HOUSE PROUD F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 6 I S S U E
‘You’ll never know until you go’
IN THIS ISSUE: • Kerikeri Travel Agent of the Year • Orbit Product Growth • House of Travel Online gets a revamp • Future Fit update • What’s been happening -1-
KICKING OFF 2016
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Welcome back to work and to a new year. We’ve been off to a busy start in January with some stores having their best weeks ever! Across the group, we slowed down at the end of last year, post-Paris and other world events, but we’ve picked back up and we’re moving into more normal territory. The comments in the media around the zika virus and those pesky mosquitos are certainly taking up a lot of our collective time – travel -2-
is complex, and that’s why people need great travel consultants like us! This month we have loads to share from around the group, which is fantastic – we have updates and photos from the various Christmas events and a long list of additions to the HOT family as well. New things happening include the opening of the new look store in Ponsonby, GTN starting operation, a new look and feel for Mix and Match, the DCC launching
in early January and a number of new hotels joining Orbit’s preferred supplier programme. It was great to see the first Future Fit coaching workshop kick off in January and the huge enthusiasm and commitment shown by all the attendees to keep this programme at the forefront of the business. Planning is nearly completed for Awards which are back on in Auckland in 2016 and there are a few changes this year to keep
you busy during the day. So, as is often the case at HOT and Orbit, we have lots of things happening and lots coming up as well. Hope you all had a great holiday season and saw better weather than I did! Travel safe, Cheers MOD
M O D ’ S F O R E WO R D
W HAT’S IN S IDE
EDITOR’S NOTE...
• Award winners and product growth
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• GTN gets started & HOT Online gets a revamp
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• Future Fit update
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• Future Fit inspiration space
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• Regional round up
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• Let’s celebrate
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elcome to the February edition of House Proud. I have had the pleasure of working on this edition with Alex Hema, HOT’s PR Manager. 2016 is well and truly underway, with plenty to report.This issue is jampacked with Christmas celebrations, fantastic achievements, important news and, of course, babies, weddings and engagements. The next edition of House Proud will be our special awards edition, celebrating all of our fantastic achievements in the past year. Happy reading! Lauren Walsh-McDonnell HR Assistant -3-
G E N E RA L N EW S
Shannon Howes named Travel Agent of the Year
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hannon from HOT Kerikeri was named Travel Agent of the Year at the Travel Digest Industry Awards for 2015. Shannon has been with our Kerikeri store since the doors opened in January 2011 and has been invaluable during her time with HOT. Congratulations Shannon and thank you for all your hard work over the past few years!
ORBIT Product Growth
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ew Zealand hotels had a bumper year during 2015 and this year is going to continue with that trend for the Orbit group.
The Choice Hotel Group joins the Orbit preferred supplier programme as a new partner, as does Rydges Auckland (joining Rydges Christchurch, Wellington, and Rotorua). This takes the total number of NZ hotels in Orbit’s preferred supplier programme to over 30. Parking a hassle? Orbit also now has access to booking domestic & international valet parking at Auckland Airport Parking at rates lower than what our customers can receive direct. Perfect
for customers who need or appreciate closer more convenient parking, or who
want to upgrade their airport experience.
HOT WHANGAREI A WINNER AT SCENIC’S ‘NIGHT OF STARS’ AWARDS
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OT Whangarei was named the winner of the 2015 Highest Agency Sales Award for NZ at Scenic Cruises’ annual awards ceremony in Sydney in January. This is a super exciting achievement for HOT Whangarei, who have really prioritised selling cruise over the past couple of years. Well done team!
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G E N E RA L N EW S
GLOBAL TRAVEL NETWORK KICKS OFF
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lobal Travel Network (GTN) met their target of being operational by the start of January, thanks to some fantastic support from the Air team in Auckland and the IT team in Christchurch. Over the past couple of months, the GTN team has been contacting agents, with a significant number of independent agents already signed up. Their next priority will be contracting with airlines. GTN is predominantly targeting the Indian and Chinese communities, a market HOT has traditionally been underrepresented in. We are extremely fortunate to have Rob Beecher and Allen Bell leading GTN, who bring with them a wealth of knowledge in the air consolidation and independent agent space.
