Customer is king in Rotorua

Hospitality NZ chief Bruce Robertson (left) and Rotorua publican Hilary Hennessy catch up at the Hospitality NZ conference yesterday. Photo / Stephen Parker

Liquor licensing, gambling, new opportunities and even politics were all on the agenda on the first day of the annual Hospitality New Zealand conference being held in Rotorua.

Rotorua publican Hilary Hennessy, manager of Hennessy's Irish Bar, was one of the "new leaders" identified by the organisation and was impressed by the line up of speakers saying she had learned a lot from attending a new leaders seminar on Tuesday before the main conference got underway at the Energy Events Centre.

The theme of this year's conference is "The Customer is King" with about 350 delegates in attendance.

"Your customer is the one who brings in the dollars.

"Naturally you want them to spend it at your place and have a good time doing it.

"Sometimes you need to be able to change quickly to keep people happy and simple things like serving them something that's not on the menu can go a long way," Miss Hennessy said.

She said making things easier for the customer was often the best way to get them to come back to support your business.

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Bruce Robertson said those in the industry were becoming increasingly aware of the influence of social media on their businesses.

"Social media is word of mouth on steroids and that's why we chose this year's theme.

"How do you deliver a top-quality product every time?"

Key note speaker yesterday was New Zealand First leader Winston Peters while Rotorua MP Todd McClay, the Associate Minister of Tourism, sat on a panel of experts to talk about the rising influence of Chinese tourism in New Zealand.

The conference concludes tonight with a black tie dinner and awards evening.