HIGH ACHIEVER: Fiona Suurenbroek, Cedarwood Lakeside
AS THE new chairwoman of the Rotorua Association of Moteliers (RAM), Fiona Suurenbroek hopes to bring fresh eyes to help the sector through a difficult period.
"The key opportunity [in the next 12 months] is promoting Rotorua as a destination filled with many fantastic activities, culture and history, so visitors recognise what we have to offer and will ultimately spend more time in our great city.
"However, the greatest challenge for motel owners is the volatile economic climate and surviving what can only be described as very difficult times now and ahead."
Fiona, who runs the Cedarwood Lakeside Resort with her husband Nick, says people tend to opt for motels for the personalised service, quality, comfort and facilities on offer and, in the case of Cedarwood, the location. But World Cup visitors seem to be steering clear of this accommodation sector.
"The Rugby World Cup has been disastrous for motels. I think the hype early on put a lot of potential visitors off with the perception that accommodation prices throughout the country would be hiked up."
As well as missing out on Cup visitors, Fiona says motels are losing the international visitors who would normally be here at this time of year as increased airfares and hiked accommodation prices in some centres put non-rugby travellers off.
"We are also suffering from a drop-off in our domestic visitors with the change to school holidays. This has really affected how and when people are travelling. September seems to be the worst month moteliers have suffered in the past nine or 10 years and October, with the upcoming school holidays and Labour weekend, does not look much better."
Members of the association have put together an accommodation guide to distribute through Destination Rotorua Marketing's No1 Queen St cafe in Auckland to target some of the thousands of visitors passing by daily.
"However, to date, we have had little interest."
The association is also working to improve perceptions of Rotorua accommodation.
"We are keen to move away from Rotorua being perceived as a discount city, where guests can bargain for their accommodation. With RAM, we have a code of ethics and a constitution our members sign up to, so we believe we have quality product and service, with pricing reflective of this."
Fiona made a lifestyle choice to move to Rotorua two years ago.
In Wellington, she worked for an outsourcing company for 11 years, covering a number of roles. Most recently, she was the quality and training manager, responsible for implementing training programmes and quality assessments across service centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Prior to that, she worked for the ANZ Banking Group for 11 years, working up to the role of branch manager.
"All my previous roles have been very much customer service orientated, so that is where I am keen to provide that quality customer experience for our guests."
Fiona says her experience in operational management has taught her how to prioritise, which comes in handy balancing the day-to-day running of a motel.
"You have to be able to juggle your daily duties, while maintaining that contact with your guests."
She wants to build on the association's existing momentum, strengthen membership and work with Rotorua District Council on matters affecting motel owners as well as collectively promote the city.
"Being fairly new to the motel industry, hopefully I can bring a fresh pair of eyes and help our group through some difficult times ahead."
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Contact business editor Julie Taylor on (07) 348 6199 ext 57015 or at business@dailypost.co.nzBy Julie Taylor julie.taylor@dailypost.co.nz