Queenstown hotel drives social change

Queenstown’s newest hotel, Mi-pad Queenstown, is driving social change for New Zealand’s hotel industry with its mix of technology and sustainability.

Opened nine months ago as the country’s first fully smart hotel, mi-pad Queenstown has been paying all its staff at least the living wage – rather than the minimum wage – since February this year.

The property’s 16 staff, from housekeepers to those working on reception and management, are paid a minimum of $20.55 an hour, well above the current minimum wage of $17.70 per hour.

Mi-pad Queenstown launched last year with a unique, intelligent mindset at the very heart of its approach, mixing technology and sustainability to challenge conventional thinking.

Hotel manager Joshua Keeble says its commitment to responsible tourism through a number of ‘smart’ resources also extends to the overall welfare of its people.

“We all know that Queenstown’s not a cheap place to live so we’ve made a conscious decision to invest in our team,” he says.

“The upside of that is we’re able to recruit and retain amazing staff who receive lots of praise from guests for being friendly, efficient and helpful. In turn that means they’re really happy to work here and they’re not having to take on second jobs or work long hours just to make ends meet.”

Mi-pad Queenstown has embarked on the process of obtaining official accreditation from the Living Wage movement for its employment stance and hopes to see others in the industry follow suit.

“We’re committed to offering this rate to all new future staff recruits and we know this will help attract some of the best in our industry, so for us it’s win-win,” says Joshua.

The 57-room hotel in the heart of Queenstown is renowned as New Zealand’s first fully ‘smart’ hotel. It’s a next generation, energy-conscious hotel experience for the smart traveller, marrying technology, sustainability, comfort and convenience.

The key to the hotel is that there is no key. Once guests download the hotel’s personal app ‘mia’, their smartphone becomes a room key, the means of setting room temperatures and mood lighting in their room, calling for room service and even transforming into a digital concierge.