The Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort is the creative product of the Owners, Bryan and Lisa Hughes who share a passion about Spas, the Maori culture of New Zealand and the destination of Rotorua. It is the culmination of 10 years of planning and 14 months of building work, that has seen both Bryan and Lisa involved in every detail leading up to the Spa Resort's official opening by the Prime Minister of New Zealand and Minister of Tourism, Mr. John Key.
Bryan and Lisa have been involved for more than 10 years in the successful operation of the New Zealand Tourism Award winning attraction, Hells Gate and Wai Ora Spa at Tikitere, Rotorua as a joint venture with the Maori land owners. With the creation of the mud baths and the implementation of the “New Zealand Cultural Spa Regime” in early 2000 at Hellsgate, it was always envisaged that a more contemporary cultural spa experience would be a good fit. Opening up the opportunity of further spa offerings that still retained the key elements of the “New Zealand Cultural Spa Regime’ which is based on our Maori culture healing traditions; unique essences of New Zealand and portrays the genuine warmth and hosting of our people.
“Wai Ora”, a Maori term which means “healing waters”, encapsulates the spa experience at Hellsgate as the historic cultural spa experience that dates back more than 700 years. Today “Wai Ora” is now the brand of a group of related activities that continue to ultilise the healing qualities of water from a physical, mental and spiritual perspective. The Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort provides that contemporary New Zealand Cultural Spa Experience with the lake and spring water fed stream environment at the Resort under pinning the central place of water in the Wai Ora Spa Experience. The third member of the Wai Ora Group, Mokoia Island Wai Ora Experiences', operation on Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rotorua provides natural alkali hot mineral pools, which, in association with the New Zealand native bird sanctuary status of the Island and its cultural heritage, provides a unique nature spa experience.
The three spa experiences within the group can be accessed separately or in combination and while each provides a different spa experience, together they make up a very unique spa offering that is “The New Zealand Cultural Spa Regime”.
The Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort site has an interesting history extending back almost 100 years when it was part of the “Redwood Estate” established in 1925 with the building of the Dutch Colonial Designed house that is now the centre piece of the Te Amorangi Museum, located some 300metres from the Resort. This farm was later sold to a Major Hannah (a member the Hannah’s shoe shop family) in the late 1930’s who built a house and servant quarters closer to the lakefront which is now the Restaurant, Bar and Reception of the Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort. The property was later sold to the Holden family, another noted family of Rotorua that has a number of family members still residing in close proximity to the resort. These two families are recognised with the naming of the bays in front of the resort as Hannah’s and Holden’s Bay.
Bryan and Lisa have retained the legacy of those days by styling the Resort as a natural extension to the existing buildings established in the 1930’s and have hung a photograph taken in 1955 of the original house and servant’s quarters in the Resort’s Reception area