Staff sickness bites while visitors surge
Tourism bosses are washing dishes, making beds and renting skis to customers as they battle critical staff shortages amid a surge in Australian visitors.
Mark Rose, chief executive of The Rees Hotel in Queenstown, is doing shifts in the kitchen most days of the week and, like most of his executive staff, has been helping strip beds and do housekeeping duties.
‘‘I started out washing dishes when I was 13, and I am back washing dishes in my 60s,’’ he said.
NZ Ski chief executive Paul Anderson spent yesterday morning working in the rentals department at Mt Hutt skifield due to six staff suffering from Covid-19 or isolating.
There were 20-minute delays in guest services at the mountain due to staff shortages and restricted options for food and drink.
Some people were waiting up to an hour, according to reports on social media, but Anderson was unaware of that, saying they might have arrived at peak time and got caught behind someone taking a long time.
Anderson said the company had employed more staff than usual across its three mountains (1350 compared to 1250 in previous years) to allow for anticipated sickness.
Ski businesses often suffered a ‘‘double whammy’’ when staff with Covid-19 were living with other workers who were then required to isolate.
This week, the first of the New South Wales school holidays, was busy, and next week was expected to be even more so as the New Zealand school holidays start.
Such a time was always busy, Anderson said, but this year was more challenging.
‘‘It’s the amount of juggling we have to do because we don’t know where our shortages will be on any one day.’’
In Queenstown there were long queues for buses to Coronet Peak and The Remarkables yesterday morning.
NZ Ski has 29 buses and shuttles operating in Queenstown, and all were operating working yesterday, taking over 2000 people to the mountains, Anderson said.
Five buses were leased because of expectations more people would want to travel by bus due to rental car shortages.
Anderson said this was ‘‘the new normal’’, saying it was a ‘‘good thing for the planet’’.
In Queenstown, Rose said he could not get enough staff, with workers contracting Covid-19 or having to isolate.
Last week 15% of housekeepers were off with Covid, and three out of seven chefs.
‘‘I’m probably better off than most, but we’re just having real trouble getting staff even at the high rates we pay. There really isn’t anybody around.’’
He had only opened 80% of the hotel and expected to operate at between 70% and 80% over the next three months.
Rooms were serviced daily, but guests were offered the opportunity to forgo that in exchange for the hotel planting a native tree, he said.
The staff shortage is hitting across the country.
Queenstown Lakes mayor Jim Boult said the main cause was the
lack of migrant workers due to border closures.
Erica Stanford, National’s immigration spokesperson, said there were fewer than 5% of the working holidaymakers in New Zealand that would have been here in preCovid times.
‘‘We barely have any international students, and the essential skills category doesn’t open to applications until tomorrow.’’
In Wā naka, Trout restaurant manager Toni Fox was operating with two chefs instead of the usual four.
‘‘We are advertising everywhere, but nobody is coming in off the streets. We used to get backpackers coming in handing in their CVs and now nothing.
‘‘There are so many people arriving in town, and we are turning away customers every day.’’
Hospitality NZ has found the average hourly rate in the industry has risen by 8.9% since last year, while the average salary has risen by 10.5%.