"I'm excited that we have re-emerged from Covid. The hotel is really well positioned when benchmarked against pre-covid performance, so we've sprung back faster in many ways, than we anticipated."
Kent Breeze - Rydges Rotorua
“People like Bidfood tell me that their number of employees is a result of us purchasing from them, so there’s a knock-on effect there,” says Kent Breeze, general manager of Rydges Rotorua.
Kent says he’s 100 percent optimistic about the future of Rotorua.
“You don’t have to be a genius to look around Rotorua at Easter and see the busyness – the place was humming, it was amazing. There were people everywhere, all the accommodation rooms were full, and the attractions and activities were busy. I drove past Skyline and their parking lot was packed.”
In July last year, Holiday Inn rebranded and became Rydges Rotorua. Kent was overseeing the refurbishments of the hotel, while working to get his staffing up to pre-Covid levels (he’s nearly there, just needs 6-8 more people) and focusing on upskilling his managers. He has also joined the Rotorua Housing Accord committee to work toward building a better housing and urban future for Rotorua.
"I'm excited that we have re-emerged from Covid. The hotel is really well positioned when benchmarked against pre-covid performance, so we've sprung back faster in many ways, than we anticipated."
Kent says the biggest challenge of the last 12 months was that bounce-back period post-pandemic.
“We knew that the business would get busier but we didn’t know exactly when it would get busier. You have to have more revenue than costs, so you can’t just go and get 100 extra staff in and then wait until you get busy, so there was the question of how to anticipate all of that. November onwards has been significantly busier, especially since January, which has been great, but it’s had its growing pains as well. It’s a positive challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.
“Because the business is so strong, we were able to engage our owners in a conversation about extending the refurbishments (that took place during Covid), which we’ve just started. It’s great to see investment coming in and it gives people confidence about the future.
“We’re doing a whole lot of work on development for middle management. We’ve got a number of middle managers including Housekeeping, Food and Beverage, Front Office, and Kitchen teams on some external leadership development – all organised by our parent company EVT. Some are getting certification. That’s something that is needed in the industry, developing that middle management capability."
Besides investing in the building and staff, Rydges invests in the community by sponsoring Rotorua Trails Trust and Rotorua Mountain Bike Club First Response Unit in the forest.
The company also works continually to not increase its footprint. All hot water on the property is geothermally heated, they have several recycling programmes, zero plastic water bottles, a water fountain for guests to refill their water bottles, and carafes and glasses in the guest rooms.
