Association Changes
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In the main this has not been caused by dissatisfaction but by many of the loyal members reaching an age where they no longer wish to host guests. Others are struggling with lowered numbers of guests and to maintain association membership is unaffordable for them. The reason less tourists are visiting our shores has many causes, the high New Zealand dollar, large levies on passengers flying from the UK, the Christchurch earthquakes being just some of them. Those who have been happy to belong to, not only trade organisations and incorporated societies but also sports and other leisure activity groups are resigning in an effort to balance their finances. In our case this can create an unfortunate spiral downwards where the promotional and advocacy side of the association can no longer be maintained with the funding provided by a smaller membership. Running an association such as ours necessitates having some paid staff as in current times it is no longer viable for voluntary worker members to give the huge amount of time required to cater for all members wants. Those who retain their membership certainly don't wish to see a drop in the services offered whether advocacy, quality standards or promotion so the necessity arises to look for a solution.
In our case we have decided to revamp our website making it far easier for information to be added or changed with members able to carry out this task themselves. In conjunction with this improvement two new website URL's have been commissioned www.bandbassociation.co.nz and www.bedandbreakfastassociation.co.nz being those chosen and obtained. However the main change resulted from a submission that was presented at our Annual General Meeting in Rotorua in late May. This remit suggested the inclusion of the words Bed & Breakfast in our association name "athome New Zealand". However delegates present went much further than this and after much discussion and a new name for our group was chosen and has been registered, "Bed & Breakfast Association New Zealand". This name will be introduced over the next 12 months in an effort to reduce costs involved with the change and will feature on our 2012 directory which is under production. A revised logo with changed wording will feature on all our promotional advertising as it is reprinted and hopefully these changes will serve to make our association more recognisable in the market place for accommodation and consequently more attractive to belong to.
To follow on from these improvements to services we offer members, an extensive membership drive will be undertaken by contacting those who operate B&B's and who we feel would meet the quality standards that our association insists on. Whilst the majority of the work involved will be undertaken by our two paid part time staff and board members it is essential that existing members be requested to do all they can to encourage other operators to join. Currently it is estimated that the B&B sector of the accommodation industry caters for around 3 per cent of visitors to our country. We would not need to increase this percentage by much to reverse the decline in income that many of our hosts have suffered. Obviously the more members any association can lay claim to the louder the voice when advocacy is important, and negotiation with government or councils is required. Councils are constantly under pressure to keep charges to their ratepayers to a minimum and an association like ours is crucial in trying to stem the flow of excessive charges being levied on the small operators that cater for those tourists who prefer the intimacy, friendliness, quality and personal attention that they get when staying at the small accommodation operators that make up our membership.
Trevor Knight
At Home New Zealand (Now Bed & Breakfast Association New Zealand)
