The Grand Pacific Hotel Photo: Belinda Jackson

In search of Suva’s old colonial soul, Belinda Jackson
pays homage to the centenarian Grand Pacific Hotel, now celebrating a
makeover that’s 22 years late.

When the hotel first opened, on
May 23, 1914, Fiji had been a British colony for 40 years, an official
cannibal-free zone for 38 years and Suva its capital for just 32 years.
The hotel’s original layout included an array of extremely specific
rooms; for dining, smoking, playing billiards, writing and drinking.
There were electric lights and fans, and “the first-floor bedrooms have
bathrooms with both hot and cold salt and fresh water baths,” early
advertisements boasted.

Unfortunately, just a few months after
its opening, World War I broke out, stymieing its position as the
eminent Pacific hotel during the grand era of steamer-ship travel. But
the hotel regrouped and capitalised on its location on the edge of Suva
Harbour, the country’s premier port.

Queen Elizabeth II has
dropped in not once, but three times. The first time, in 1953, she was a
dewy-eyed girl, fresh to the demands of the crown, and locals sailed
traditional canoes (camakau) into Suva Harbour to meet the royal yacht,
Britannia. The Queen stayed in what is now known – unsurprisingly – as
the Queen Elizabeth suite. If she was expecting grand ocean views, she’d
have been disappointed. Her suite faces Victoria Parade, with a
massive, private balcony that juts out over the entrance, just the spot
where a beautiful, young queen could wave to her rapturous audience,
who, in return, would sing their sweet farewell song, Isa Lei, back to her.

Yes,
there is a photo wall where the hotel displays its list of visiting
celebrities, who include actor Burt Lancaster and author Somerset
Maugham and our own Dame Nellie Melba, who swanned in during World War
I. In 1928, aviator Charles Kingsford Smith popped in on his way across
the Pacific, flying 36 hours from Hawaii and forcing the locals to cut
two rows of trees in Albert Park, adjacent to the hotel, to accommodate
his landing. And yes, there’s the current prime minister, Frank
Bainimarama, in between them all.

GPH personifies the era of
travelling with trunks, of Grand Tours and afternoons at leisure. Most
of the early managers were retired steamer stewards and its 35 rooms
were never enough to satisfy demand. The American author James A
Michener wrote in his 1992 memoir that “the barefoot Indians who served
the meals had a grace that few hotels in the world could offer and none
surpass”. Michener had stayed in the hotel as a US soldier during WWII,
when it was turned over to the army, and returned after the war.

The
Fifties did nothing good for the GPH: it turned an ignoble shade of
pink, following the lead of The Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach,
also built in in the 1920s and dubbed “the Pink Palace of the Pacific”.
The period is captured in highly coloured postcards, an aquamarine pool
surrounded by groovers and beach umbrellas, male waiters serving in
sulus, the Fijian sarong and official uniform.  And the Eighties were
even worse: by 1992, the GPH was abandoned even by the army, left to the
mercy of scrap metal dealers and a corrosive tropical climate. Having a
volatile parliament house didn’t help, either.

But, like the
Queen, the GPH is a stayer, this year celebrating her centenary. A
three-year, $90 million redevelopment has bulldozed any signs of the
GPH’s ageing, funded by a consortium of superannuation funds from PNG,
New Zealand and Fiji.

Once again the gracious hostess, this
Friday night, GPH is the place to be seen in Suva. The massive new
ballroom is hosting Fiji Fashion Week, and the island’s most influential
women are trooping through the doors in an array of glamorous gowns.

But
it’s really all happening on the terrace, where a local band has set
the pace, with a racy sprint through the early evening set before
slowing down to flip into Lovesongs-and-Memories mode. Did you know that
Lionel Richie has actually been reborn as a Fijian crooner? And the
crowd loves it.
It all starts with a bang – well, the ringing of a
large bell – at 6pm, when the first of the night’s two happy hours
kicks off. The first happy hour runs for two hours, then the drinkers
and bar staff have a break until the second happy hour kicks the night
along from 10pm.

Fashionistas, local movers and shakers, a few
tourists and plenty of expats lounge on white cane chairs ordering long,
frosty glasses of Fiji Bitter. The general manager, Swiss-born Eugene
Diethelm, now on his 16th hotel opening, estimates the crowd at between
500 and 600 people each Friday night.

There’s formal dining inside
in the air-con, filling bar snacks out by the pool. This being Fiji,
where imported wine and red meat come at a premium, the best buy on the
menu is excellent local fish, that is wahoo, walu or mahimahi. However,
if you came over all traditional, you could call for a saddle of venison
with red cabbage and brussels sprouts, or go nouveau-riche with a cut
of beef from exclusive Wakaya Island, off Suva’s coast. The view from
the terrace is of the long infinity pool, lit royal blue against the
darkening sky, and swathes of perfect lawn with the backdrop of Laucala
Bay. And because this is family-friendly Fiji, that perfect lawn is
dotted, without irony, with a set of plastic swings and slides.

The
original building has 10 suites, and the pick of the bunch is
undoubtedly No. 1, the largest Royal Suite and the only one with ocean
views. All the other original suites overlook the gardens and Suva’s
low-slung skyline, best seen from a rattan chair on the wide, private
verandah, cool drink in hand.

The rest of the accommodation is one
side in two new wings. There are 103 new rooms ranging from the most
economical, the Grand Pacific Deluxe Room rooms in its Kingsford Smith
garden wing, up to the Royal Club Rooms, in the New Wing. Yes, all the
rooms in the New Wing have views over the pool or ocean, with lush Pure
Fiji toiletries, a fruit platter, complimentary neck massage in the
little spa and a sweet present from the sparkling new Swiss bakery.
However, architecturally, this is the hotel’s downfall. From the
exterior, the new wing could be any airport hotel in any part of the
world. And while the interior is comfortable, it’s just not channelling
heritage chic.

If your budget can stretch to it – and from $720 a
night, it is a stretch – the suites capture the essence of the hotel.
If it’s an ocean view and modern luxury you’re after, you can save a
couple hundred dollars and opt for the vast Royal Club rooms, with
uninterrupted ocean views.

On a quick drive down Victoria
Parade, it’s easy to spot the GPH’s contemporaries. The Law Court,
Government  Buildings and the city’s Carnegie Library all show the same
hallmarks of the architectural era: once-white facades, gracious arches
and date stamps over the entrances.
Many of the city’s Grade A
heritage buildings are also being renovated, perhaps spiked by the
interest in GPH. Already the bridal market has thrown its bouquet into
the ring to declare it best the place for a chic, city wedding, which
comes with a night in the Queen Elizabeth suite.

Chances are the
GPH will become a destination hotel, though it certainly doesn’t come
cheap. But Suva seems to come without the hard-edged hustle of its
western rival, Nadi. Well, at least on the days there’s not a cruise
ship in town. What is undeniable is the local pride in Suva’s gleaming
white hotel, which, after a generation of neglect, has made the
transition from eyesore to elegance.

TRIP NOTES

The writer was a guest of Fiji Airways. 

This feature by Belinda Jackson was published in the Sun-Herald newspaper’s Traveller section.