Sustainability

Economic Sustainability

We have developed a 3-5 year planning horizon for our hospitality and visitor-focused businesses in Clyde, with financial targets, budgeting and identification of capital investment. We undertake regular preventative maintenance to our heritage buildings, to refresh and upgrade our visitor offerings (rooms, ensuites, common areas).

We annually undertake a detailed market analysis of our region and industry, recognising the significant changes to the tourism market and sought-after visitor experiences. Covid pandemic increased market volatility and changed the view of market-risk within hospitality – staff shortages still exist, reducing our ability to provide some elements of our offer.

We manage the business against targeted KPIs – financial, sales, customer satisfaction and feedback, health & safety, and agent feedback.

We review our Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats (SWOT) of our business plan, discussing and sharing this with key staff and identifying opportunities/threats and how we can improve the business.

Visitor Sustainability in Central Otago

We encourage reviews from our Otago accommodation guests and hospitality customers, including in-room feedback forms, TripAdvisor cards handed out, on-line reviews. 

We monitor and assess areas requiring focus and improvement and work to ensure that our offerings stand out and provide ‘added value’ to our guests.

We have developed collaborative approaches with some key sector partner-operators, creating greater synergy. These include multi-night cycling packages and cycle/wine touring with cycle operators, wine tasting packages, sight-seeing packages, and short-stay and events packages - targeting executive retreats, conferences and incentives.

Host Community Sustainability

Throughout the restoration of the Olivers complex, local trades were used including building, plumbing, electrical and architectural companies. Electrical goods, soft furnishings, carpet and hardware were all bought from local supplies when possible.

The local history is shared with our guests both verbally and via specifically prepared books. We refer guests to restaurants, other accommodation providers and retail outlets when we can’t meet their needs. We discuss ideas and share experiences with other tourism operators in the area.

We are active in our local community, spending time on various boards and communities. David is currently chairperson of the Central Otago Heritage Trust. He is also a trustee of the Alexandra Riverside Trust. He was a founding member of the Central Otago Tourism Advisory Board and is the past chairperson of the St Michaels and All Angels Church Charitable Trust and Historic Clyde Inc. David is a regular speaker to community and educational groups. Andy is the chairperson of Clyde Historic Museum Inc, a trustee of the Central Otago Museum Trust and has contributed to the Central Otago Oral History Group.

The Olivers front garden is used regularly throughout the year for various community events.

We are delighted to sponsor and contribute to many local causes covering community, arts, sports, environment and culture, as well as fundraisers for health-related projects, the local fire brigade and SPCA.

Heritage Sustainability and Conservation

We are committed to authentically restoring our beautiful stone buildings while creating a sustainable revenue to ensure their future preservation and protection.

A highly detailed Conservation Plan, for all the Olivers buildings, has been produced that covers all methodology, history, archaeological values and the development approach for what we have undertaken. All the restoration has been completed in close consultation with Heritage New Zealand, conservation architects, engineers and the local council.

We regularly open our property to the general public and are always happy to show people through, and talk about the heritage of, the property.

Environmental Sustainability in Central Otago

We contribute to local community and environmental projects, including the buying of native plants and the restoration of native vegetation along the Clutha/Mata-au River below Clyde. Guests are invited to contribute to the project by making donations.

We also contribute a significant sum yearly to the local Haehaeata Natural Heritage Trust, a community native tree and plant project that has a plant nursery at the Clyde railhead.

The culture of sustainability runs through all of our business operations. We encourage all staff and our guests to separate recycling rubbish from the rest, and food scraps are composted on our local orchard.

All cleaning products are re-filled from bulk into dispensers, rather than using one-off disposable packaging and in our accommodation Forest&Bird products are used which contribute a percentage of money back to Forest&Bird environment projects.

To conserve water in our gardens and lawns, we use over-night sprinkler systems that are on timers and drip-irrigation systems. Dual-flush toilets, modern efficient shower-heads and regular plumbing maintenance is standard policy.

Our boiler systems are regularly checked and have been replaced with more efficient ones in the past few years. Our heritage buildings are well insulated and most windows double-glazed.