HOUSE OF TRAVEL ONLINE GETS A REVAMP In an attempt to win back market share in the super competitive ecommerce travel market, mixandmatch is undertaking a major revamp. Among the work underway is a new look mixandmatch website (see mixandmatch.co.nz for details), a new logo and an upcoming brand campaign promoting the benefits of mixing and matching. Watch this space for more on the introduction of several new other mixandmatch innovations planned for 2016. The Auckland-based part of the ecommerce team has grown too, with Kelsey Waters joining in the role of ecommerce Marketing Manager, working alongside Tim Paulsen (Head of ecommerce) and Mike Williams (SEO/Analytics Manager). Online travel is growing significantly in New Zealand and we’re building a lot of capability to ensure we remain at the forefront. More to come!
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FUTURE FIT UPDATE
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t has been great hearing some of the fantastic Future Fit initiatives that you have been implementing in your stores. In this edition, we are sharing a few of the ideas that have been developed. We would love to hear and share more – email us at futurefit@hot.co.nz.
There has been a lot of activity behind the scenes working with groups of owner operators on some of the GROW priorities that you identified during your Future Fit sessions last year. You will see more in the coming weeks on some of these initiatives, which as a reminder were:
GROW INITIATIVE
PROGRESS UPDATE
1. Voice of Customer Programme
• Finalising requirements with OO’s. • Implementation planned for Q2 2016.
2. Best Practice
• Draft recommendations developed by OO working groups. • To be shared with OO’s in Regional Meetings. • Then with consultants during Future Fit Sessions in July.
3. Conversion Tracking and Measurement
• Improvements to improve accuracy of online conversion reporting completed. • New process to track and measure conversion to be rolled out with Voice of Customer programme and Best Practice recommendations.
4. OO Leadership & Training
• OO/Manager Future Fit Coaching sessions underway. • L&D team Leadership Framework and programme being rolled out in 2016. • Holdings and Product Future Fit Sessions March/April. • One Day Consultant FF Workshops planned for July/August – dates to be advised soon.
5. Right People; Right Role; Right Task (addressing processing challenges in Retail)
• To be reviewed once Best Practice recommendations signed off.
6. Reward & Recognition
• Workshops held with OO’s. Draft recommendations being prepared for Partnership Services. (Where possible recommendations have been incorporated into planning 2015 Awards)
7. Knowledge Sharing
• Workshops to scope requirements to be held end Feb. Project plan and timelines to be shared end Q1.
APP- TIMISATION Changes to the app incorporating some of your FF suggestions are coming very soon such as: • Make it easier for customers to get their itinerary without having to worry about the normal flag • It would be great to send messages directly to a customer’s app inbox • Customer log in to get itineraries without worrying about booking references If you don’t know what is coming, when and what you need to do to be ready then email us at futurefit@hot.co.nz for a copy of our latest HOT App-timisation Fit Bit. -6-
FUTURE FIT INSPIRATION SPACE Sharing great ideas and tips from across the network: Growing Online Enquiry Conversion… Glen and the team at Ellerslie are focused on lifting their conversion of online enquiry, including EDM sign up, and have been implementing new systems to track, respond to and measure their conversion success. One of the things Anita (Ellerslie) has implemented is to send a thank you email to all new email subscribers. Sending the below message to a new subscriber resulted in an $11k booking 3 days later! (Nice work Anita)
Hi XXX I just wanted to say thank you for subscribing to our email list. When you spot something you like the look of or would like some more information about, please do not hesitate in letting us know. I look forward to being of assistance to you in the future. Have a wonderful day Kindest Regards The customer really appreciated Anita’s message, through this interaction, we ended up with a new customer and a new booking.
BON VOYAGE CARDS Maritza (Botany Junction) wanted to keep in touch with her customers more during the “anticipation” stage with personalised relevant messages. She has created some Bon Voyage cards on which she writes a personal message for all her customers before they head away.
