Just seven months after The Carlin Hotel opened, CEO Kevin Carlin’s thrilled with the awards and five-star reviews his Queenstown development’s garnered.
What he’s called New Zealand’s first six-star hotel has received 11 accolades, he says — ‘‘I wasn’t expecting anything in the first six/seven months, so to be recognised is really appreciated’’.
Last month, it was named ‘World’s Best New Hotel’ in the World Boutique Hotel Awards, along with ‘Best Hotel with a View: Australasia’.
Carlin says someone from the European organisation behind the awards stayed two nights and ‘‘looked under the bonnet’’.
‘‘They even looked at how we presented the stationery in the desk drawers — I mean, who writes letters any more?’’
TIME magazine, in labelling Queenstown one of the world’s 50 most desirable destinations, made mention of only one hotel, The Carlin.
When New Zealand’s Viva magazine listed New Zealand’s top-10 restaurants, The Carlin’s Oro was the only local one to make the cut.
Carlin’s particularly proud the hotel was invited into the exclusive Small Luxury Hotels of the World network, just four months after opening — ‘‘they usually make you wait a year or two’’.
He believes attention to detail, location and views, design, freshness and the standard of the restaurant have contributed to the accolades.
He has 38 staff and would open Oro seven days a week if he had two or three more wait staff, he says.
‘‘We have a strong kitchen staff of 10 chefs, three with Michelin Star experience — I hear of places struggling to get one.
‘‘We expect a lot but we pay a lot — everyone’s paid more than their prior job.’’
He runs a rewards programme with an overseas holiday for two given to his ‘employee of the year’.
Carlin says rewards he staff regularly, and promotes rapidly — ‘‘we’ve had a gentleman go from chauffeur to front office manager to operations manager in nine months’’.
