights SO/ Auckland’s commitment to embracing the verve of Auckland City. Sweeping views are woven into the DNA. HI-SO Rooftop Bar (one of the first rooftop bars in Auckland) offers near-panoramic city and harbour vistas, as do the windowed walls of 15th-floor restaurant, Harbour Society.
SO/’s in-room design only enhances this SO/ Auckland is one of just two hotels in Auckland to offer a bathtub in every room*—it’s a statement hallmark of the SO/ Auckland stay. Bold and open plan rooms add to this, with large windows awash with natural light, rainshowers, spacious desks, king beds, chaise longues, large wardrobes, and a statement tea, coffee and minibar chests.
The in-room experience is designed for guests to fully tailor a stay to their whims—be it productivity or quality rest.
A human, heartfelt connection
A commitment to enhancing the user journey is also behind the awards. “Our goal has always been to turn business travel into an experience. One that’s both functional, energising and even inspiring,” notes Zac on the Best Business Hotel – Oceania award.
Effortless check in and out, the twice-daily offering of refreshments at Club Signature, the hotel’s executive lounge, the addition of a Guest Relations Manager, and an in-room-dining program that offers the exact same dishes you’d find at Harbour Society restaurant is part of this sum.
“The property itself has incredible character, and the heartfelt service we pride ourselves on truly enhances the stay,” says Zac.
A New Benchmark for Conference & Events
A push to—literally—swing open the doors of the lesser-known event spaces is also noted in the Best Conference Venue Hotel – Oceania win.
The ‘secret’ Social Club Terrace, the 15th-floor Waitematā Private Dining Room, the cosy but sky-high Wine Cellar, and the newly-available as an event space Treasury Suite have been at the fore. They join SO/’s evergreen event destination, HI-SO Rooftop Bar, as bold and coveted spaces that delight corporate and private guests.
SO/ Auckland’s modular conferencing space, ‘The Vault’ is also of note. Multiple rooms—9 Carat, 18 Carat and 24 Carat—open up to create a series of sizes. All open, they form The Grand Reserve:
Recent events have pushed the creative boundaries and reimagined how an event or conference space can be used. These include a wearable art fashion show weaving through Harbour Society restaurant, The Vault being walled into a maze-like art gallery, and intimate cocktail parties among the glamour of our marble and mirrored lobby.
History is also at the heart of this. A renewed focus on the building’s past as The Reserve Bank of New Zealand—namely holding the largest gold reserve in the 1980s—marks SO/ Auckland’s storytelling. This includes the featuring of gold details throughout the property, and in late 2024, the renaming of ‘Treasury Suite’ to honour the history.
An avant-garde offering
SO/ Auckland is proud to continue this chapter of excellence across all of its luxury, unique and service-first outlets. These include:
- HI-SO Rooftop Bar: A bold cocktail bar on Level 16 with panoramic views of Auckland City, mixologist-crafted cocktails, and elevated bar bites. Available for private functions.
Harbour Society Restaurant: Where a grill-focused menu boasting premium local meats and veggies, and an exceptional wine list. Includes two private dining rooms with sweeping city and harbour views.- MIXO Lobby Bar: A relaxed ground-floor bar serving curated cocktails, wine, and beer—ideal for casual drinks between plans and check-ins.
- Javalab Café: A stylish corner café serving organic coffee and house-made patisserie, sandwiches, and cabinet food—all crafted by SO/ Auckland’s in-house pastry team.
- SO/ Spa: An indulgent retreat featuring five treatment rooms in the former Reserve Bank gold vault. Enjoy a Himalayan salt wall, and access to wellness facilities including a sauna, jacuzzi, gym, and indoor heated pool. Treatments are uniquely priced by the time, not the ritual, and hail from CODAGE Paris and Australian botanical-led brand, WATERLILY.
Press release ends
About SO/ Auckland
SO/ Auckland is a sleek urban base for the stylish traveller, in the heart of Auckland’s downtown. A design-centric hotel, sixteen-story SO/ Auckland leaves a bold mark on Auckland’s city scape with a new generation of lifestyle hospitality.
On a historic site that was once the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, SO/ Auckland now houses 130 rooms, a rooftop bar, a fifteen-storey restaurant, an executive club with a private terrace, an on-site café, lobby bar, art gallery and underground spa in a former gold vault. A pillar of city culture today, SO/ Auckland offers lifestyle hotel experiences where views of Auckland’s CBD and the glittering Waitemata Harbour are always within a glance, and the city’s premier fashion boutiques are at your fingertips.
SO/ Auckland boasts 130 rooms and suites—plus two special penthouse suites—across floors 1-14. The room types and allocation are:
- Collection: 92 — cosy, windowed rooms in the inner-sanctum of the hotel with lower and mid-level views of the city
- Studio: 17 — generous wiggle room for a comfort welcome, plus upper level city views
- Loft Suites: 13 — harbour and city views with a petite private balcony
- Atelier Suites: 6 — harbour views with a separate, contemporary lounge area
- Waitematā Suite, penthouse suite: 1, a bright, airy space
- Treasury Suite, penthouse suite: 1, a moody, party-ready suite with private chef station, a dinner table for six, a lounge area crafted for entertaining and a spacious double-vanity bathroom perfect for group preparation. The hotel’s hidden gem!
- We have a total of 10x sets of outer-connecting rooms
- 6x Accessible rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors only. Two of the 6 accessible rooms have bathtubs in the rooms. 32” inch-wide doors in accessible guest rooms.
Website: www.so-hotels.com/en/auckland
Instagram: @SO_Auckland
TikTok: @so.auckland
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SOAuckland
Address: 67 Customs Street East, Auckland CBD
Email: h9149@so-hotels.com
Phone: 0064 09 379 1860
