Wealthy foreign tourists ‘eager to get on their private jets,’ says struggling Queenstown operator

Wealthy foreign tourists are eager to return to Queenstown, but the wait has caused a high-end accommodation provider to cut down almost all of its staff.

Queenstown-based Touch of Spice has been in business for 15 years, building a portfolio of hundreds of properties in New Zealand offering luxury stays on behalf of owners.

CEO and founder Jacqui Spice said the company had gone from strength to strength prior to Covid-19 and had built a team of 22 full-time employees.

She was “devastated and went through all stages of grief” after the pandemic halted her thriving business and she was forced to lay off all but four employees.

A company restructuring led to it handing over control of almost all properties to Amazing Accom, an international online booking agent owned by a Queenstown resident.

Spice said it would now focus on 15 “residences and mega villas,” which it began managing four years ago after noticing a gap in the market.

“I could see it happening for years. We were getting more and more high net worth clients willing to spend more on a large villa than on a hotel or hostel.”

Stays in these luxurious homes ranged from $ 3,000 per night to $ 38,000 per night, with the most expensive being Lodge at The Hills in Arrowtown, and Spice was confident that the demand would exist once the border was reopened.

“I think they’re ready to get on their private jets and get down here as fast as they can.”

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said recently that the government wanted to target wealthy tourists rather than freedom campers and backpackers.

Spice said all tourism was important, but that his clients often spent a lot of money on helicopter tours, heli-skiing, art, interior design and more while visiting the resort.

Imperium Luxury Collection CEO James Cavanagh, who oversees the high-end Eichardt’s and Spire hotels in Queenstown, said targeting the wealthiest tourists was the right approach.

He said he would combat the reduction in tourist numbers, the desire to travel in smaller groups and the inability to hire enough staff.

“Fewer people in New Zealand are probably better in the long run so we need to figure out how to get the same income from a smaller market.”

He said Imperium agents worked in the United States and Australia had reported that “their clients’ appetite for traveling to New Zealand is through the roof.”

Cavanagh said that although staffing levels were lowered from 100 to about 65, the company would look to recruit in full force when the transtasman bubble opened.

“We have 14 rooms here and we have more staff here than a 200-bed hotel later on, because the level of service employs a lot more people.”

He believed that some wealthy clients would be willing to pay quarantine to stay in New Zealand and suggested that this could be proven as a soft opening of the borders.