SELLING THE BENEFITS Given the importance of air overrides to our businesses, Jonathan and the team at Rangiora have been doing some brainstorming on how they can improve their NZ long-haul sales. Selling the benefits effectively, whilst still meeting the needs of their customers. Here are some of the things they came up with, which many consultants will know already, but the team found the reminder really helpful: • Commit to always providing the customer with an Air NZ option, even if the price does not seem attractive. • Talk about air-points early on – explain what they can earn on a ticket to Europe and how to build their status, air-point upgrade options, lounge access. • Mention free seat requests on NZ (approx. $100-$150 per person on LH/LX to Europe plus extra hassle and admin!) Who wants to fly long-haul and risk being allocated a crappy seat? • Air NZ aircrafts are fantastic these days and getting better all the time (inflight crew, service and entertainment). • Seat pitch on NZ is more attractive versus some of the other options. • More direct flights on NZ – no transit in FRA/MUC or ZRH. • No recent problems or history of industrial action and strikes. • If there is an unexpected event that disrupts travel anywhere in the world, Air NZ provide great support and have a strong vested interest in looking after the welfare of NZ travellers. • There are a great variety of options available – Europe fares, Europe fares via London, joint venture fares and all the possible combinations. • Change and cancellation fees are lower on NZ than some other long haul carriers. • So many seating options. Economy, preferred economy seating, skycouch, premium, business and all can be combined or just upgrade one sector. Let us know any other ideas teams have at: futurefit@hot.co.nz. -7-
R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
ORBIT CHRISTCHURCH & HOT ADDINGTON TEAM UP FOR BREAST CANCER
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owards the end of last year Orbit Christchurch and HOT Addington held their annual Pink for a Day fundraiser for the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation. They smashed their target of $1,500 and ended up with a total of $2,100!
MONKEY BUSINESS AT HOT ROTORUA
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onna Soler from Rotorua went above and beyond for her client Bev, who came in store to tell Donna about her fantastic European holiday. Donna had her purple Future Fit monkey on her desk – Bev’s granddaughter had lost her own purple monkey in Dublin and the family had not been able to find a replacement. Donna managed to find a new monkey, invited Bev into the office and presented her with it for her granddaughter. The client was completely blown away by the gesture and booked her next trip the same week!
HAWKES BAY CLIENTS ON A WINNING STREAK!
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lients of HOT Jenny Nilsson and HOT Havelock North have struck it lucky, winning a total of $30,000! George Barley, a client of HOT Jenny Nilsson, won $20,000 through an Air New Zealand promotion booked by consultant Debby McRobbie, while HOT Havelock North customer Stephen Randal won 10,000 airpoints after booking a trip to North America with consultant Jacqui Donoghue. Two very happy clients – well done team!
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HOT LAKERS DROPS THEIR BOSS
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OT Lakers were thrilled to nominate their marvellous boss Tracey Laker for the Foundation for Youth Development’s annual ‘Drop Your Boss’ competition. Tracey faced her fears alongside 25 other Southland bosses who then made their way down the fire tower in front of a supportive crowd. On top of that, Tracey made us proud by scooping up the coveted Summit Award for being the top boss, raising the most funds! The grand total was well over $25,000 and it will support the fantastic job that the Foundation for Youth Development does in the Southland community and all over New Zealand.
HIGH PRAISE FOR HOT MT EDEN
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wice in one week some amazing feedback for Shane Ogg at Mt Eden came through to Holdings via the Hot Feedback email address. One customer said Shane had been “an extreme pleasure to deal with” – she went on to thank Shane and HOT for the fantastic service that made their dreams come true. In the same week, we received feedback from another customer who praised Shane for his personal touches, saying nothing was too much trouble for him and he was informative, well-prepared and knowledgeable. Four of her family members and two friends had already booked through Shane thanks to her recommendation – way to go Shane!
