Novotel Queenstown Shines a Light on Diwali Festival

Novotel Queenstown Shines a Light on Diwali Festival

Novotel Queenstown Lakeside to welcome Indian visitors with special Hindu New Year offerings

25 October 2013 - Indian travellers celebrating the Diwali Hindu New Year in Queenstown are set to receive a warm welcome at Novotel Queenstown Lakeside celebrating the festival of lights.

The five day celebration will light up from Sunday 3rd November at Accor’s accredited hotel in Optimum Service Standards for Indian visitation – Novotel Queenstown Lakeside.

The hotel’s lobby and restaurant will be decorated with stylish arrangements of candles and Rangoli motifs, and special offerings of traditional Indian sweets, such as Rava Laddoo, Gajar ka halwa and Besan ladoo will be offered to guests during breakfast time.

To recognise the importance of the festival in the Indian community, guests will receive a personalised welcome card from the general manager, Jim Moore as well as a small platter of Indian sweets.

To date, 12 of Accor’s hotels in the Pacific region have been accredited to provide Optimum Service Standards for Indian guests, paving the way for Accor to better cater to the specific cultural needs and growing number of Indian travellers.

“Accor is the first hotel group in New Zealand and Australia to introduce these service standards, which enable accredited hotels to meet the high service expectations of Indian guests year-round,” said Accor Vice President New Zealand & Fiji, Garth Simmons.

“Last year we experienced a 43% growth in room nights from the Indian market with a number of large groups staying with us at Novotel Queenstown. We are on track to match the same number of rooms as in 2012 and expect Indian visitor numbers to increase further by the end of 2013.”

“While there are currently no direct flights between New Zealand and India, we believe that numbers would increase significantly if this barrier could be removed,” concluded Mr Simmons.

Novotel Queenstown Lakeside has adopted hotel services to meet the needs of growing numbers of Indian visitor arrivals including the translation of hotel welcome kits, menus and business cards, Indian meals in the restaurant, Indian adaptor plugs, TV channels and newspapers to make guests from India feel at home.

In addition, regular training and education programs are held for hotel staff to learn basic Indian greetings and cultural practices so they can better understand and respectfully serve these guests.

With the Indian inbound market representing one of the greatest growth opportunities, the Accor hotel group is looking to boost the number of accredited hotels in the Pacific region from 12 to over 20 by 2014.

ENDS

© Scoop Media