For an impressive third year running The Rees Hotel Queenstown has won ‘Best New Zealand Hotel’ at the prestigious 2019 HM Awards for Hotel and Accommodation Excellence held in Sydney on Friday night. This cements the property’s reputation as a consistently world-class hotel. The Rees was recognised in two other major categories with the hotel’s PR, Caroline Davidson, winning ‘Communications Associate’ and GM Mark Rose being Highly Commended in ‘New Zealand General Manager’ in front of nearly 1000 industry professionals and competing with elite finalists in each category.
The Rees Hotel was also the only New Zealand hotel finalist in the prestigious ‘Australasian Hotel of the Year’ category. This comes after a whirlwind year of new hotel initiatives including strong community and eco support programs, other international awards and exclusive culinary events.
The HM Awards are in their 17th year and are the leading Awards for the accommodation industry in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. The Awards were held at the ICC in Sydney and celebrate the best properties, departments, people, chains and brands. Most of the nearly fifty categories saw over fifty nominees with finalists and winners decided by a judging panel of industry professionals and travel media. The Rees was nominated as a finalist in five categories: ‘New Zealand Hotel’ (won twice previously in 2018 and 2017); ‘New Zealand General Manager’ (won previously by Mark Rose in 2015); ‘Hotel Chef’ (won previously by Ben Batterbury in 2017); ‘Communications Associate’ (Caroline Davidson) and ‘Australasian Hotel of the Year’.
General Manager/CEO Mark Rose and Director of Operations Roman Lee-Lo have been responsible for The Rees Hotel’s continued success and impressive growth since its opening in 2009. The marketing of the five new luxury Lakeside Rees Residences has been a major focus along with initiatives including a silent auction for a victim of the Christchurch mosque shootings, the ‘Rees Bees’ apiary eco initiative and the Kea conservation endangered species program. Mark Rose also pioneered the increase of the hotel’s minimum starting wage to well above the national minimum, again showing leadership in the industry. The Rees’ support for the environment and community and its sustainable business practices are a cornerstone of the Hotel’s ethos. This mindset, along with the delivery of a consistent and exceptional level of service and hospitality at The Rees, conistently make it one of the top luxury Queenstown accommodation providers.
Mark Rose spoke of the Hotel’s joint win for ‘New Zealand Hotel’ (with Sofitel Auckland Viaduct), “We are honoured and delighted to receive this Award for the third time and congratulate the Sofitel. I take great pride in managing The Rees Hotel Queenstown; winning this Award and the High Commendation for ‘NZ General Manager’ category makes it all the more worthwhile”.
“These Awards recognise the hard work our team puts in daily to make sure our guests have an exceptional time when they stay with us and our commitment to the wider community and environment, ” Rose continued. “We are truly lucky to have such dedicated, professional and friendly staff who make each facet of the hotel experience one guests will remember and enjoy. Awards are a great reminder that we are maintaining an outstanding level of excellence.”
Caroline Davidson, who won the ‘Best Communications Associate’ Award (with Catarina Spanit of QT Melbourne) excels in providing public relations and destination management services for international clients and has represented The Rees Hotel Queenstown for over 7 years through her company Davidson Communications. Her experience and passion for the Hotel have helped it gain a conistently high presence in Australia and overseas with the help of Sarah Sparks from Markom who handles The Rees’ New Zealand PR, and her excellent team at Davidson Communications. She says on winning the Award, “I am thrilled to accept such a distinguished Award in such elite company and to be reocginsed by an industry I have worked in and loved for so many years. Working with a client of the consistent quality as The Rees Hotel is a privilege and the fabulous team there and at Davidson Communications have made this possible. To see the hotel win again makes us so proud and to be recognised individually is the cherry on top.”
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