News

I think it was two or three years ago that we discovered new boutique lodge Silver Pine.  We wrote an article a while ago, encouraging people to try it out.  It's with no apology for repetition that we do so again.  Mike and Sue Yates are tireless hospitality professionals, superb hosts, and have the best "bang for buck" value of any lodge in New Zealand. The views... > Read more

There is a world beyond some of our most successful walks.  The Milford Track and Routeburn, and others, are all rightfully famous.  They are also heavily regulated and offer a constant stream of organised 3-star and 4-star traffic.  Some people like travelling in groups, meeting strangers, making friends.  Others come to New Zealand to dscover the country and a part of... > Read more

We've been debating for a couple of years whether or not to add a blog or discussion page to our website, and along comes Facebook with all the functionality readily available.  So this is a short note to anyone interested that we now have a Facebook presence.  We will be using this to incorporate more informal discussion, photos and feedback than we currently have on our... > Read more

Anyone who truly understand New Zealand understands that the true style of hosting here is something which I call "understated elegance".  People do their very best for you, while not breaking a sweat or making a fuss.  They spend days and days and enormous budgets on materials, landscaping, equipment and - when complimented - say "yes, we put some work in". ... > Read more

Like many people in tourism, we've been attending trade shows (as buyers or sellers) for a number of years.  We've put up with long flights, extortionate costs, rigid formats, segregation of buyers, arrogance, and of course empty promises. This year, we decided to take some of our favourite contacts, culled from our hugely expensive trade show and overseas visit contact list, and turn... > Read more

For a long time we have championed with the "powers that be", the importance of not relying on a few markets and the importance of working with those markets which deliver the type of visitor which our long-term strategy says we need.  The low-impact high net worth visitor.  Emerging markets seem to be making headlines as one of the few areas people can point at progress and... > Read more

However long one has been in tourism, one never manages to see everything one should.  Even though I also guide and therefore see the country anew several times a year, I had never been on a helicopter tour to White Island.  Over the years I had asked a number of people what they thought - is it worth it?, is it an expensive gimmic?  The replies were inconclusive.  Some... > Read more

This is it.  Without any doubt in my mind.  It makes the existing "owners cottages" at the superlodges look a little ordinary.  We've known about this 1,000 acre estate in the Bay Of Islands for a few years when one of our VIP clients had us helicopter them there to investigate investing in a property.  For about ten days now we've had the right to use it. It... > Read more

Many of you will have noticed that this year is a little different to last.  Being in close touch with the market, we've been close to emerging trends.  One of these is the rise of the world's most distant destination (New Zealand) as an impulse booking destination.  Over the Christmas period we had three very short lead-time clients, the longest giving us 3 days to plan, book... > Read more

Not a lot of people know that we occasionally put together small corporate events around the country for companies who want something special, exclusive, different, deep.  If you look at some of our special activities, people and places, you will quickly see that these can easily be adapted for the corporate world. We've hired a private island for a group of banking executives, run... > Read more