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R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
THE PRODUCT TEAM AT HOT TANGIHUA ST
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t the end of last year, the product team at Tangihua Street was re-aligned to be more effective and streamline the way we operate. We now have two exciting teams in product – the tactical sales team, focusing on our key tactical markets, and long haul, focusing on experiential holidays. The tactical sales and long haul teams are made up of are made up of (from left) Jon Gwin, Rachel Mancini, Shelley Adkins, Julia Paley, Paula Watson, Anne Graham and Gabrielle Brown.
SHELLEY ADKINS,
GABRIELLE BROWN,
There is absolutely no other industry I would rather be in… its travel all the way for me! After spending the last three years of my 14 years at HOT leading the longhaul product team, I have moved into the GM Product role, encompassing both longhaul and shorthaul.
I’ve been working in product at House of Travel for 8 years and started looking after North America two years ago. I can honestly say that the more places I learn about the more amazed I am by the super cool things there are to see and do. This place is huge and every state has something completely unique – whether you’re an adrenalin junkie, a city slicker, an outdoorsy type, a foodie, a sports fan, a beach babe, a music buff, an art lover (I could go on!) – there are going to be places and things that you are going to love!
General Manager Product
We’ve certainly got some exciting times ahead with this ever changing industry of ours, and I am really excited to work with our very talented product team to deliver inspiring product for our customers.
JULIA PALEY,
General Manager Tactical Sales I celebrated 15 years with HOT last year. I’ve worked in a variety of roles; 5 years in Retail and 10 years in Product. I’m excited about the new challenge of leading the Tactical Product Team in creating compelling value based offers to some of our key markets.
PAULA WATSON,
Tactical Sales Manager After spending the past 5 years with HOT as our Product Manager for Asia, I was excited when a role became available in the newly created Tactical Team. As it still encompasses my 2 favourite ‘happy places’ Phuket & Bali, it was a great challenge to be able to add to these some other destinations and broaden my skills by working with our key package markets to deliver the most compelling deals for our customer and find new ways of presenting these.
RACHEL MANCINI,
Product Manager Shorthaul Innovation and working creatively is the name of my game – kicking off my HOT career in marketing as Campaign Manager; then moving into the Product Manager Australia role. I’m now leading the very inspiring (and very busy!) shorthaul product portfolio which includes both Australia and the South Pacific. No two days, or two hours, are the same… there’s never a dull moment! - 10 -
Product Manager USA/Canada/Hawaii
ANNE GRAHAM,
Product Manager UK & Europe For me, destination UK & Europe is a real passion and has been since the days of my OE! It’s loved for so much – its diversity, its history, its culture, and its food and people. Key cities like London, Paris and Rome are always true highlights – you can never tire of visiting them! However not far behind are delights like exploring the balmy Mediterranean towns and shores, camping in the far north of rustic Scandinavia, roaming through Turkey and the stunning Greek Islands and more. It’s the vast array of places that continue to provide me with new challenges which I love sharing with our HOT team and our customers.
JON GWIN,
Product Manager Asia Being from a family in the travel industry, I have been lucky enough to travel from an early age, from Australia and Asia to North America and Europe. Once travel is in the blood it’s hard to shake, and working in travel while studying has led to jobs in inbound, corporate, sports groups and tours, agent/industry travel, retail and wholesale over my years in the industry. At HOT it’s been great selling the longhaul destinations and working in the Australia product team, but it’s most exciting to be back involved in Asia. The diversity of Asia offers something for everyone – from secluded beaches to Mega-cities, shopping to cultural experiences and the local food is always amazing!!
R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
ANNIE FROM MERIVALE COMPETES IN NZ WINDSURF NATIONALS
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nnie Crombie from HOT Merivale competed in the New Zealand Windsurf Nationals in Christchurch in January, retaining her national women’s title for the seventh time (2008 – 2016). Congratulations Annie!
HOT NORTHLANDS CLIENT TAKES HOME $10,000 HOT Northlands’ customer Peter Johnson was the lucky winner of our HOT Travel expo prize, winning two return tickets to London and a $1,000 HOT gift card!
