ISSUE 1,076 - 2nd edition
June 3rd, 2016
Industry stalwart receives sector’s
highest achievement award
GOLDRIDGE Resort Queenstown GM Penny Clark was last night (Thursday)
presented with the sector’s highest honour, the Hotel Industry Achievement
Award.
Ms Clark has made a significant impression at every hotel she has managed over
a career spanning more than three decades, says Horwath HTL director Stephen
Hamilton.
“Penny has worked in the hotel sector for more than 35 years, over 30 of
those as a GM. She is consistently referred to as an inspirational and influential
leader, empowering colleagues while maintaining a strong focus on bottom line
performance,” he says.
Other winners:
Administration Employee of the Year - Kamlesh Kumar, Financial Controller,
James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, Wellington;
Goldridge Resort
Queenstown GM Penny
Clark has won the Hotel
Industry Achievement
Award. Ms Clark was the
first female to be made a
hotel GM in New Zealand.
Environmental Initiative of the Year - The Langham, Auckland;
Front Office Services Employee of the Year - Jenna Abramowitz, Front Office
Manager, InterContinental Wellington;
Housekeeper Employee of the Year - Meripa Aiono, Executive Housekeeper,
Novotel and Ibis Auckland Ellerslie;
Outstanding Young Hotel Executive, sponsored by ServiceIQ - Brad Garnett,
Revenue and Contact Centre Manager, SkyCity Hotels Auckland;
Revenue Manager of the Year - Deborah Kennedy, Plaza Auckland;
Sales and Marketing Employee of the Year - Elizabeth Burrett, Marketing
Manager, SkyCity Hotels Auckland;
Senior Hotel Executive, sponsored by AHS Hospitality - Bruce Garrett, Managing
Director, The George, Christchurch.
The awards were presented at a gala dinner at The Langham, Auckland,
attended by 300 guests.
“This year we expanded the awards to recognise many of the key roles that
go into the running of a successful hotel,” says TIA hotel sector manager Sally
Attfield.
(over)
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(from pg1) “Our award winners are outstanding performers who reflect the
depth of talent in New Zealand’s hotel sector.
“These are New Zealand’s premier hotel sector awards and competition was
fierce. We are delighted to see the Awards shared between several regions –
Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.”
Deborah Kennedy
The Langham, Auckland
Elizabeth Burrett
Meripa Aiono
Brad Garnett
Bruce Garrett
Jenna Abramowitz
Kamlesh Kumar
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Conference opens in positive mood
from first speaker...
ACCOMMODATION providers can no longer sit back and wait for new hotels to
be built. They must continue to upgrade product and uphold the industry’s
reputation and international brand standards.
“However, increased rates and longer shoulder seasons have resulted
in increased hotel financial performance, which in turn has enabled re
investment into properties and some new-build developments,” AccorHotels VP
development Pacific and franchise operations Lindsay Leeser said at the opening
of the 10th New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference yesterday (Thursday).
“In our experience of developing over 10 new-build hotels in the country, we see
New Zealand as one of the best markets for ROI across the Asia Pacific region.”
Yet because of the cost of land and construction, unless rates can be lifted and
demand extended across a calendar year, many feasibility studies for new hotels
do not stack up.
“Hotel developers can’t do it alone. Wider infrastructure projects such as
convention centres and airport upgrades are also key to the success of growing
our industry.”
Through owner investment, AccorHotels is constantly improving its network.
Sofitel Auckland Viaduct Harbour and Mercure Queenstown Resort have
completed refurbishments. Mercure Auckland is undergoing a refurbishment
and Mercure Wellington is scheduled. Sofitel Queenstown and Hotel St Moritz
Queenstown are also undergoing soft refurbishments.
Lindsay Leeser
“We are well aware of the shortfall in accommodation across major visitor
centres including Auckland and Queenstown, and we are working with investors
and owners to bring new hotel rooms to these destinations.,” Mr Leeser said.
“In the last 18 months, we’ve added the new-build 85-room Novotel New
Plymouth hotel, and ibis Styles Invercargill.
“This July, we will be opening the much-awaited Sofitel Wellington. The
property will be Wellington’s first internationally branded luxury hotel to open in
the capital for over 15 years.”
Then, in partnership with owners CP group, we will turn our focus to the Sofitel
So Auckland development which is on track to open late next year.
