One of the big winners of the night was the Tuhoe owned Waikaremoana Holiday Park which scooped the prestigious ServiceIQ Holiday Park Visitor Experience Award.

Individual achievement was also rewarded when Jordan Boot from the Alpine Pacific Motels & Holiday Park won the ServiceIQ Best Visitor Experience Trainee Award.

What makes these two awards so special is that both winners have demonstrated a strong commitment to staff training and development for an even better business, and experience for visitors.

Derek and Petrina Brenchly manage the idyllic lakeside Waikaremoana Holiday Park, that was sensitively designed by architect John Scott in the 1970s to sit quietly amidst the splendid isolation of the Urewera mountains.

Waikaremoana Holiday Park

To ensure the iconic business upholds visitors’ expectations, Petrina attended ServiceIQ workshops in faraway Napier to qualify as an assessor, and today she is mentoring six staff on-job to gain skills, knowledge and the nationally recognised ServiceIQ New Zealand Certificate in Tourism (Visitor Experience) Level 3 qualification.

Meanwhile at stunning Kaikoura, trainee Jordan Boot has become something of an ambassador for the qualification by completing her training with flying colours, and inspiring other staff at the Alpine Pacific Motels & Holiday Park to upskill on the job.

Kaikoura Holiday Park

ServiceIQ CEO Dean Minchington says New Zealand’s high quality holiday parks play an important cultural role and need skilled staff to provide the ultimate Kiwi getaway for locals and visitors. 

“By investing in tourism training, great holiday parks not only provide quality accommodation in stunning locations, they also help holidaymakers return home with a trunkful of great memories,” says Dean.

“We are proud to support the hard working and committed people behind some of the country’s most outstanding and unique holiday parks. The rare pleasure they provide makes it worth visitors coming back year after year.”