Visitors enjoy the warm water at Athenree Hot Springs and Holiday Park. Photo \/ Shaquille Coulter<\/p>\n
Church said: \u201cIt is gratifying that the hard work gets recognised; it is rewarding for the team, and it is humbling because there\u2019s so many people I know who\u2019ve put their heart and soul in their own businesses \u2026 in a way I almost feel guilty we\u2019ve stopped someone else from having this chance.\u201d <\/p>\n
Judges said it was Athenree\u2019s manaakitanga (hospitality, kindness, generosity, and mutual care) that stood out. <\/p>\n
\u201cHoliday parks are founded in connection with others, and this park goes beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Church and Rixon-Church met in Australia, moved to Athenree in 2011, and worked as geologists for the mining company.<\/p>\n
Church said they thought the Western Bay was a good place to raise a family. \u201cWe were always keeping an eye out for opportunities to become self-employed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Athenree Hot Springs and Holiday Park owners Peter Church and Belinda Rixon-Church their classic Kiwi offering, mixed lolly bags for sale. Photo \/ Merle Cave<\/p>\n
Church knew the former park owner. The family bought the business and were set to take over April 1, 2020. <\/p>\n
\u201cThree days prior, the country went into lockdown,\u201d Church said. \u201cSo yeah, bloody hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we\u2019d lost everything \u2013 because you didn\u2019t know how deep the hole was going to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The couple kept working at the mine while the former owner kept staff on to run the park via the Wage Subsidy Scheme. <\/p>\n
Customers included international tourists and campervanners stranded in Level 4. \u201cThere was a little community here during lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
The handover was delayed to May 28. The couple got the keys three days before Queen\u2019s Birthday \u2013 the first long weekend since the nationwide lockdown lifted to Alert Level 2 restrictions, where Kiwis, except for Aucklanders, could travel. <\/p>\n
They had 170 people on-site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was this tidal wave of people \u2013 everyone was free, and they came. They were sick of being cooped up,\u201d Church said. <\/p>\n
\u201dWe didn\u2019t quite know what we were doing, so it all just bumbled along and worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first few years were tough with Covid, \u201cbut it gave us little opportunities to reset and evaluate what was working\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe doubled the number of cabins, reduced the number of campsites \u2013 because more people want covered sites now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The park now has five self-contained units, seven cabins and about 100 campsites. These include 35 semi-permanent caravan sites.<\/p>\n
Rixon-Church said they view their visitors as \u201ckind of like family\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith semi-permanent on-site residents, they\u2019ve come here with their kids and now bring their grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visitors enjoy the warm water at Athenree Hot Springs and Holiday Park. Photo \/ Cassandra Sharp<\/p>\n
Church said one motor-homing couple had booked nearly 400 nights since they\u2019d owned the business. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey just keep coming back. People like this spread the word about us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple say their success is down to overcommitment but also \u201cwe\u2019re a bit obsessive and we kept going and now we don\u2019t know how not to\u201d. <\/p>\n
The couple are on-site daily but they say their \u201cgo-to third wheel\u201d is Jackie Roach, who runs the office. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t do it without her,\u201d Rixon-Church said. <\/p>\n
Church said the park had staff 15 part-timers, which included managers, housekeepers, pool cleaners and seasonal university students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole team is awesome \u2013 we are surrounded by really awesome people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roach said Church and Rixon-Church were supportive. \u201cThey are so good to their staff \u2013 they treat them more like family. If something happens, they go the extra mile.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple approach customers the same way, Roach said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of times they\u2019ve done something out of the box for a customer is incredible,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s probably why we\u2019ve won this award is because people are acknowledging that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campers taking time out at the holiday park. Photo \/ Cassandra Sharp<\/p>\n
The couple had also upgraded the park infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Recent developments included solar power, relining the hot pools, refreshing amenities, reflooring buildings, adding cabins, kerbing, drainage, and rewiring the park.<\/p>\n
Visitors\u2019 scrawlings on the shop wall hail back to 2020. Photo \/ Merle Cave<\/p>\n
Church said that pre-Covid the park attracted 800 people in winter and 18,000 a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn July we had 2400 \u2013 which is a three-fold increase from pre-Covid \u2013 and we\u2019re pushing towards 30,000 people this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing\u2019s perfect here; it\u2019s old-school authentic Kiwi holidaying \u2013 that\u2019s been the vision the whole way along.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s un-plugged, off-your-device fun. We give you enough data to let your family know you\u2019re alive. The rest of the time you have to switch off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visitors can go kayaking, visit the beach and float in the hot pools. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got plans for more to come \u2026 Watch this space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visitors enjoy the warm water at Athenree Hot Springs and Holiday Park. Photo \/ Shaquille Coulter Church said:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,276982,2346,138,189,51584,2454,111,139,69,8143,55600,30246,6202],"class_list":["post-563210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-and","tag-athenree","tag-award","tag-business","tag-holiday","tag-hot","tag-industry","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-park","tag-springs","tag-supreme","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}