Napier’s County Hotel earns international recognition
Being named in the top one per cent of hotels in the world by TripAdvisor could not have come at a better time for Napier’s The County Hotel.
In a year where the hospitality industry has been among the hardest hit by Covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns, owners Angela and Chris Barons say the award gave them “that boost to keep on going”.
“The award is a wonderful achievement in these uncertain times,” Angela said. “Everyone is in the same boat but don’t get me wrong, it is something that we had to push through and to have that arrive in our inbox is actually something we needed to keep our spirits up.”
The Travellers' Choice Best of the Best Awards is TripAdvisor’s highest recognition and is presented annually to those businesses that are the Best of the Best on the platform, earn excellent reviews from travellers and are ranked in the top one per cent of properties worldwide.
The three-level boutique hotel, in the heart of Napier's Art Deco neighbourhood on Browning St, features 18 rooms, Wine Street Restaurant and Churchill’s Bar.
While this is by far the most prestigious award they have won, they have a string of accolades to their name.
Last year, The County Hotel won the TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice 2019 award for one of the Top 25 Hotels in the South Pacific, Art Deco Supreme Award and Certificate of Excellence Award, among others.
They put the hotel’s success down to their incredible team members and gracious guests, past and present.
“I think if you read through the TripAdvisor reviews, they’re always mentioning the service that they get because we individualise everybody’s experience, we know them by their first names and by the time they leave, we’re friends.
“We just don’t like anybody leaving that isn’t 100 per cent completely satisfied,” she said.
Originally constructed in 1909, the County Hotel, which first began trading on the site in 1993, is the only remaining example of Victorian-Edwardian classical style architecture in the region, surviving the 1931 earthquake.
It wasn’t until 2002 when the Barons’, who have a background in sales, decided to move from Tamahere, in the Waikato, to Hawke’s Bay and embark on the hotel.
“Our next-door neighbour came over one night and said, ‘there is this cool little hotel for sale in Hawke’s Bay, you should go and look. If you’re not going to buy it, I will’.
“We drove down the next day and we thought why not, how hard can it be. It was really hard,” she said. However, it is now their life.
While they have given themselves another five years, they say they are more than ever “completely dedicated” to their team and business.
“Upon returning after the Covid-19 lockdown it was surreal and yet one of the most illuminating times over our nineteen-year tenure,” Angela said.
She also added the invaluable support received from locals and the New Zealand team of five million is enabling them to continue providing the level of service that has awarded “this great honour”.
