Hospitality bursting at seams

Paul Croucher

Rotorua is filling up fast for Easter Weekend, on the back of a bumper Crankworx weekend for local bars, eateries and accommodation providers.

Rotorua Association of Motels president and Pohutu Lodge owner Barry Mabey said accommodation would be hard to find this weekend.

"Everyone is looking very full. There was a bit of a lull before Easter, but it will be huge.

"It's just been a continuation from Crankworx, and the weekends after Easter are starting to fill up.

"School holidays are coming up too so the domestic market should be reasonably strong, but to be honest I have been too busy to stop and have a look around at whether the guests are national or international."

Brew Bar co-owner Paul Croucher was expecting a busy Easter, after a huge Crankworx for Eat Streat businesses.

"In Crankworx we got a hiding, basically. It's very exciting but it was certainly beyond our expectations. I don't know if I am getting older and more cynical but we keep getting heaps of events and they are not as significant as we were led to believe but Crankworx was above and beyond.

"We had a record day on Saturday and we were so busy we just had to close because it was getting pretty tough for our staff to keep up. We were really happy about it but hey look if it's too busy, our staff are getting a bit rattled - time to close."

He said there were many opportunities for next year's event.

"The relationship between the bar, the council and the police is so strong and so if everyone is saying 'hey look, we've got some concerns' or 'hey look, we've got an opportunity' everyone is interested in making things look better in terms of making an exciting hospitality industry.

"Rotorua's very vibrant and really it's just increasingly vibrant."

Capers Cafe and Pig & Whistle owner Gregg Brown said his establishments were busy, but did not break any records. "During Crankworx it was really busy, it was a great vibe. It met our expectations - we thought it was going to be busy and it was."

He said he had been prepared for how busy it would be, because he had attended Crankworx in Whistler.

Meanwhile, the NZ Transport Agency is advising those travelling this weekend to plan ahead to avoid joining the holiday traffic queues.

Easter 2015 coincides with the start of the school holidays and traffic is expected to be heavy from 3pm today.

Regional performance manager, Karen Boyt, said checking www.nzta.govt.nz before packing up the car can help people plan ahead and choose the best routes and times to travel to reduce delays and stress.