News

We will be in Europe in June/July meeting certain contacts/agents and taking a holiday ourselves! If there is anyone who would like to sit down with us to discuss cooperation, please let us know and we will schedule a time into our itinerary. At the moment we plan to visit England, France, Germany and Switzerland. We are also considering a first road trip into the US in... > Read more

There is a Maori saying. "What is important in life?" The answer is "He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata". "It is the people, the people, the people." Tourism is no different. A lodge is basically a pile of building blocks without people. An activity is less. And guiding cannot exist without people. Over the years we have seen various changes in our top... > Read more

We had quite a challenge last month - a VIP who wanted things to happen after the last moment, who wanted top quality, and who wanted costs carefully managed. It's very difficult to deliver all of those at the same time. Typically quality comes with a cost and resurrecting expired deadlines takes even more cost. However, we managed and were very pleasantly surprised with the efforts all our... > Read more

Five years ago we would have to explain to operators that some people would prefer to go in a raft on their own rather than with a group of others. This idea would take some adjustment, and pricing was invariably a function of boatloads and minibus loads and much scratching of heads. This has also moved a very long way. Most people we saw at Trenz last year had special VIP rates and luxury... > Read more

A few months ago we put a programme together for 200 Caltex delegates, involving Grant Fox, Kerre Woodham and rugby training specialists from Auckland Rugby. The event went very well of course. Mark Ama, the man who organised the rugby training part of the event for us, is now opening up for business. He is currently putting together his website and comes highly recommended by us. You can... > Read more

When the idea of the new New Zealand Luxury Travel Show came up, we were invited to participate but declined based on a number of structural issues which we took up with TIANZ. After ignoring our points for a number of weeks we were then asked to provide our global contacts so they could be invited to this event. Naturally we declined and then had some debate. Rather than bore everyone with... > Read more

One of our themes over the last few years has been flexibility. Typically, the individuals at the top end of the travel market are used to flexibility in their day to day existence. Meanwhile luxury tourism in New Zealand delivers a high quality but inflexible product. At the lower end of the scale are the "luxury packages" with set itineraries, set activities, set lengths etc.... > Read more

While on my trip around with the six Russians, we went to two lodges which changed ownership and management immediately prior to our visit. We're happy to say that both visits were a great success. Layonie and Denholm at The Convent in Blenheim were both expatriates in the Middle East for a number of years, regularly holiday at the same level as their clients, and are born entertainers.... > Read more

After two highly successful overseas marketing trips, we decided to start worrying about capacity. What would we do if people followed through with an increased level of business? The obvious answer is increase capacity - add some more guides capable of handling real VIPs. As usual, we didn't think the obvious answer was interesting enough. The guides had to be able to bring something else... > Read more

While at ILTM in Cannes (the No1 international luxury tourism trade show) we were delighted to meet a growing number of top-end players who are talking increasingly about "personal service" as the goal of luxury clients and operators. The definition is to get your VIP whatever they want, from exclusive experiences through to the right doctor, fast. From something for their daughter's... > Read more