Local hero celebrated

Media release from Crowne Plaza Queenstown
27 April 2009

Local hero celebrated

Staff of a Queenstown hotel are celebrating a ‘certified hero’ in their midst, after a colleague was officially acknowledged for his outstanding contribution to the workplace and the community.

Crowne Plaza Queenstown’s Leisure Concierge Nathan Wise has been awarded IHG’s (InterContinental Hotels Group) Our Hero Award for being an extraordinary employee and a champion of the community.

IHG’s hero initiative, created in 2006, is a quarterly recognition programme. Only four employees from IHG’s Asia Pacific division, which employs over 65,000 staff, were awarded the hero honour in this latest round.

Brett Wilson, Crowne Plaza Queenstown General Manager, said Nathan was a typical “all round genuine good guy” and the ideal role model.

“Nathan’s innate energy, focus and competitiveness are well balanced with his natural charity, charm and humility. It’s these qualities that have helped him achieve business success for the hotel and make a significant contribution to the wider business community,’ he said.

“He has an amazing affinity with our guests and his professionalism enhances their experience of our hotel and Queenstown.”

Mr Wilson said Nathan’s enthusiasm for Queenstown positively impacted numerous activity businesses in the Wakatipu Basin, and said it was “little surprise” that these operators held him in high regard.

Originally from Sydney, Nathan has over seven years’ frontline hospitality experience, and has been a member of the Crowne Plaza Queenstown team for five years.

Nathan was typically humble when asked about his achievement.

“I love my job and living in Queenstown so it’s easy to get inspired. I’m also surrounded by likeminded people so that helps with getting a lot of my ‘blue sky’ ideas off the ground,” he laughed.

Last year Nathan was accepted into the prestigious Hotel Concierge Society Les Clef d’Or New Zealand. He is only the third Queenstown Concierge to be bestowed this world-recognised accolade, and is now one of the southernmost professional Concierges in the world.

Nathan’s passion for life has extended to a number of community projects.

His latest project, which has gained the support of the Crowne Plaza Queenstown management team, is the present danger of didymo infestation to Lake Wakatipu. The hotel is now in discussions with government authorities to investigate the feasibility of supporting more boat cleaning stations on the lake.

Nathan’s fundraising activities to date have helped raise money for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Society of New Zealand and victims of the 2004 tsunami in South East Asia.

ENDS

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