Rotorua Business Awards: Deja vu for Marvellys

Rotorua's annual business awards mark their 20th anniversary this month and are likely to create a sense of deja vu for Princes Gate's Brett and Vlasta Marvelly.

The couple are the only supreme award winner from the first years of the awards who are still in the same business under the same ownership - and they are finalists again in 2011.

"We've been running the same business for 25 years this month - that's no mean feat," said Mr Marvelly.

Rotorua Business Awards launched in 1991 and Princes Gate was a finalist in 1992 before taking out the medium to large business category and the supreme Business of the Year title in 1993.

He put the longevity of the business and their ownership down to dedication, creativity, hard work and total commitment.

"It's a 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year commitment and we have never been motivated by the money. It's about the satisfaction of creating something that totally blows guests away."

High standards have been a cornerstone from the start and the couple have developed the property and facilities to create a five-star establishment in the historic building.

"We have done what we set out to do and that is so satisfying."

Remaining a privately and locally owned hotel is something the Marvellys are proud of.

"This was the first private hotel in New Zealand and we are still privately owned. We have always tried to source things in Rotorua and employ good Rotorua people. If Rotorua wants to grow, it has to look after itself."

Providing staff with employment paths enables them to see their positions as careers rather than just jobs and to take pride in and a professional approach to what they do.

The same applies to the Marvellys themselves. "We roll our sleeves up and get stuck in as well - no job is too menial. You will often find me mopping the floors or serving coffees and I think the staff and the guests respect that," said Mrs Marvelly.

Princes Gate is more than just a business for the couple.

"This is the home [our daughter] Elizabeth was born into. It's part of our family."

Looking back to their Business of the Year win in 1993, Mrs Marvelly said the hotel got a lofty plug before they had even won.

"[Former Prime Minister] David Lange was making the opening speech and talked about coming to Rotorua on family holidays every year as a child and staying at the Princes Gate. It was great."