Also under construction is The Sebel Wellington Lower Hutt and the recently
announced Novotel Christchurch Airport.
“We hope to announce at least another two new-build hotels in the months to
come,” he said.
“The economy, and tourism in particular has had a strong first half of the year
across the country. We must ensure that we are future proofing ourselves so that
we can accommodate new markets and business opportunities as New Zealand
becomes an even more accessible and desirable destination.
(to pg4)
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(from pg3) AccorHotels remains very much committed to growing the tourism
and hotel industry in this country and we thank all our partners and supporters
who are on this exciting journey with us.”
He said there’s no doubting the strength of the New Zealand tourism industry
and the increasingly important role it plays in the local economy as a tier one
sector.
“New Zealand has an enviable reputation in the market as a leading tourism
marketing machine and destination, and pleasingly, is backed by good
government support.
“We applaud the great work being done by TNZ, and efforts to expand the
peak visitor seasons and encourage tourists to linger longer during the shoulder
seasons of autumn and spring. As we all know, markets such as Auckland and
Queenstown could do with extra accommodation during peak periods, but we
are certainly not saying we’re full and don’t need ‘heads in beds’, we just need
to see a shift.”
“New Zealand is
still one of the
best performing
markets.”
Mr Leeser said the US market grew by 4,000 room nights during the past year
and is the largest international market after Australia. China grew by just under
3,000 room nights and the rest of Asia has seen strong growth, dominated by the
resurgence of South Korea, “which was a surprise”. Europe saw growth, driven
by France and Germany, but also balanced by small declines from other markets.
“As inbound numbers continue to grow, we remain optimistic that we’re in for a
great second half of the year. We are totally focused on our market performance
to ensure that AccorHotels remains a market leader in New Zealand, and
continues to maximise returns for our owners and investors of the assets that we
manage.”
He said growth in US room nights has been driven by the desirability of New
Zealand in the wake of terror events in other parts of the world, a favourable
exchange rate, and of course increased airline capacity.
“As an industry, we need to be across travel trends and new airline routes and
capacities. And we know that while declining oil prices are providing economic
challenges and tensions in some regions, we as a destination are benefiting.”
AccorHotels had a strong start to 2016 with most hotels exceeding their budgets
in January, and overall, the market REVPAR grew on average by an exceptional
20 percent. Queenstown was a standout with a 26 percent growth in REVPAR.
“Encouragingly, New Zealand is still one of the best performing markets across
the Asia Pacific region. While I don’t believe we have felt the full impact of
AIRBnB in this country because of the high demand for housing, particularly in
Auckland and Queenstown - pleasingly, we are managing to maintain an equal
balance in direct bookings – keeping our OTA partners in check, as they rapidly
grow their market share,” Mr Leeser said.
“A large challenge for all of us during room rate increases is delivering on the
guest experience and our value for money proposition. The guest experience is
impacted through the changing market mix and hotels running at capacity for
sustained periods.
New and emerging markets, particularly from Asia are generally used to more
grandiose product than we offer in New Zealand, and there is a far higher staff
to guest ratio.
(to pg5)
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(from pg4) Investment in hotels, and in particular accommodation and public
areas refurbishment programmes are essential to maintaining the standards that
today’s travellers have come to expect. The combination of China’s growing
middle-class and growth in low-cost airline carriers has meant that travel is even
more accessible to the masses, and New Zealand needs to take advantage of this
at every opportunity.”
The sell-out conference continued enthusiastically with news that overseas
investors are interested in New Zealand – but there is not the stock to invest in
and many do not want to wait for new builds.
“The costs of
development and
land acquisition
are rising fast.”
There was discussion on the high cost of land and construction which can take
the cost of properties to $5,500 a sq m, pushing the average cost of a room
to $290,000 on average with the Novotel Queenstown coming in at $335,000 a
room.
Positive - but there are challenges
THE Hotel Industry Conference was “incredibly positive” for the industry,
Horwath HTL director Stephen Hamilton tells IT.
“It was the 10th year and was the most positive we have had. But in that
positive scenario some significant challenges were discussing - but we have not
yet got all the solutions.”
Mr Hamilton says the industry understands the new challenges. “They tend to
be better problems to have than empty hotels and low room rates and needing
to theoretically get room rates up because we still have 30 percent of available
rooms on average during the year. We have a fantastic new series of problems
which include high occupancies in several key main centres.
