Hospitality

The first and last impressions of Queenstown of the 1.89 million visitors to the resort every year have never been more important in this age of instant global communication, but is customer service in the resort as exceptional as it could or should be?

Lower guest-night figures for July show that despite the welcome arrival of snow, Queenstown and the wider Otago region were still suffering in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes.

The opening weekend of the 2011 Rugby World Cup had cash registers ringing and Dunedin businesses singing the praises of overseas visitors.

Dunedin hotels are filling up at the times of the key Rugby World Cup matches, but rooms are still available.

Despite continued growth from parts of Asia, international arrivals into New Zealand fell by 3.7% during July 2011 to 176,084 when compared with the 182,904 arrivals in the same month in 2010 last year, Statistics New Zealand reports.

The organisation representing five bed-and-breakfast operators in Queenstown and 425 operators throughout New Zealand is changing its name to Bed and Breakfast Association New Zealand.

A Queenstown hotel general manager won the Senior Hotel Executive of the Year Award, at the finale of the New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference last week.

Qualmark will post its new branding to all 116 licence holders in Queenstown from this week, in a response to dissatisfaction about the old logos from many licence holders nationwide.

Queenstown's youngest Les Clefs d'Or concierge, Nathan Wise (30), left for Toronto on Friday to attend the organisation's annual world congress where he will represent New Zealand.

An ablutions block at Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park Creeksyde is set to become one of the resort's newest tourist attractions, where guests can enjoy the view from one of Ziptrek Ecotours' ziplines and other tourist attractions while they go about their business.