When two guests arrived at Larnach Castle for dinner and a night's accommodation in early September, staff had no idea who they were.
It turned out they were under-cover judges of the Hospitality New Zealand awards for excellence.
Their experience must have been excellent, as Larnach Castle won the Spark Business award for excellence in customer service at the recent awards function in Rotorua.
For general manager Andrew Husheer, who was ''ecstatic'' with the result, the award was acknowledgment for the staff, who number up to 80 during the summer season.
The castle had a very loyal, committed staff base, with some having served for 30 years, and it was those staff who helped drive the business's success, Mr Husheer said.
Castle doyenne Margaret Barker agrees, saying she was ''very proud of everybody''.
At the awards function, the judges `raved'' about the personal attention they received at Larnach Castle, Mr Husheer said.
Their interactions with staff ranged from the gate-house, the first point of contact for visitors arriving at the castle, through to housekeeping and restaurant staff.
More than 100,000 visitors came through the gates each year, and it was important their needs were understood and met ''from first thing in the morning to late at night'', Mr Husheer said.
Whether a business was in tourism or finance, it was all about customer service and, at Larnach Castle, staff went ''the extra mile'' while making sure customers were looked after like ''kings and queens'', he said.
He gave the recent example of a staff member serving breakfast who discovered that a guest was in pain, so she made an appointment with her own physiotherapist for her.
Staff were passionate about Larnach Castle's history and liked telling guests about it.
The castle has been owned by the Barker family for the past 47 years and was still very much a family business, despite having grown to a medium-sized business, with various revenue streams.
The business had a sense of family values and communication, loyalty, commitment and working together resonated within it, Mr Husheer said.
There were a lot of stories to be told, compared with many other tourism products around the country, from the history of the Larnach days through to what the Barker family had done, which, in itself, was ''remarkable''.
When Barry and Margaret Barker bought the property, the castle was in a state of disrepair, with animals in the ballroom, growth coming through the floorboards and graffiti on the walls, he said.
But they saw the opportunities. Getting students to paint the ballroom and then holding the first student ball there set them on the pathway to commercial enterprise.
Since then, that commercial business had been balanced with conservation and making sure the castle was there for future generations, which still remained ''the big driver'', for the family, he said.
When it came to plans for the future, Mr Husheer said there would be ''more of the same'', keeping on with the conservation work while also looking at new business opportunities.
They were constantly developing their tourism product.
About six months ago, they launched a new app, after working with Taylormade Productions in Dunedin to create it.
Visitors could download it on their smartphone, or hire a device from reception, and enhance their visit with an audio-visual tour.
Walking around the castle, they could see what it would have looked like in Victorian times, right down to walking into the ballroom and seeing people dancing.
Using still photographs, video and an audio commentary, it gave people more information about the castle's history, from the Larnach days through to the Barker family's tenure.
It also meant people were staying longer and learning more about the castle.
Mr Husheer reckoned the castle's namesake, William Larnach, would be ''looking down having a bit of a chuckle'' seeing that people were enjoying the experience.
The app included a Cantonese option to cater for the growing number of Chinese visitors.
The castle's market was wide, with Australian visitors comprising the largest number of visitors, followed by New Zealanders, the UK and then Chinese.
With school holidays on at the moment, there were large numbers of families visiting and he was seeing adults who had visited when they were younger wanting to bring their children to show them the castle.
They were ''blown away'' by the changes and improvements since they last visited, he said.
Asked what sort of challenges a business such as Larnach Castle faced, Mr Husheer said they included ensuring they were offering a good quality product, understanding any changes in the market, and making sure they met compliance.
Another key challenge was to encourage tourists to visit Dunedin after they had visited the key tourist spots of Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown.
The best itinerary was to bring tourists from Queenstown to Dunedin and then fly them to Auckland or Christchurch.
It was a challenge to get tour operators and people to realise there were great products in Dunedin, whether it was heritage, wildlife or ''lots of good excursions'', Mr Husheer said.
