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March, 2023 NZSki bosses say its time to act on staff housing, buying up acentral Queenstown hostel to house up to 80 skifield workers from this winter. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson yesterday confirmed the skifield operators just gone unconditional on the purchase of a CBD hostel, for an undisclosed sum, to be used for staff accommodation. Sir Cedrics Tahuna Pod Hostel, on Henry Street, currently has capacity for up to 72 people, but Anderson says once they take possession on May 1 they plan to renovate to create room for another eight people. Additionally, NZSkis got consent for a staff apartment development in Fryer St where the company already owns five houses, with capacity for up to 20 staff which will house up to 40 more. Anderson says theyre finalising the plans for that development at the moment, but hope to have stage one completed by the start of next winter. People say its always been tough to come to Queenstown and find accommodation, but without doubt over the last two to five years its got harder and harder and harder, he says. Its time to act and Im thrilled to be able to provide it. The move to purchase the hostel, which will be managed, comes after NZSki last year leased the former YHA building, on Shotover St, which housed about 60 staff for the season. Thats subsequently been leased by the company that owns Novotel and Fernhills Kamana Lakehouse, also being used for staff accommodation. But Anderson says the company saw the difference in having that accommodation available in the CBD, a stones throw from its own bus transport. We just really want to be doing our bit to help that market. We cant provide it for all staff, but its a big chunk. This year, Anderson says about 1000 people will be employed by NZSki across its Queenstown operations, though he notes not all of those people are looking for housing. He estimates about 500 of those people are already living in Queenstown, and about 250 others are returnees, who have digs lined up. Last week, Scene reported Arrowtown-based regional economist Benje Patterson had researched the case of the disappearing rentals, and found in the 12 months to last November, 100 rentals had dropped out of the Queenstown-Lakes market and another 30 were missing last December. You talk to any employer in town at the moment, everyones saying how tough it is to find accommodation for staff, so we just wanted to step up and make sure we can provide it, Anderson says. He notes, though, theyll still be looking for locals willing to earn a bit of money over winter and accommodate an NZSki worker or two, if they can, something the companys been doing for several seasons now. Its actually really good for a lot of our staff to go and be with a family & usually weve got between 60 and 100 families who [have rooms], so we still want to support that. Asked what NZSkis new hostel will be used for during the summer months, Anderson says theyve got a wee bit of thinking to do. It may still operate as a hostel in the summer months & but there may be other employers who want to take a summer lease on it. Well work through those options in the coming months. Meantime, NZSki has no plans to follow the lead of RealNZ and reduce capacity on its skifields. This week, Cardrona and Treble Cone Experiences GM Laura Hedley announced theyre aiming to reduce the number of skiers and boarders on the mountain by about 1000 on the busiest days, compared to peak days between 2020 and 2022. While theyll sell the same number of season and earlybird multi- day passes, in-season single day and muliti-day passes will be limited. Once daily capacitys reached, therell be no more day passes available. Anderson says thats likely to see increased demand for Coronet Peak and The Remarkables on the busiest days of the year, but weve got no intentions to follow suit. We do end up having to control access on our mountains from time-to-time when its a bluebird powder day, everyone wants to ski. People love being able to go, its a great day, Im going up the mountain. We dont want to take that flexibility away from locals, particularly. He says NZSkis spent tens of millions over the past decade on lift infrastructure, which has worked well to keep queues on the mountains down, as long as people can get up. Most locals, particularly, know that if its a weekend day in the school holidays, you need to get up there early. Source: Mountain Scene
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