A hotel on the quay, with a gaming lounge upstairs
The Mooring Place stands on Wakefield Quay, on the water side of the road, where Nelson's fishing fleet ties up and the Boulder Bank runs out to the lighthouse. Sixty-one rooms, two restaurants, a bathhouse, and — on the first floor, above the kitchen — a gaming lounge for guests aged 20 and over.
The building went up in 1928 as a bond store for the harbour board: three storeys of brick and Baltic pine, put there to hold wool and hops until a ship came for them. It packed fish from 1961, then stood empty for eleven years, with pigeons in the roof and the harbour view going to waste. We opened it as a hotel in November 2012. The lift is new, the wiring is new, and the wide-board floors on the second and third storeys are the ones the wool bales sat on.
This is a casino hotel in the plain sense of the phrase: a hotel that happens to have a gaming room in it. The Compass Room is one room among many. Most of our guests come for Abel Tasman, or a wedding, or the Saturday market, and never open its door — and that is entirely fine. For those who do, it is properly run, well lit, and closes when it says it will.
02 — What is here
Six rooms of the house
Rooms & Suites
61 rooms in five categories, from a 24 m² Quay Room to the 68 m² Mooring Suite. Thirty-seven of them face the water.
See the rooms →
Boulder Bank Kitchen
Eighty-four seats inside and twenty-six on the deck. Tasman Bay scallops, Golden Bay snapper, and whatever the boats brought in that morning.
Dining →
The Compass Room
Our casino floor: 46 gaming machines and seven tables — blackjack, roulette, baccarat and poker. Twenty and over, photo ID at the door.
The gaming lounge →
Offers & Packages
Six of them at the moment, including two nights with dinner, and a stay that puts you on the water taxi at Mārahau by half past nine.
See what is on →
Tasman Bathhouse
Three treatment rooms, a hot pool held at 38°C, a cold plunge, and a sauna that seats eight. Open 7am to 8pm.
What is in it →
Meetings & Events
Three spaces: The Sail Loft for 120, the Anchorage Room for 40, and Boardroom No. 4 for fourteen around one table.
Ask about a date →03 — In detail
The parts, one at a time
Eating
Boulder Bank Kitchen is on the ground floor with the deck over the water. Breakfast runs 6:30 to 10:30, dinner 5:30 to 9:30 with last orders at nine. Outside December and January the kitchen is closed for dinner on Mondays — the fish market is shut and we would rather not pretend otherwise. Eighty-four covers inside, twenty-six out.
The Chart Room next door takes its name honestly: the harbour board kept its charts in this room, and two of the old drawer cabinets are still against the north wall. Thirty-eight seats, 112 wine labels of which 74 come from Nelson and Tasman, open from eleven until late. Room service runs 6:30am to 10pm from a short list of nine dishes.
Gaming
The Compass Room occupies 340 m² on the first floor, up the stair beside the lift. Forty-six gaming machines along the inland wall; seven tables in the middle — three blackjack, two roulette, one baccarat, and a poker table that runs Texas hold'em Thursday to Sunday. The Bosun's Table, our VIP gaming room, has two high-limit tables and is opened by arrangement with the duty manager. Those are all the casino games we run — no sports betting, no keno, nothing on a screen in your room.
Open 11am to 2am Sunday through Thursday, and to 3am on Friday and Saturday. It closes at those times. It does not extend, whatever the night has been like. Entry is 20 and over with photo identification, no exceptions made for anyone, ever. More about the gaming lounge →
The bathhouse
Tasman Bathhouse is in what was the cooperage, at the back where the building meets the hill. Three treatment rooms; treatments of 45, 60 and 90 minutes, from NZ$120. A hot pool held at 38°C, a cold plunge that is not held at anything pleasant, and a sauna for eight. Guests use it free between 7 and 9 in the morning; after that it is booked in hour blocks at reception.
Events
The Sail Loft is the top floor: 148 m² under the original trusses, 120 seated theatre-style or 80 for dinner, with the bay through the west windows. Anchorage Room holds 62 m², 40 theatre or 24 around a boardroom table. Boardroom No. 4 is 28 m² and seats fourteen — it kept its number from the days when it was store room four.
04 — Rooms
What a night costs
Rates below are the lowest we charge in a given category, per room per night, GST included. They rise in January and at Christmas, and during the Nelson Arts Festival. Breakfast is NZ$32 a head and is included in most of our packages.
| Room | Size | How many | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quay Room | 24 m² · Queen | 18 of them | NZ$219 |
| Harbour Room | 28 m² · King or twin | 21 of them | NZ$268 |
| Bank Room | 33 m² · King | 14 of them | NZ$324 |
| Tasman Suite | 46 m² · King | 6 of them | NZ$438 |
| The Mooring Suite | 68 m² · King | 2 of them | NZ$695 |
05 — Nelson
What is around the door
Turn left out of the door and the waterfront path takes you into town: Trafalgar Street is 1.6 km, a nineteen-minute walk, and the Saturday market in Montgomery Square is about twenty. Turn right and you are at the marina in three minutes, with the fishing fleet, the sea-shanty bench and the Fifeshire Rock memorial.
Mārahau, where the Abel Tasman Coast Track starts and the water taxis leave, is an hour and ten minutes north-west. Kaiteriteri is five minutes closer. The Waimea and Moutere vineyards begin twenty-five minutes out on the way to Māpua, and the Suter, Founders Heritage Park and Queen's Gardens are all inside the twenty-minute walk. Rabbit Island is half an hour if the tide is out and you want a beach to yourself on a Tuesday.
The concierge desk books the water taxis, the shuttles, and the winery van, and will tell you honestly when the forecast means you should do something else that day. We would rather move your booking than send you into a southerly.
Abel Tasman
Mārahau in one hour ten. Water taxi from the beach, or the track on foot as far as you feel like walking.
Tasman Bay
The Boulder Bank runs 13 km out to the lighthouse — walkable at low tide, if you like walking on stones.
The desk
Staffed all twenty-four hours. There is someone at reception at three in the morning, and they are awake.
06 — Host responsibility
We would rather you left happy
The Compass Room is run under a host responsibility policy written to the Gambling Act 2003. In practice that means a few concrete things: no ATM anywhere in the gaming room — the nearest is in the lobby, past reception, about forty metres away. Clocks on all four walls, visible from every table. Windows onto the quay, so you can tell what the sky is doing. No drinks service at the machines; there is a bar at the north end and our staff would rather you walked to it. Water and tea are free.
Self-exclusion is available to anyone who asks, confidentially, in writing, for a minimum of six months. Every member of gaming staff is trained to recognise when a night has stopped being a good one, and they will not be told off for stepping in.
07 — By the numbers
The Mooring Place, counted
Est. 2012 · 41°16′S 173°16′E · 4 m
08 — Book
Write to the front desk
Every enquiry lands on the desk at 342 Wakefield Quay and is answered by a person, not a system. Tell us the dates, how many of you there are, and anything that would make the stay work better.