TORI MAKES ORBIT TAURANGA PROUD
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ori Davies from Orbit Tauranga transitioned from Short Haul Processer to Short Haul Consultant from 1st January 2016. She recently graduated from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic with the award for the Top Student in the Diploma in Travel Management, and was the guest speaker at her graduation.
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R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
FUN AND GAMES FOR THE IT TEAM AT ROYDVALE AVE
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he end of 2015 was a busy time for IT, with a number of projects that were close to go-live or going live over the Christmas period. The team was working hard to deliver critical releases for the business, so to relieve some stress the IT team had their inaugural IT annual treasure hunt. Late one Tuesday afternoon, teams of up to four embarked through the rebuilding streets of central Christchurch by bike, motorbike, car or on foot. A challenging course was set out by organisers Corinna Jordan and Lisa Shorney – competition was fierce, results were close and much fun was had. The eventual winners were Team HOT Angels MC (Barry Adams and Rick Zawodny) on their motorbikes closely edging the BMX Bandits (Murray Wilkinson and Craig Wickham) on their bikes. Other highlights for IT included having Lisa Shorney announced as the HOT Roydvale Ave Hottie of the Year at Roydvale Ave’s Christmas function. There has also been a huge effort by the GTN project team that has worked to successfully get GTN live on January 1 while endeavouring to keep other projects on track.
KATE SMYTH HOUSE OF TRAVEL TOURS HOBBITON
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t the end of 2015, the team at Kate Smyth House of Travel toured Hobbiton at the end of a full day of strategic planning at the Millhouse. Pictured is Caro Smith (HOT Morrinsville), Brenda White (HOT Hamilton), Carol Sutton and Kate Smyth (OOs and HOT Matamata), Deborah Dove (Training & Development Manager), Penny Pickett (HOT Cambridge) and Tania Wheeler (HOT Te Awamutu).
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R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
THE AIR QUOTING TEAM
NEW FACE IN THE MARKETING TEAM
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he quoting team are the lucky ones who look after all of the airfare quotes for HOT Retail and Orbit. They know the ins and outs of the airfares for sale in the market and are pros at putting together the jigsaw of different flights to get the best route for the customer. We have five members of the team on deck, taking up to 200 phone calls from retail between them every day as well as processing email quotes/reissues.
osephine O’Sullivan has joined the HOT Marketing team on a six-month contract, until Louise Reeves returns from maternity leave. She will be reviewing our internal comms processes and helping to manage HOT’s social communities. Josephine comes to HOT after previously working in communications at TVNZ, MIT & in the arts and culture sector.
The team is led by Kylie Downer, who has 20 years’ experience in the travel industry, with over 12 years here at HOT in the quoting team. The rest of the team ranges from brand new to having up to 20 years’ experience in quoting. Rebecca Foakes has been with HOT for 18 years. Deborah Croft came to us from GO Holidays and has been here for nine years. Recently, we said goodbye to Heather and Stacey after 11 years and nine years in the quoting team respectively. Heather will be back after maternity leave. Recently we have welcomed Nikko Sapo and Jeni Wharepouri. Nikko has a strong travel background, previously working for Flight Centre and Malaysia Airlines. Jeni joins us with many years of airfare quoting experience – both have been fantastic additions to a great team! Fun fact about the quoting team – between the 6 of us we have 102 years of travel industry experience!
From left: Rebecca Foakes, Deborah Croft, Kylie Downer, Jeni Wharepouri and Nikko Sapo - 13 -
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HOT ELLERSLIE CELEBRATES XMAS IN FIJI The team at HOT Ellerslie ventured offshore for their Christmas dinner this year – all the way to Fiji!
HOT BROWNS BAY JOINS THE SANTA PARADE!
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his year HOT Browns Bay got involved with the annual Browns Bay Santa Parade, making their gingerbread float from scratch! The children of their clients were keen to get involved too. Here is a snap of the team and the kids involved!