“Although room rates are rising at an historically unprecedented level
nevertheless the costs of development and land acquisition are rising faster than
roomrates,” he says.
Construction costs are also rising faster than the rate of inflation - as are
operating and staff costs and such things as rates.
“Therefore profit is essentially under increasing pressure so now we have profits
rising but they have a long way to go.”
Colliers national director Dean Humphries summed up the situation when he said
during the first panel discussion that many rooms are coming on stream but they
are not all desired at the same time.
Some 500 room a year for Auckland would be good because 75 percent of all
arrivals into New Zealand land there and the CAM implies the city has lost
market share to other centres.
“Yes we have been full but our rate of growth in hotel demand has been lower
than the rate of growth of inbound arrivals into Auckland and that means
they have been dispersing to other places such as Rotorua and Hamilton. So
we are talking about a new series of problems. There are solutions. They will
take a couple of years to come through and means we are setting up for next
year’s conference a further update on the report card and it will be good,” Mr
Hamilton says.
*
The conference will be at The Langham again next year on July 19 and 20.
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FOREIGN
EXCHANGE
New flights and funding to grow US
and India markets
THE government’s announcement in May of increased investment of $20 million
for tourism was significant recognition of the important role the sector plays in
New Zealand as a driver of economic growth.
Of that funding TNZ will receive an additional $8 million over the next four years
to capitalise on the momentum seen from the US and increase our focus on the
high potential emerging economy of India. This will support our work to secure
the significant growth opportunities these markets present to generate value for
the industry now and into the future.
In the US, additional marketing activity will be seen immediately to capitalise
on newly announced air services – which are expected to result in a 30 percent
increase in seats between the US and New Zealand.
From June, New Zealand will be even more accessible for the 15 million
Americans that TNZ research shows would seriously consider visiting New
Zealand. This comes on top of visitor numbers already showing strong growth.
Total arrivals from there US were up 10.6 percent for the year ending April.
by
TNZ CEO
Kevin Bowler
American Airlines (June 23) and United Airlines (in an alliance with AirNZ from
July 1) direct services, alongside AirNZ’s existing services from Los Angeles, San
Francisco and Houston present a prime opportunity to boost visitor numbers
from the US even further.
Both airlines have extensive cross-America networks and strong sales and
distribution channels in the US. Their entry to the market also gives us
additional marketing partnership opportunities as both airlines have large
numbers of frequent fliers who will be able to convert their loyalty scheme
rewards into travel to New Zealand.
In India, the extra funding will further support our capacity to grow the Indian
visitor market which was identified three years ago as holding significant
potential for New Zealand.
Since 2013, Indian arrivals have grown steadily, with holiday arrivals increasing
61 per cent. Indian visitors prefer to travel outside our peak seasons, directly
supporting our objective to spread arrivals throughout the year and across more
regions of New Zealand.
We know that having a well-informed travel trade is critical to converting
interest into bookings, and the additional funding will help us up-weight the
training of travel agents to support their ability to sell travel to New Zealand
during the shoulder seasons. Alongside this we will continue to partner with
airlines to maximise sales in the key May-June travel period for Indian visitors.
We will also continue our successful opinion leader programmes to drive
awareness and preference for New Zealand, building on the achievements with
tourism ambassador Sidharth Malhotra and successful collaborations with New
Zealand cricketers, such as Stephen Fleming.
With activity already underway, and much more to come, be sure to keep an eye
out for updates on our corporate website, www.tourismnewzealand.com, and
our e-newsletter Tourism News.
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SPEAKER’S
CORNER
Grow up and pay up!
CONGRATULATIONS. Tourism is now NZ’s number one industry and generates
more export revenue for the country than dairy. Through the efforts of the
168,000 people employed in the industry, we are offering experiences that
attract people from all over the world who are prepared to pay for long
haul travel to enjoy our great country. Through the innovation of individual
operators, the enthusiasm of their staff, and the investment by corporates, we
now have core infrastructure to build a sustainable and profitable industry that
will keep New Zealand on the radar of international tourism. The 100%Pure
brand has resonated with people looking for authentic, natural experiences in a
safe and friendly country.
