Preno on Tour: Connecting with Christchurch hoteliers

Creating connections, sharing insights & exchanging stories with hoteliers & tourism experts

Last month, we travelled to Christchurch, where we hosted our first ‘Preno on Tour’ event – a networking event for hoteliers and tourism professionals.

A variety of local Canterbury hotel owners attended, as well as some from neighbouring areas such as Kaikoura. We also had a special guest speaker; Julia Hunt, from ChristchurchNZ.

Creating connections

Hosted at one of our lovely customer properties – Hotel Montreal – Preno on Tour was a personal get together, designed to make connections, share learnings and provide a space for open and honest discussions.

It was lovely to meet hoteliers from all over Canterbury, as well as reconnect with our customers. Not only this, we were stoked to see Christchurch properties collaborating, and hear from hoteliers about their challenges with navigating the lack of international tourists, since covid-19.

Sharing insights

Over drinks and nibbles, we spoke with attendees about the spikes and pitfalls that have occurred over the past months, since covid-19 hit the industry. 

ChristchurchNZ: the future at a glance

From ChristchurchNZ, special guest speaker Julia spoke of the strategies the community are implementing to encourage domestic travel. It was great to see innovative techniques and a positive future for hospitality and tourism operators of the region.

ChristchurchNZ are following a ‘Respond, Recover, Reposition’ approach, and the region is already showing positive results. With new sustainable practices, support for tourism businesses and a focus on confidence and recovery, the city is demonstrating great resilience. 

Preno customers: remarkable recoveries 

With the help of STR data, we also shared remarkable data around our customers’ resilience to and results of bouncing back since the beginning of covid-19 (particularly in the New Zealand and Australia communities). 

The data shows a “v-shaped recovery”. We can see that for many properties, occupancy rates have returned to normal (pre-covid-19), and for some properties, occupancy rates have even grown. 

Local support: domestic tourism trending 

Speaking with hotel owners face-to-face was insightful, as it enabled us to reflect on and align customer perspectives with the data. We saw a lot of nodding heads when we shared the data which showed Preno customers were bouncing back faster than the average hotel in New Zealand. Hotelier rooms are filling up, and it’s encouraging to see. 

The global shift to domestic tourism has enabled hoteliers to not only survive, but in many cases; thrive. People have become supportive of local businesses, providing business to our customers and other tourism providers in the industry.

Exchanging stories

During Preno on Tour, we heard from hoteliers how their properties were individually impacted, and the stepping stones they implemented to bounce back. 

We also shared updates on Preno functionality, and heard valuable feedback from some of our customers. It was special to hear that we have been able to make a difference to simplifying hotel processes, and relieve a little stress during these unsteady times. 

But more than this, we were stoked to meet with and celebrate our customers amazing bounce back and rise of occupancy rates, despite the pandemic we find ourselves in. 

Preno on Tour: quote of the night 

The quote of the night came from Chris, owner of Camelot Motor Lodge – in response to the question “what is it like to use Preno?”, he answered “If I can use it, anyone can. It’s just that simple to use.”

Looking forward: Preno on Tour

A delightful evening & the first of our new series of hotelier networking events

Our first Preno on Tour event was a success, and we can’t wait to travel to more unique and interesting regions to connect with hoteliers and tourism professionals.

At Preno, we make things simpler so you can run your hotel without stress.

Try a Preno trial, or speak with the team about getting set up.

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