XMAS WITH HOT LAKERS HOT Lakers went all out this year for their annual Christmas function, by attending a Very Rocky Christmas. It was a night packed with lots of laughs, crazy dress ups, (the time warp) and a fair amount of wine!
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R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
HOT NORTHLANDS’ CRAZY CHRISTMAS PARTY
CALDER & LAWSON’S SANTA CELEBRATES 15 YEARS
Northlands staff and their partners spent a fun evening at Elmwood Club for their Christmas party. The night consisted of some barefoot lawn bowls followed by beach volleyball and a spit roast – and some interesting costumes!
2015 was the 15th year that HOT Calder & Lawson erected a Santa on their roof for Christmas. Santa’s presence has become a Christmas tradition for Hamilton, stemming from a previous HOT OO’s decision to bring a Santa to Hamilton after being taken to see Santa in Auckland as a young child. Happy 15th anniversary to Calder & Lawson’s Santa!
HOT BOTANY HEADS OVER THE DITCH HOT Botany travelled to the Gold Coast at the end of November for a famil and of course a wee bit of fun. On the Saturday night after a full day of shopping and before our site inspections the following day, we squeezed in a night at the Great Australian Outback – yeeha!
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R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
HOT MERIVALE JOURNEYS TO HANMER SPRINGS
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n November HOT Merivale headed to Hanmer Springs for their staff weekend away. The team enjoyed a trek up Conical Hill, some pampering at a nearby spa and a special lunch at Pegasus Bay Winery.
NEW YEAR’S EVE FOR AMELIA & AL
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melia from HOT Havelock North and Al from HOT Broadway had a great New Year’s Eve on Norfolk Island, boogying with their partners and Rick Robertson at Norfolk Blue Restaurant!
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SOUTH ISLAND STORES GET IN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT HOT Dunedin, Alexandra, Oamaru and Queenstown had a ball in the lead up to Christmas – here are a couple of snaps of the teams getting in the Christmas spirit.
R EG IONA L R O U ND U P
TANGIHUA STREET AND ROYDVALE AVE CHRISTMAS PARTIES Dress ups abounded at the Tangihua Street and Roydvale Ave Christmas parties, with Tangihua Street themed ‘What I wanted to be when I was five’ and Roydvale Ave tasked with dressing up as something beginning with the letter of their name. John Crouch and Lisa Shorney were the lucky winners of Hotties of the Year. Great awards nights were had by all!
RICCARTON CHRISTMAS PARTY AND TRIP HOT Riccarton headed down to Queenstown for a Christmas celebration. Highlights included the Thunder Jet and the -5 ice bar for a few cocktails despite an exceptionally bumpy return flight, the whole team got home in one piece!
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L E T ’S C E L E B R A T E !
Births SOPHIE JOY CLARK
SOPHIE MILA FORDE
Angela Clark from the Longhaul team at HOT Roydvale Ave and her husband Phill welcomed Sophie Joy Clark into the world on 21st December, weighing in at 2.6 kilos.
Jules (HOT Lakers) and Jared welcomed the beautiful Sophie Mila Forde into the world, weighing 7lb9oz. She’s so popular around the office, she’s fast becoming our top consultant!
ASHA REAL
AUSTIN JAMES HUGHIE OBRIEN
Kristy Whitaker, Groups Manager at HOT Whangarei, and her partner Mark Real have welcomed their first baby into the world, a little girl called Asha Real. The Groups team can’t wait to have the proud mum back on deck!
Austin James Hughie O’Brien arrived on 25th October 2015, weighing 8lb1oz – Carmen from Orbit Christchurch and her hubby Jared are loving being first time parents to their gorgeous wee boy!
ABBY RITA SINCLAIR
MUSIKA GEORGE MANUTAI-ESAU
Orbit Auckland
Orbit Hamilton
David and Shelly Sinclair (Orbit Auckland) welcomed their daughter, Abby Rita Sinclair, into the world on 7th August 2015. Congratulations from the Orbit family!
