New Zealand’s awards ecosystem is broad by design: critic hats, peer-voted city nights, winter festivals, beverage medals, national bake-offs, coffee championships, design accolades and hotel honours. This guide maps the whole lot—what each celebrates and how the pieces connect, so operators, diners and partners can see the full picture of prestige in Aotearoa.

The definitive 2025 ranking of Auckland’s largest hotels (280+ rooms). See room counts, 25 m pools, executive lounges, meeting space, and precinct links to NZICC/SkyCity—who can hold rate midweek and why it matters: Cordis, Grand Millennium, JW Marriott, Horizon, Pullman & more.

Hamilton in 2025 is a city of formats: Palate’s live-fire fine dining, The Green’s eight-seat chef’s table, Gothenburg’s river-light tapas, Mr Pickles’ laneway boards and cocktails, Hayes Common’s neighbourhood backbone, Banh Mi Caphe’s family-recipe Vietnamese, Chim-Choo-Ree’s brick-and-beam occasion dining, and Thyme Square’s BYO-Tuesday villa. This guide tells you where to sit, what to order, and why these rooms matter now.

Since 2019, Kiwi diners are paying ~33% more while hospo wages climbed ~30%. Ingredients, power and rent rose too—but slower on average. We stack NZ CPI, QES and PPI to decode the margin gap, then lay out the Monday moves: micro-pricing, labour design, GP engineering and lease tactics.

AI is compressing the travel funnel. This NZ-focused guide shows hotels how to win direct bookings against OTAs using Google AI Overviews & metasearch, member-only rates, cancellation parity, and wallet payments—turning rented demand into owned guests.

Thinking of a dynamic career in hospitality? New Zealand in 2025 presents a landscape ripe with opportunity, yet choosing the right educational path can be daunting. 'The Hospitality Pulse' offers an unparalleled deep-dive into Aotearoa's five premier hospitality training institutions: the immersive hotel environment of PIHMS; the travel and tourism-focused NZST; the culinary and wine artistry hub of NZSFW; the community-integrated practical training at WelTec (Te Pūkenga); and the career-accelerating pathways of NZMA.

April 2025 is proving a pivotal month for NZ hospitality. The industry roadmap gains serious traction, a significant $13.5M tourism marketing blitz is launched to attract global visitors, and the hotel sector sees a dynamic surge in investment and new brand arrivals. Get the full round-up of these transformative developments and more.

The 65-page "Serving Success" report from the NZ Hospitality Summit is packed with insights. But what truly matters? We cut through the noise to deliver the actionable takeaways you need to know. Your insider's briefing on the future of NZ hospitality starts here.

Walk down any main street, through any food court, or past the bustling waterfront eateries in New Zealand, and you get a sense of the energy in our hospitality sector. But beneath the surface buzz, especially after the whirlwind of the last few years, there are some serious strategic shifts happening. Big players are making big moves – acquiring, merging, restructuring – and their decisions ripple right through the industry, impacting everything from supplier contracts and staff opportunities down to the menu choices we see as customers. For anyone working in hospo, or even just passionate about our food and drink scene, understanding who these major operators are and how they function is more important than ever... Let's do a proper deep dive into five of the most influential hospitality operators shaping Aotearoa right now: Restaurant Brands NZ, Compass Group NZ, Star Hospitality Group, Good Group Hospitality, and Foley Hospitality. This isn't just about listing facts; it's about understanding the engines driving a huge part of our industry.

It’s hard to imagine now, looking at the cheerful bustle of the Green Dragon Inn, that this patch of Waikato earth was once quiet sheep country. Yet, Hobbiton's $2.6 billion economic ripple effect is just one facet of New Zealand's masterclass in screen tourism. This isn't just about stunning scenery landing movie deals; it's a story of decades of deliberate strategy – encompassing government rebates like the NZSPR explicitly tied to tourism benefits, savvy global marketing pivots from '100% Middle-earth' to 'If You Seek', deep fan engagement that fuels premium spending and crucial infrastructure development Dive into the specific data, understand the policy mechanics, and see how this potent ecosystem continues to reshape NZ's hospitality landscape, offering powerful lessons for the industry worldwide.

Dive deep into the world of New Zealand's ghost kitchens. We explore how these delivery-only operations sprung up, from the first ventures like Hot Lips to the cautionary tales like Burgered. Understand the economics, the reliance on delivery platforms, and what it all means for the future of NZ hospitality.

Cut through the noise with our essential roundup. We cover Auckland's contentious bed tax, Duck Donuts' confirmed NZ entry, the landmark $180M InterContinental sale, Gastropub awards, TNZ's India strategy, and other critical policy shifts impacting the New Zealand hospitality industry.

Saying goodbye is never easy in hospo. Join us as we raise a glass to the NZ restaurants farewelled in 2024, focusing on the stories from Auckland, Wellington & Queenstown.

Feel the buzz? Auckland's hospo scene is crackling with exciting new openings for 2025! Dive into our guide to the must-try restaurants, cafes & bars making waves.

Stepping into hospitality in New Zealand is like joining a never-ending dance with volatility—one moment you’re riding a tidal wave of tourist demand, and the next you’re wrestling with soaring operational costs, compliance headaches, or a sudden downturn. In this candid exploration, I draw on real frontline experience to shed light on how SkyCity, Restaurant Brands, and Millennium & Copthorne each tackle the punishing highs and lows of Kiwi tourism. Strap in for an insider’s perspective that slices through the usual PR fluff, revealing what truly makes these top industry players tick—and where they might stumble—amid New Zealand’s ever-shifting hospitality landscape.

In two and a half decades, Auckland’s hotel scene has soared on Cup fever, crashed in crises, built record rooms, then fought to survive a pandemic. Discover how the city keeps reinventing itself—and what lies ahead.

Think your favorite NZ wine comes from a small vineyard? Think again. Meet the three companies shaping New Zealand’s wine industry.From boutique labels to global exports, NZ wine is big business. Discover the three powerhouse companies dominating the industry.

From critical visa reforms and bold tourism campaigns to promising revenue growth, February 2025 gave New Zealand’s hospitality industry plenty to celebrate. Here’s why this matters for your hospo business.

Explore the future of Kiwi dining as young chefs blend local treasures with global techniques, turning tradition into tomorrow’s culinary art.

Ever wonder why bed taxes and premium tourist campaigns keep popping up in headlines? Meet the people behind it all—from Dr. Lockwood Smith’s whirlwind funding grants to Louise Upston’s ‘Everyone Must Go’ push—and see how 26 years of leadership transformed our tourism identity.