But all is not perfect, and some of the emerging pressures have to be addressed
if we are to enjoy ongoing prosperity. Personal security and road safety are vital
components of any holiday experience. With growing numbers, every community
in New Zealand has to play a bigger part to ensure the visitors who connect with
our communities do so safely.
by
Former Tourism Minister
Damien O’Connor
The pressure on tourism hotspots is starting to result in some negative
environmental and experiential impacts. If not managed well, these impacts
will detract from both the experience and our long term image. Infrastructure
such as tracks, bridges and huts, constructed and paid for by the taxpayer over
decades, needs ongoing maintenance and upgrades if we are to maintain the
high levels of quality experiences in our outdoors.
The question of who pays is emerging more frequently and taxpayers and rate
payers who are under huge pressure to pay more for our core infrastructure
are less willing to invest in assets that are essential for our tourist visitors. As
previous Minister of Tourism, I advocated for the introduction of a tourism levy
at the border that would be utilised to fund the emerging gaps in both tourism
infrastructure and experience. While tourism, like every other export sector,
generates both direct and indirect income for the government, the growing
expectation from Kiwis is that “user-pays” applies where direct benefit is easily
identifiable.
The market failure in promotion of our country justifies taxpayer funding of our
international marketing efforts because the benefits accrue across every sector
of our country. However, when it comes to facilities, environmental protection,
and information, almost all visitors expect to contribute to these ongoing and
increasing costs.
A $25 per visitor levy incorporated into the incoming airfares of every tourist
to NZ would provide roughly $100 million a year of revenue. It would be
available for toilets, tracks, huts, signs, road safety and all the other necessary
components of a tourist’s experience in our great country.
A Conservation Passport could incorporate information on every one of our
national parks, be given to tourists as acknowledgement of their conservation
levy, to be stamped at national parks when they visit. It would form a valued
souvenir of their visit to New Zealand and would contribute to the protection of
our unique and wonderful natural assets.
The tourism industry has developed, matured, and become our biggest single
export earner. With that comes the responsibility to contribute directly to meet
some of the growing infrastructural demands that these visitors place upon our
country. It is time for the industry to grow up and pay up directly. The most
fair and sensible way to do this is by way of a conservation levy incorporated
into the incoming airline ticket and allocated directly for tourism-related
infrastructure.
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AirNZ investigates use of robots
AIRNZ is working with Christchurch-based robotics company Invert Robotics to
trial wall-climbing, camera-mounted robots to carry out remote inspections on
its aircraft.
The technology, originally designed for use in the dairy industry, uses remotecontrolled inspection equipment to detect damage inside milk tanks beaming
back high resolution footage in real time.
COO Bruce Parton says the carrier first started to explore the use of robotics
after recognising the shape of a milk tank closely resembles an aircraft fuselage.
“Currently to inspect the top of the fuselage, as we do following incidents such
as lightning strikes, engineers need to work at heights of up to eight metres.
“Using technology that can identify defects not immediately visible to the
human eye and do so from the ground has the potential to make aircraft
maintenance safer and more reliable,” he says.
Published by South Pacific
Media Services Ltd
PO Box 1464,
Paraparaumu Beach
Kapiti 5252,
New Zealand.
Publishing and Research Editor :
Nigel Coventry.
Phone: +64-4-2973131
[email protected]
Member: PATA, TIA, Skal
ISSN 1179-2418
Tourism Brand Index + 64.2
“Exploring the introduction of robotic technologies supports the airline’s
innovation strategy and, if we can help pioneer an aviation application for this
technology, it could create a significant new commercial opportunity for this
home-grown Kiwi business.”
NEW Zealand’s largest annual motorhome, caravan and outdoor expo, the Covi
NZMCA Insurance Motorhome, Caravan and Outdoor SuperShow, will be even
bigger next year with more marquee space and more travel and destination
information. The event will be from March 17-19 at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds.
Last year 18,000mattended.
Sex on wheels?
WITH the rise of self-driving vehicles, the time once spent navigating the
road could soon be spent having sex. At least that’s what Barrie Kirk of the
Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence recently told the Toronto
Sun, says the Huffington Post.
“I am predicting that, once computers are doing the driving, there will be a
lot more sex in cars.”
Mr Kirk says, adding that could mean big trouble because it will be “one
of several things people will do which will inhibit their ability to respond
quickly when the computer says to the human ‘take over.’”
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