How luxury lodge Wharekauhau Country Estate kept going during lockdown
24 Dec, 2020 04:00 PM
6 minutes to read
One of New Zealand s most luxurious lodges halved room rates and redeployed staff to vineyards owned by an associated NZX listed business during the national lockdown. Richard Rooney, general manager of South Wairarapa s Wharekauhau Country Estate, told how covid and the alert level 4 sank lodge bookings earlier this year so an alternative plan was swung into action to save staff jobs. I really want to emphasise that we managed to keep all our staff. Not only that but we actually hired more people as domestic demand outstripped our expectations, Rooney said.