Auckland gains Australasia’s largest rooftop dining venue as hotel sector hits stride

Auckland’s hotel and dining scene gains a new flagship next week with the opening of Aka, billed as Australasia’s largest outdoor rooftop venue, atop the Radisson RED Auckland on Lorne Street. The restaurant and bar opens for lunch and dinner from Friday 1 May, capping the first chapter of Radisson Hotel Group’s New Zealand debut and reinforcing a strong run of headline news for the city’s visitor economy.

Spanning roughly 800 square metres on the 15th floor of the hotel at 33 Lorne Street, Aka can host up to 300 guests under a retractable roof, with 260-degree views taking in the harbour, the Sky Tower and the central city. Hospitality Business Magazine reports the venue runs from 11am until late, with a central rooftop bar anchored by a red installation that designers have likened to a modern cherry blossom canopy.

Head chef Edberg Loh, who has spent more than a decade in Singapore kitchens including Marina Bay Sands and at Auckland favourites Cafe Hanoi and Xuxu Dumpling Bar, has built a menu of shared East and Southeast Asian dishes. Signature plates include king prawn har gow with tobiko and wagyu, karaage chicken with yuzu and togarashi, and deep-fried pork and prawn shumai with XO sauce, alongside a fresh-seafood focus. The bar programme has been put together by Nick Bevin, formerly of The Churchill and Kingi, with cocktails drawing on modern Asian flavours and a New Zealand and international wine list.

General manager Reinout Engel told MeetingNewz that “Aka is an entirely new proposition for Auckland, bringing a bold, international energy” to the city’s hospitality offering. The hotel group has positioned the rooftop as both a draw for hotel guests and a free-standing destination for Aucklanders, taking advantage of redevelopment around the wider Aotea precinct as the City Rail Link nears completion.

The 322-room Radisson RED itself opened in February 2026, marking Radisson Hotel Group’s first New Zealand property and the brand’s Australasian launch, according to Hotel Management Australia. The arts district location places it within walking distance of Aotea Square, the Civic and the New Zealand International Convention Centre, which itself returns to the spotlight in June with the MEETINGS 2026 business events tradeshow drawing more than 215 exhibitors over two days.

Aka’s debut lands as wider data confirms a busy run for Auckland accommodation. Tātaki Auckland Unlimited reported in late March that February was a stand-out month for accommodation providers in the region, with average occupancy of 84 percent and nearly 788,000 guest nights sold, up around 12 percent on the same month last year. Occupancy peaked at 96 percent on 18 and 19 February, when Jason Aldean’s Full Throttle World Tour played Spark Arena, with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Eden Park and SailGP weekends close behind. Guest nights from overseas visitors were up more than 25 percent in January.

Nationally, Stats NZ data released on 14 April showed visitor arrivals rose 15.2 percent year on year to 408,142 in February, lifting the annual total to 3.58 million, or about 92 percent of the December 2019 benchmark. Australia, China, the United States and the United Kingdom remain the largest source markets. Hotel performance figures from CoStar’s STR division and CBRE put national RevPAR up 14.9 percent year on year over the first quarter of 2026, with double-digit ADR growth in Auckland alongside Queenstown and Christchurch.

Investment is keeping pace. More than 5,700 rooms are in the New Zealand development pipeline, with a heavy concentration of openings scheduled through 2026 and 2027. In March, Brookfield Asset Management gained Overseas Investment Office consent for the NZ$250 million purchase of Rydges Wellington and Sofitel Queenstown from NZ Hotel Holdings, a portfolio jointly owned by the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Russell Property Group and Lockwood Group. Drifter Hotels has signalled an Auckland opening on Wellesley Street opposite the new Te Waihorotiu Station, while Hotel Indigo’s debut in Midtown last year continues to bed in.

The picture is not without strain. Tourism Industry Aotearoa has flagged that 77 percent of operators reported cancellations from United Kingdom and United States visitors over March and April, much of it linked to long-haul aviation disruption that has rippled through Auckland Airport, including a fog event on 22 April and follow-on effects from cancelled Air New Zealand long-haul services. Tātaki chief executive Nick Hill has continued to argue for what he has described as a user-pays bed levy to give Auckland a sustainable funding mechanism for major events, an idea still awaiting central government legislation.

For now, though, the focus is on Aka’s launch and the run of openings around it. With Radisson RED’s rooftop, a packed conference calendar and a deeper hotel pipeline behind it, Auckland’s accommodation sector heads into the cooler months on a clear front foot.

This article was contributed by Auckland Hotels, a comprehensive guide to accommodation in Auckland, New Zealand.

Have you been to Auckland’s new Radisson RED, or are you booked for Aka’s opening week? Share your thoughts in the comments below.