Diana Manutai-Esau from Orbit Hamilton welcomed a beautiful little boy with husband Vene ManutaiEsau. Musika George Manutai-Esau was born 7th September at 2.29pm, weighing 8lbs3oz.
HOT Roydvale
HOT Whangarei
OLIVER LACHIE REEVES HOT Tangihua
Louise Reeves from HOT Tangihua Street welcomed Oliver Lachie Reeves into the world on 4th October, weighing in at 3.6 kilos.
ELLIE KERNOT HOT Tangihua
Heather Kernot from HOT Tangihua Street welcomed her gorgeous baby girl Ellie on 12th January 2016.
HOT Lakers
ORBIT CHRISTCHURCH
ZIGGY JAY HOLDAWAY HOT Hamilton
Emily Holdaway from our Hamilton office also welcomed a wee bundle of joy with partner AJ Prime – a boy too! Ziggy Jay Holdaway was born at 4.40am on 18th September 2015, weighing 7lbs3oz.
WILLIS RENNIE HOT Hamilton
Congrats to Scott Rennie (Orbit Wellington) and Candice Robinson on the birth of Willis on 5 October 2015, weighing in at 9lbs1oz.
RUBY RUDMAN Mike (ASHY) and Amy Rudman welcomed baby Ruby into the world on 26th July 2015. Congratulations to the Rudman family! - 18 -
L E T ’S C E L E B R A T E !
WEDDINGS
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t’s a busy month for marketing, with Calvin Romeo and Stephanie Bennett getting married and Kylie Millar heading off on maternity leave with her first child!
ENGAGEMENTS Travis Leippi from HOT Roydvale Ave got engaged to his partner Lucy at the Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington on 13th November 2015.
OLGA BHANA
Christine Gibb (HOT Lakers) got engaged to Shannon Townsend while relaxing at their Hydro Pool Villa in Ko Samui, Thailand. They are excited to get married in Wanaka next year.
Olga Bhana (née Bakhridinova) from HOT Parnell married Mike Bhana at Stonyridge Vineyard on Waiheke Island on October 5th, 2015. Congratulations to the happy couple!
AIMEE BULLIVANT In November, Aimee Bullivant (née Mangin) of HOT Ashburton married Max Bullivant in Rarotonga on November 5th 2015 in front of 95 guests. All the best to Aimee and Max!
Good Friday turned out to be a great Friday for Nicola Milne of HOT Lakers, as her partner of six years proposed to her down by the river with a picnic, while on a weekend away at their family holiday home.
Sammy Roberts from Orbit Hamilton got engaged a few days before Christmas to her high school sweetheart, Jesse Beetham. He surprised her in the Gold Coast where she was visiting her family, and double-surprised her by popping the question!
CHRISTINE MURTI A huge congratulations to the lovely Christine Murti from HOT Product South Pacific, who married her partner Jayson Satya at a beautiful ceremony at Kelliher Estate on 5th December 2015
CLAIRE & PAUL HARRE
PENNY BAIRD
Claire and Paul Harre (Shirley) were married at The Gates Lodge in Waiau, North Canterbury, on 23rd January 2016 – also Claire’s birthday!
Penny Baird of HOT Events/HOT Victoria married Shane on 4th December 2015. Congratulations to Penny and Shane Findlay.
LIZ HERRICK
JESS WILSON
The first to kick off the wedding season for Orbit Wellington… Liz Herrick married her Mr Right to become Mr and Mrs Jackson on 26 December 2016 at Foxglove on the Wellington waterfront. Tears (of joy), laughter and loads of fun was had on this special occasion. Congratulations Mr and Mrs!
Looking absolutely stunning, HOT Wellington’s Jess Wilson recently tied the knot to her handsome catch, Mike Garnett, under the gorgeous Featherston sunshine on 16 January 2016. Full of laughter, love, sunshine and a fair amount of bubbles, an amazing day was had by all. A huge congratulations and warmest wishes to the lovely Garnetts. - 19 -
‘Don’t call it a dream, call it a plan’ - 20 -