The Scotsman this week became GM of Australia’s InterContinental Hayman Island — "a big resort on a private island".
"It’s going to be a massive challenge, but I’m really looking forward to it," he told Mountain Scene last week.
He says he leaves behind a hotel, which celebrated its 50th last year, that keeps producing record results.
"The growth in both occupancy and rate has been fantastic over the last 12 months."
His highlight’s been building "an amazing leadership group" since Covid with accolades, too, to show for it — Crowne Plaza last year was named NZ’s best mid-scale hotel and best ski hotel, while Manson was a finalist for Hospitality NZ’s GM of the year award.
Another highlight’s been working with food rescue charity KiwiHarvest, with about 25 staff collecting, by bike, fresh unsold food from local cafes.
He says the hotel’s committed to become a financial partner of the charity.
For Manson, taking on Crowne Plaza in 2019 was a full-circle moment.
After joining the industry in Scotland, he came to Queenstown for a ski holiday in the mid-2000s only then to work two years at the hotel, initially as a porter, then front office supervisor, before spending four years at Queenstown’s Heritage.
His first GM postings were in Port Moresby and Alice Springs before taking on Queenstown’s Crowne Plaza just four months before Covid.
"It was tough to see a lot of people that had been with the hotel a long time finish up with us.
"But we navigated it really well and had the first conference back in Queenstown in June 2020.
"The worst year probably was the first year after Covid where we wanted to give everybody an amazing experience but we just couldn’t get the staff in."
In recent years, Manson’s been regional chair for both Hotel Council Aotearoa and Hospitality NZ’s accommodation sector.
"Staffing’s always going to be tough in Queenstown, but we’ve managed to lobby for some changes in visa settings that have made a big difference."
Though he’s flown the coop, he says "I don’t think it’s going to be the end of our love affair with Queenstown — spending 12 years of my life here, it’s definitely my second home after Scotland".
Till he’s replaced, the hotel’s acting GM is ops manager Jess Checkley.
