Athenree Hot Springs & Holiday Park wins Spirit of Hospitality Award at the 2024 Holiday Parks New Zealand Awards

Athenree Hot Springs & Holiday Park owner Pete Church (right) with office manager Jackie Roach and Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy. Photo / Holiday Parks NZ

Peter Church and Belinda Rixon-Church took a leap of faith and bought Athenree Hot Springs & Holiday Park in 2020.

Unfortunately, the country was also jumping through the various Covid-19 pandemic alert levels.

It made for a “challenging” time for them, Church said.

The couple saw their sluggish start as an opportunity to get their head around the new business - they were brand-new in the industry.

By the time Queen’s Birthday came about, the floodgates had opened and the holiday park was bursting at the seams with families ready to have a good time.

“An avalanche of people came that weekend. I think that’s when our laid-back approach was born ... out of necessity,” he said.

Now they’ve won the 2024 Holiday Parks New Zealand Awards’ top gong - the Spirit of Hospitality Award - and for the second time.

Church said at the 2021 awards, they watched everyone else at their table win awards. The next year it was their turn and they took home the prestigious hospitality award. The award is determined by online reviews.

Athenree was a finalist for the top award in 2017 and 2018. It won the Innovation Award and Park Grounds Award in 2017.

Church thinks Athenree has done well because of its approach.

“We don’t oversell it, we’re not over-promoting or promising too much. We don’t have that Hi-de-Hi! approach. It’s about being authentic with how you deal with customers, and having a good team is critical.

“Also, Athenree is a pretty magical place - you can step back in time, you can slow down, hopefully.”

2024 Holiday Parks New Zealand Awards

The 2024 Holiday Parks New Zealand Award were held last week at the Tākina Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wellington.

The Spirit of Hospitality Award, the sector’s top holiday park award, went to Athenree Hot Springs & Holiday Park. Obtaining the award is no small feat, as there are about 400 parks in the country.

“The quality and content of this year’s entries show that the holiday park sector is continuing to grow strongly following the challenges of recent years,” Holiday Parks New Zealand chief executive Fergus Brown said.

“This is evident in the substantial investment that many parks are making to develop more quality-built accommodation and facilities that will delight guests and encourage more visitation over our non-peak months. Addressing this seasonality is a key strategic challenge for the sector.”

Another local park, Bowentown Beach Holiday Park, won the urban lounge interiors upgrade of an existing building under $100,000.