Queenstown’s regional tourism organisation has a new home.
With its lease expiring on premises in the Brazz building, Destination Queenstown’s upped sticks to the second floor of The Mountaineer building.
DQ chief executive Mat Woods says the shift — to offices vacated by New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty — gives his 17-strong staff ‘‘a really nice open-plan office where we can actually have a communal space to work together’’.
‘‘And we’ve also gained extra meeting areas.’’
DQ’s five new meeting areas include a boardroom and a large room which can accommodate up to 80 people theatre-style — or for workshopping with member businesses.
‘‘We won’t have to go out and hire as many meeting spaces — we will be here,’’ Woods says.
He adds he likes the new location in the heart of the CBD, and in a piece of Queenstown history, to boot.
‘‘You notice, as soon as you walk out the door, you’re actually right in the CBD with the [inlaid] pounamu in Rees St, which is pretty cool.’’
In the corner room overlooking Shotover St, ‘‘you’re looking straight down Fergburger [whose queue sizes are a good indicator of how busy town is], so you get a real pulse and vibe of what’s happening on any given day’’.
‘‘And it feels like a place we can welcome guests to and be proud of it and show Queenstown for what it is.
‘‘It’s actually 15 square metres smaller than the old building but it feels like it has a lot more usable space.’’
Rent’s comparable to what DQ was paying before, Woods says.
He adds if they’d stayed in their former premises, ‘‘it actually needed a refit to make it sort of more fit for purpose or functional — and this one already had it’’.
Meeting rooms are being named after local rivers, while a feature wall uses native beech timber from wind-fallen trees on the West Coast.
