From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 3, December 2003.

The new Waterfront Lodge was officially opened for business on December 6 in Nukualofa’s seafront Vuna Road.

G. P. Orbassano, the owner-manager, and his wife Daniela, came to Tonga from Turin in 1994, and established the Waterfront five years ago as a restaurant and café bar, before extending and rebuilding it this year.

G. P. says the Waterfront now offers “Boutique” accommodation with eight quality rooms that are equivalent to the three or four star standard in Europe.

“We have been travelling around the world and stayed in different kinds of hotels, and we found that they are very common in one thing, always impersonal. But here we want to make people who will stay with us feel at home.”

G. P., a former art teacher, has achieved that by adding a bright and interesting collection of paintings to his stylish but simple décor, with oak-tiled floors and Italian furniture. All the rooms are double and located upstairs, each with a furnished outdoor verandah, and private bathroom. The rooms are air conditioned, with internet access, a telephone, satellite television, and a mini-fridge. The windows are double-glazed with screens, and the accommodation area was built with double floors to control sound levels. Downstairs is a small bar and a restaurant.

The construction was carried out by Saia Moehau Construction.

The Waterfront is a family business, belonging to G. P., Daniela and their son. The rebuilding is costing half a million pa‘anga, but G. P. believes, “that Tonga has the potential and anyone can invest and make money, but it is all up to the individual. It is not the capital, because with a little capital you still can do it, it is a matter of if you really want to do it.” He said that the Waterfront Lodge was already receiving full bookings into next year.